About the Choral Music Program at ALSD

ALSD has provided music classes to students in grades K-8 for years; however, the K-3 program has historically been funded through school-site funds. Due to this, programs and availability has varied from site to site and year to year. Starting in 2024, ALSD was able to use monies provided by the State of California through Prop 28 to expand the music program to provide equitable access to a quality music program for these students. Ms. Shutts is one of 3 highly qualified credentialed choral music teachers to pioneer this new program. 

At Stork and Alta Loma Elementary, K-3 students are learning the basics of healthy singing, music theory, and classroom instrument technique. Ms. Shutts uses her extensive knowledge of vocal technique paired with the resources found on Music Play Online and JW Pepper to provide access to quality vocal music. The students participate in music theory learning through First Steps in Music and  Conversational Solfege developed by Dr. John Feierabend. These curricula use "sound before sight," movement, and experiential activities to help students be tuneful, beatful, and artful while building a strong foundation of musical skills. As the students progress into content-area literacy (reading music), they learn rhythm syllables developed by Dr. Edwin E. Gordon (du/du-de) and solfege syllables paired with Kodaly Kurwen hand signs. Finally, students are introduced to ensemble playing with unpitched percussion instruments (tambourines, hand drums, etc.) and xylophones through an Orff Schulwerk-based approach. At the end of the school year, older students will have the opportunity to explore digital music with BandLab for Education and Chrome Music Lab.