Kindergarten

• In Kindergarten Music classes we learn about the basic opposites found in Music: Beat (steady/unsteady), Pitch (high/low), Dynamics (loud/soft), Rhythm (long/short), and Tempo (fast/slow), as well as moving to music and early singing skills like listening to yourself and singing out. We use a variety of instruments including egg shakers, jingle bells, boomwhackers, rhythm sticks, and drums, and we have a unit on Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals in which we discuss orchestral instruments. 

1st Grade

• In 1st grade we kick it up a notch! We learn about strong and weak beats and how they create simple meters of 2, 3, or 4 beats per measure. Then we move on to basic notation including quarter notes and rests, paired eighth notes, and half notes, as well as get into reading solfege on a 2-line staff and composing using So, Mi, and La. We also have a world music unit that focuses on folk songs from Europe, Africa, and Asia, and perform seasonal songs for our homeroom teachers 2-3 times a year. 

2nd Grade

• In 2nd grade we advance to the 5-line staff, learning the pentatonic scale (Do, Re, Mi, So, La) and eventually the entire solfege scale. Second graders learn a variety of folk dances to songs from America, Australia, and Europe. We begin reading songs off of a vocal score and recognizing written dynamic/tempo markings, and create movements to accompany them. Rhythmically, we tackle whole notes/rests and half rests, and in January we begin sight-reading rhythms everyday.

3rd Grade

• 3rd graders get regular practice doing folk songs/dances, pentatonic compositions, and early Choral skills - singing partner songs and canons, performing for others (usually our homeroom teachers), and opportunities for individual students to sing solos. We also learn about 16th notes and sight-read everyday throughout the entire year, advancing from rhythm sight-reading to solfege in the spring. Toward the end of the year, 3rd grade does a unit on Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, discussing how composers use instruments to tell a story without words. 

4th Grade

• This is where it all comes together! We get to have Music twice a cycle this year, and we sight-read everyday on both rhythm and solfege. After we learn about triplets, syncopation, compound meters, dynamics, tempo, the musical alphabet, and many other music literacy skills, 4th Grade learns to play the recorder! In addition to practicing these musical concepts and getting us ready to join Band in Middle School, learning the recorder requires major life skills like self-control, patience, problem-solving, intrinsic motivation, and more! Fourth grade spends the entire third trimester learning to play them - but don't worry, I never send the recorders home ;)