"...sing it, play it, read it, write it, walk it, talk it, dance to it, and explain it to your parents."
Welcome to the Lower School Music Web Page. In our music classroom at Penn Charter we hope to instill in your child a love and understanding of music throughout the ages and the world, and the skills to produce music of their own for many years to come.
In this web page we hope to keep you informed of what is going on in the music classroom for each grade. To the right is a special section just for recorder students (third, fourth and fifth grades) that will have current assignments, and information about testing posted so that parents and students can have access at all times to material used in class.
Below is a brief synopsis of what we are currently working on in each grade.
Pre-K
The first steps to learning in the Pre-K music classroom is how to "be" in a music class. We define classroom guidelines, practice sitting patiently in circle and waiting our turn, and work at gathering our excited bodies into quietness and stillness when asked to by the teacher. We begin learning about music and how to sing with the simplest two-note melodies based on so-mi, singing a response to a "teacher-sung" cue. We use common learning steps, like the names of the colors, and engaging movement games, to introduce the children to the process of learning about music. Soon we will begin the work in pre-K of learning about the five areas that define music: sound and silence, fast and slow, high and low, loud and soft, and long and short. We will also begin to define the five categories of sound associated with Orff instruments: jingle, click, ring, rattle, and scrape.
The children will play movement games, play simple instruments, and sing about these categories to experience them on many levels.
Kindergarten
As in the pre-K classroom, part of beginning music in kindergarten is learning how to "be" in a music class. We sing greetings in a circle, sing about who came to school or what clothing we have on, and learn to sing responses to cues, all the while listening respectfully as others take their turn. Kindergarten melodies are a little longer, using three or four pitches: so-mi-la and sometimes re. We are learning about the same five areas that define music, but in kindergarten we are adding more subject specific definitions for those areas. So silence is called a "rest", and we also write it. And loud and soft are called "forte and piano" and we learn to write the symbols for those too. Using patterns, a big kindergarten learning step, we sing and dance and play our way through not only the five categories of sound that define music, but also qualities of sound expressed through the "Orff" instruments as jingle, click, ring, rattle and scrape.
First Grade
First graders already know a lot about singing, and not only can sing responses, but can sing short melodies independently. So their greeting songs in circle can include the full pentatonic scale (so-mi-la and mi-re-do) and sometimes more. We spend some time early in the year reviewing the five areas that define music and the five "Orff" categories of sound. We do more complicated movement and dance games, and it is in first grade that we really start working on how to play in an ensemble: learning and playing our part at the correct moment. We will also begin exploring literacy more fully in first grade, defining pitch with the Kodaly singing terms do, re mi etc.
Second Grade
Second graders also begin with reviewing some basic concepts of music. In addition to general music and Orff categories, we spend time remembering what is appropriate in the classroom and how to best use our instruments and our space. We play games, dance and sing within a broader range, and gain more experience and skill singing alone.
In second grade we will learn to read and write music, translating our knowledge of Solfegggio and Kodaly into actual compositions by the end of the year.
Third Grade
Third grade is the year we begin recorder at Penn Charter. Our goals for the beginning of the year include (in addition to some basic review of classroom guidelines, Orff and Kodaly terms, and solo singing) review of form, note reading, rhythmic literacy, and singing long melodies in unison. By late in the first trimester we will begin playing the recorder and spend several months on this process. This year, in conjunction with the end of year immigration project, we hope to spend some time exploring world music in third grade.
Fourth Grade
More review here! Note reading, musical symbols, playing rhythmic patterns and notating them. We're doing it all. We are also learning to sing in parts and will learn to play more than one part at a time on xylophones. In fourth grade we begin learning about the concept of moveable do, when do is no longer always the note middle c. This helps us review reading G-clef and all the notes on the treble clef from middle-c up to high-c. in preparation for our recorder unit. This year fourth graders will have the opportunity to explore different aspects of popular music. Additionally, fourth graders are eligible to participate in Music Enrichments which this year include, guitar, bell choir and chamber singers. Stay tuned for information about exciting opportunities open to fourth graders during the opening of our brand new Kurtz Performing Arts Center.
