Welcome to McSpedden Music! This year, we will be singing, playing instruments, moving, and dancing to many American folk and multicultural songs. Each grade level curriculum is accumulative and based upon the previous year’s knowledge.
In Kindergarten, we will be moving to and learning about the steady beat by experimenting with speaking/singing, fast/slow, high/low pitches, and loud/soft. From these comparatives, we will learn about beat vs. rhythm in classical music. We will also study the instruments of the orchestra through a composer study on Camille Saint-Saens’s “The Carnival of the Animals”. The kindergarten grade level will be performing “Cock-a-doodle-doo: Barnyard Hullabaloo”.
In First Grade, we will begin working on our music literacy with identifying and reading quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rest. In the spring, we will continue our rhythmic reading development and work on melodic reading by identifying a minor third, skip, as so and mi on the lines and spaces. At the end of the year, we will identify a step, minor second up, as la. First grade will be performing "Oceans of Fun". We will conclude the year with a composer study on Sergei Prokofiev’s "Peter and The Wolf".
Second Grade starts the year reviewing all 1st grade concepts and begin their rhythmic skills with identifying a half note as one long sound over two beats. The students will expand their steps and skips of mi so la to the full pentatone (do re mi so la), and identified do as the tonal center. Students will also expand their knowledge of harmony by performing on the Orff instruments. Second grade will be performing after Spring Break. We will also do a thorough study of all the instrument of the orchestra and Benjamin Brittain's "Guide to the Orchestra".
This fall, Third Grade will review all 2nd grade concepts and expand the pentatone on the staff and identifying absolute pitches on the staff. The rhythmic studies include four sounds on a beat as sixteenth notes. The students will do a thorough study of the opera and will attend a live performance in October during the school day. Third Grade will be performing “This Is America” then conclude the year with a study of "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck and the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Fourth Grade will expand on all the previous knowledge by continuing to develop their singing voices, performing on the African drums, and beginning studies on the recorder. The 4th grade class will perform an "African Drumming Concert" in October. For the rest of the semester, the students will apply known songs, movement, and Orff instruments to beginning recorder pieces. They will improve their music literacy by playing and singing from the staff. We will conclude the year with a composer study on the Symphonies of Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Fifth Grade will continue to master their singing voice and continue studies on the recorder with Recorder Karate. Throughout the year, the students will earn recorder belts by studying different songs on the recorder. Each song will be taught through music notation, memorized, and performed in trios in front of their class. We will review the instruments of the orchestra this spring before the 5th graders choose their electives at middle school, and in March the 5th grade will attend a concert to see the Plano Symphony Orchestra. The fifth grade students will conclude the year performing at their Celebration of Learning on in May with a Recorder Ensemble Concert.