Something I Would Like to Share With My Teacher Friends

So I had to give a standardized assessment to my 5th graders today.  They had to come up to me one by one to perform some rhythms and I had to grade them on their accuracy and sight reading.  Yes, it was lame.

Well, this was a magnet class, which is essentially just like "Gifted and Talented" or something.  They are pretty intelligent.  While I was giving this exam, I didn't know what I could do with the other kids who weren't performing at the time, so I gave them a little survey asking some random musical questions.  I MUST share some of these answers!  I will quote exactly... spelling and everything!  Keep in mind: These are 10-year-olds.

1. Who is your favorite singer/artist/band?  Why?

"none"
"Lady Gaga because she is just out their"
"Eminem because I love Rappers"
"I like all of them but not all of them.  I like all music, exept hip hop, pop, and modern rap"
"Lady Gaga because she's like the madona of our generation."
"Bruno mars because he is a inspirational person with Real life situations."
"I despise the music that plays on the radio alot (hip hop, rap, and pop).  That music sounds awful"

2.  What is your favorite instrument?  Why?

"I love the horn because I love how people hold it."
"The violin is very respectful"
"recorder because it is the only one I can play"
"guitar because it is a smooth sounding instrument and it's so compelling to me"
"The bassoon because the instrument is most popular in music"

3. What would you like to do in music class by the end of this year?

"play outside"
"Dance around with music then we all have lunch with our teachers"
"karioki"
"Dance to Mrs. Mengels music"
"Dance outside on a warm day"
"Have a No-Shoe Day"
"I can't think of anything musical to put in Miss Mengels room because its the biggest collection of music I ever saw so I cant really come up with anything"
"Nothing."

4.  In your own words: What does it mean to improvise?

"Add your own flare"
"to play notes without a paper"
"Play off top of your head"
"you are not reading anything"
"do anything/note you want"
"Make up a song with no practice"

5. What is your favorite song that we have done so far in music class?

"I liked the song we performed at the PTA night" (We didn't perform any songs at PTA night)
"none in particular"
"None in particular"