Marimba students perform for F.S. school board

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Sixth-graders in the marimba program at Polk Street School had the opportunity to perform for the Franklin Square Board of Education on Dec. 4.

The students played a lullaby, a song called “Cha Cha Cha” and “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.” They were led by Music Teacher Larry Rizzo, who explained that the students do not have to read music to play the marimbas, an instrument from South Africa. Instead, he said, the instrument uses “simple, melodic chord changes,” and noted that they are “a heck of a lot of fun.”

“The students literally give up their recesses to play,” Rizzo told the crowd.

Superintendent Jared Bloom also joined in on the action, and said the performance was a “great way to enter into the holiday season.”