The music program is experiential, interactive, and designed to introduce concepts through singing, playing, improvising, listening, moving, and reading music of all genres. Students will study the essential music elements, including melody, rhythm, form, expression, and timbre. Younger students will focus on developing pre-reading skills and internalizing these concepts, while developing fine and gross motor skills for playing and moving. Older students will develop music vocabulary and learn to read the notes of the treble clef through practice singing and playing on many types of instruments, including the recorder. All students will participate on Orff instruments, hand percussion, African drums, and develop proper vocal technique. Emphasis will be placed on integrating concepts across curriculum areas.
• Singing: recognizing singing and speaking voices; matching pitch as developmentally appropriate
• Playing: playing and internalizing a steady beat; echoing simple rhythmic patterns; recognizing and properly playing a variety of percussion instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; moving to and internalizing steady beat and phrases
• Creating: appropriately dramatizing stories with sound; improvising a short phrase rhythmically and melodically
• Reading: recognizing simple rhythmic symbols; understanding melodic contour; recognizing two part form
• Singing: recognizing singing and speaking voices; matching pitch as developmentally appropriate; singing alone and together
• Playing: playing and internalizing a steady beat; echoing simple rhythmic patterns; recognizing and properly playing a variety of percussion instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; moving to and internalizing steady beat; moving to a four measure phrase
• Creating: appropriately dramatizing stories with sound; improvising a short phrase rhythmically and melodically
• Reading: recognizing simple rhythmic symbols, including quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest; understanding melodic contour; recognizing two part form
• Singing: matching pitch within an appropriate range; using head voice; singing with correct posture both alone and with others; identifying vocal timbres
• Playing: playing and internalizing a steady beat; echoing simple rhythmic patterns; recognizing and properly playing a variety of percussion instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; moving to and internalizing steady beat; moving to a four to eight measure phrase
• Creating: appropriately dramatizing stories with sound; improvising an eight measure phrase rhythmically and melodically; recognizing instrumental timbres
• Reading: reading quarter note, eighth note, quarter rest, and half note notation; recognize simple expression symbols; understanding melodic contour; recognizing two and three part forms
• Singing: singing appropriate songs with pitch accuracy, using head voice; singing expressively with good diction and attention to dynamics and phrasing
• Playing: echoing five note melodies and four measure rhythmic phrases; playing expressively with attention to dynamics; recognizing and properly playing a variety of percussion instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; creating original movements as a response to music; participating in traditional and folk dances
• Creating: improvising pentatonic melodies and rhythmic ostinati over a four to eight measure phrase; using simple notation to create original rhythmic and melodic compositions; recognizing instrumental timbres
• Reading: reading, composing, and notating quarter note, eighth note, quarter rest, half note, and whole note notation; recognizing and notating simple expression symbols; recognizing the difference between line and space notes on a clef; recognizing two and three part forms
• Singing: singing appropriate songs with pitch accuracy, using head voice; singing expressively with good diction and attention to dynamics and phrasing; practicing part singing through canons and partner songs
• Playing: echoing five note melodies and eight measure rhythmic phrases; playing expressively with attention to dynamics; playing melodic and rhythmic canons on body percussion and instruments; recognizing timbres of world instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; creating original movements as a response to music; participating in traditional and folk dances
• Creating: improvising rhythmic question and answer phrases; improvising major and minor melodic phrases; improvising variations for known melodies
• Reading: reading, composing, and notating quarter, eighth, half, whole notes and rests; recognizing and notating treble clef and note names; recognizing and notating simple expression symbols; recognizing rondo form and theme and variations
• Singing: singing appropriate songs with pitch accuracy, using head voice; singing expressively with good diction and attention to dynamics and phrasing; practicing part singing through canons, partner songs, and vocal ostinati
• Playing: playing rhythmic and melodic question and answer phrases on a variety of instruments; playing expressively with attention to dynamics, phrasing, and interpretation; playing melodic and rhythmic canons on body percussion and instruments; recognizing timbres of world instruments
• Moving: responding appropriately to music; creating original movements as a response to music; participating in traditional and folk dances
• Creating: improvising rhythmic and melodic question and answer phrases; improvising major and minor melodic phrases; improvising variations for known melodies
• Reading: reading, composing, and notating simple and complex rhythmic patterns; reading, composing, and notating notes of the treble clef; recognizing and notating expression symbols; understanding complex forms