Music

Along with singing, dancing, and playing, here are a few highlights for what each grade can expect to learn this school year:

• Kindergarten: voice types, keeping the beat, high and low sounds, and The Nutcracker
• 1st grade: dynamics (loud and soft), looking for patterns in music, different instrument families, comparing beat to rhythm, and Peter and The Wolf,
• 2nd grade: Carnival of the Animals, Hansel and Gretel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and The Magic Flute, 12-bar blues, rondo form, different music symbols (i.e. repeat signs, double bar/fine), and improvisation
• 3rd grade: Johann Sebastian Bach, recognizing different instruments, intricate dynamics (i.e. crescendo/decrescendo), rhythmic patterns, and longer and shorter note durations
• 4th grade: Guido d’Arezzo, different music forms (i.e. canon, rondos, partner songs), syncopation, and standard notation, Wisconsin musicians and music history
  • Recorders are TBD
• 5th grade: The Star Spangled Banner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Aaron Copland, theme and variation song forms, chromaticism (or black and white keys on the piano instead of just the white keys), and comparing major to minor scales.

Unfortunately, we will not be having 4/5 Choir during distance learning. We are hoping to bring it back next school year.

Music is an essential part of a child’s learning because it gives the student an escape from stress, another way to show their understanding, and a connection to family and community. I encourage you to work with your student(s) on their Music activities to give yourself those same benefits.

Finally, my goal for the last two years and going forward is to showcase and incorporate musicians that reflect our students’ cultures at Royal Oaks. If you have any suggestions for musicians, composers, or songs that you think would be a great highlight for our classroom, please let me know! We are each other’s best resources.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Musically Yours,

Mrs. Brinsko