Music

List of 4 items.

• PreK - Grade 2

  Music in the PreK through second grades focuses on singing and responding to music through the body using familiar life experiences, dances and engaging stories. Elements of Orff Schulwerk, Eurhythmics, Solfege, and improvisation are woven throughout the curriculum. Students start learning to sing in tune and to recognize relative pitches through exercises, such as painting pitches in the air. They are often invited to invent their own rhythms, tunes and movements based on the focus of the day. There are ample opportunities to try different instruments from the four instrument families, to sing together and to play musical games.

• Grades 3 & 4

  Third and fourth graders continue to explore music through singing, movement and playing instruments. Students in these grades complete a variety of units including Guitar, Keyboard and World Drumming, and are given opportunities to create pieces together in small groups. Past creations have included Film Scoring and STOMP-style Junk Percussion projects.

• Grades 5 - 8

  In grades five through eight, the overarching goal of the music program is to create exciting ensemble playing opportunities and to instill a lasting love of music. These classes encompass three main components:

  • Listening: Music history survey is presented where students are guided to discover variations in musical styles, increase their ability to discern the subtleties of musical tone, color, texture and instrumentation, and to increase active listening skills.
  • Theory: Through ensemble playing and discussion, students build knowledge of song form, musical terms and beginning ability to read written music.
  • Performance: A majority of the class time is devoted to learning a student-chosen song to prepare for a school-wide performance.

  Much of the curriculum in these grades is organized to allow students to have ownership of the class performance selections. Students choose a song to learn, the teacher develops written music that matches each student’s abilities and teaches the skills necessary to begin to play a variety of instruments including guitar, keyboard, bass and drums. Students need no prior instrumental training.

• Unit Electives

  Seventh and eighth grade music is offered as an elective. These are ensemble-based classes that culminate in a school-wide performance. In addition to continuing the themes presented in the fifth and sixth grades, the seventh and eighth grade classes have concentrated on topics such as songwriting, classical music and jazz.