"We study rhythms," Karamkhani said.
To make the wooden xylophones, the children attached wood bars of increasing lengths to wood boxes with Velcro. The fourth-grade students had four wood bars on their xylophones. The fifth-grade students had five.
"So they can remember later on which grade they made these instruments," Karamkhani explained.
Fourth-grader Leon Mesropyan carried his xylophone with pride after the show. His name was emblazoned onto each bar in capital letters.
"I colored it with markers with my name so people wouldn't get it mixed up with other instruments," he said.
The presentation also was a chance to show off what the students learned, 10-year-old Adena Vartanian said.
"Mr. Karamkhani taught us really a lot of stuff about rhythms and music and about music numbers," Adena said. "This [show] gave us the opportunity to show what we do in school and what we learned."
Adena played one of the leads in the performance, heading up the group with her maracas. She was excited when she was picked for the part.
"When I found out I was going to be lead in the front, I really wanted to get up and dance," she said. "But I didn't."
Fourth-grade teacher Kim Labinger was one of the conductors during the show.
The event was part of the artist in residence program, which the school district and the Glendale Educational Foundation helped fund.
"We know they believe arts is important so we're trying to integrate arts in our curriculum as much as possible," she said.
Focusing on rhythms for the program helped students grasp the structure of most musical forms, Labinger said.
"The students have learned that rhythm forms the basis of all music," she said.
