Curriculum overview

MUSIC CURRICULUM FOR BRIDGE SCHOOL
FACULTY: General Classroom Music – Debbie Side, Whitney Skumin
Instrumental Music – Strings: Chris Brainard, Kristy Foye, Jessica Billings-White
Band –Toby Forman, Greg Tracy
INTRODUCTION
Children feel as well as think; they create as well as discover and learn. We help them cultivate a sensitivity to the world of music, just as we enable them to acquire other intellectual and academic tools of thought. A well-balanced curriculum proves the basis for life long musical understanding and participation (taken from Lexington Music Department Curriculum Philosophy).
The Bridge elementary music program provides a wide range of musical experiences including singing, listening, moving, playing instruments, composing, performing, music reading, creative improvisation and folk dancing. We use a variety of materials and resources to develop the basic concepts of melody, rhythm, harmony, form, reading and expressive qualities at all grade levels. Along with our specific curriculum goals, we nurture a fun, creative environment where children can explore their personal expression in artistic forms. It is our hope that children will leave Bridge with a love of music and the confidence to share that experience with others thoughout their lives.
KINDERGARTEN:
--Children develop their singing voice as different from the speaking voice.
--In Melody, children distinguish high/middle/low and then up/down.
--Rhythmic pulse develops through movement to music, numerous children’s games, playing simple percussion instrument and rudimentary reading.
--In expression, children explore the concepts of loud/soft and fast/slow in music.
GRADE ONE;
--In vocal work, children build a repertoire of songs within the range of the child’s singing voice, working for good tone, and good vocal health even if the pitch is not exact.
--In melody, they continue to distinguish high and low pitches within a closer range. They sing, read and identify by ear the pitches of sol and mi.
--In rhythm, they match the locomotor moves of walking with the beat of the music.
--Expressive skills include hearing and identifying dynamic levels and crescendo/diminuendo (growing louder/softer).
--Repertoire includes a variety of chldren’s folk songs from various cultures and some samples of Western classical music as well some world music. All classes foster an active movement approach where children experience the music in their bodies through locomotor and non-locomotor games.
GRADE TWO:
--Vocal work continues to develop a strong and healthy singing voice with greater expectation for matching pitch.
--In melody, children review and practice their singing skills with sol, mi and la. They add re and do to their singing and reading.
--In rhythm, the children walk and run and stop with the corresponding note values of quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest. They read, play and write rhythm patterns using these note values. They learn to distinguish between the beat and the rhythm of the words, playing their parts on unpitched percussion instruments. They also learn simple folk dances to reinforce their feeling of the rhythmic pulse. Later in the year, children add tied notes and half note to their note value vocabulary for reading, singing, moving, and playing. Students play simple ostinato patterns on barred instruments. They continue to expand their folk dance repertoire.
--Expressive skills expand on dynamic levels to include gradually louder and gradually softer. They also work with timbre and dramatic sound effects in stories.
--Repertoire continues to include folk material from America and different cultures as well as selected European classical music.
GRADE THREE:
--The singing voice develops with emphasis on tone quality and independence. Children sing rounds and simple 2-part arrangements.
--Melody includes the full pentatonic scale with do, re mi. sol, la. Children apply their listening and solfege training to the music staff. They read, write and play music on the staff. They transpose do-re-mi songs into the keys of C, F and G.
--Rhythmic work reinforces reading, writing and singing patterns with 8^th, quarter and half note rhythms. The dotted half note is added to their reading and writing vocabulary. Grouping of beats into 3/4 time and 4/4 time is part of their experience and reading in 3rd grade.
--Instrumental activities continue with simple barred instruments and they are introduced to the recorder. The recorder develops fine motor coordination, breath awareness and control, articulation with the tongue, reading from the staff and improvisation. Students attend a concert performed by the Lexington Symphony Orchestra as well as a demonstration of various families of instruments prior to the concert.
--Expressive elements include staccato and legato and phrasing as interpretive tools for recorder playing.
GRADE FOUR:
--Children build their vocal repertoire of 2 part singing in rounds, partner songs, simple melodic ostinati or descants.
--Melody focuses on the entire pentatonic scale with reinforcement of their staff reading skills. Transposing extends to songs using the full pentatonic scale. They compose simple melodies as well as read simple melodies and harmony parts on the staff.
--Rhythm includes the experience of sing, moving, playing and reading syncopated patterns, 16^th notes and note values longer than three beats. They design and perform instrumental arrangements.
--Form includes reinforcement of AB, ABA and Rondo form.
--Instrumental work focuses on more advanced arrangements of barred instruments and percussion.
Grade four is the first year the students can sign up for string instrumental lessons at school. These classes provide the exciting opportunity for students to participate and perform in a string ensemble where they apply their knowledge and skills from the music classroom. If they already take lessons on a string instrument they can join the All Town String Orchestra.
GRADE FIVE:
--Vocal work includes choral experience with part singing, blending voices, breath control, strengthening the head voice, voice control and expressive interpretation.
--Melody develops the diatonic scale in major and minor, vocal improvisation and reading octavo scores.
--Rhythm reinforces and applies knowledge of 16^th notes, syncopation, meter in 2, 3 and 4. Patterns with dotted 8^th/16ths are added to their vocabulary, and students experience odd metered compositions.
--Performance is a large part of 5^th grade experience with 1 choral concert during the spring.
--Repertoire includes a variety of musical styles and composers; jazz, pop, classical, folk, rock and world musics. Students attend a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert in Symphony Hall as well as a Lexington High School Choral Extravaganza that showcases all the different choral ensembles at the High School.
In the fifth grade, children have the choice of instrumental lessons with either the string ensemble or the band. As with the fourth grade, these lessons take place during the school day and offer a wonderful new venue for their musical skills.

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