Music
Curriculum Overview
The main methodology behind the elementary music teaching is based on Zoltan Kodaly’s and Carl Orff’s approach to music. The child’s natural music environment should be their first experience with music. From there, concepts and skills can be developed. The child’s own voice is their primary tool for making and learning music. Developmentally appropriate folk songs, play party games, chants, nursery rhymes, and Classical music are the first set of repertoire which is used in the music classroom. As the child’s experiences develop, so does their introduction to each new skill. Movement and simple rhythm instruments are used to internalize the skills and add texture to the music. All concepts and skills are prepared and practiced before they are introduced and named to the child. Kindergarten is a year of preparation and practice with concepts formally introduced in grade 1.
National Core Arts Standards for Music (2014) include the Artistic Processes of Performing (singing, playing, moving), Creating (improvising, composing), Responding (listening, analyzing, describing music), and Connecting (to arts and other disciplines). Process Components guide the students how one carries out these processes. Lessons are planned to coincide with these standards.
Assessments are embedded in the lessons to monitor the child’s ability to demonstrate and identify the concepts.
Student performances, parent participation, and enrichment opportunities are an extension of what is learned in class.
Kindergarten:
Concepts:
Basic concepts: steady/ not-steady, fast/slow, loud/soft, high/ low.
Vocal exploration: exploring different ranges of sound with child’s own voice.
Timbre recognition: begins with distinguishing classmate’s own voices and progresses to recognizing wood/metal/drum sounds. Classification of sounds corresponds with K math curriculum.
Gross and locomotor movement.
Genre: children listen to qualities of lullabies, patriotic songs, nursery rhymes, counting/ cumulative songs, and marches. They identify and compare/contrast genres in their own words and begin using learned vocabulary. Corresponds with K literacy expectation for listening and speaking skills.
Grade 1:
Concepts:
Beat: identifying the steady beat through movement; making comparisons between beat and rhythm.
Rhythm: naming the long and short sounds we hear (using the syllables “ta” and “ti-ti”) and identifying silences (“rest”).
Pitch: preparation using high/low discrimination for later naming pitch relationship sol-mi.
Form: identifying like and unlike patterns in simple songs.
Physical response to sound through dances, games, and beat keeping on instruments.
Music literacy: independent reading and notating sol-mi songs.
Grade 2:
Concepts:
Rhythm: expanding listening, reading and notating for longer sound “too”.
Meter: duple vs. triple meter.
Pitch: building on pitch relationships by establishing tonic note “do”; compare and contrast melodic patterns sol-mi-do and mi-re-do; reading and notating mi-re-do songs.
Form: describing melodic direction of like/unlike patterns; naming ABA form and verse/chorus.
Texture: singing rounds to create texture and harmony; playing ostinato on barred instruments to create harmony.
Timbre: Instruments of the orchestra- comparing and contrasting qualities of sound; naming instrument tone colors including study of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
Grade 3:
Concepts:
Pentatonic scale: adding “la” to pitch relationships to create pentatonic scale.
Syncopation: rhythmic patterns (ti-ta-ti) going against the beat (common to Native American, African and Jazz Music).
Triple meter rhythms (tom-ti)
Texture: exploring harmony through 2-part singing.
Timbre: classifying instruments into families and ensembles.
Expressive vocabulary: crescendo, decrescendo, accelerando, ritardando
Grade 4:
Concepts:
Major scale: adding “fa” and “ti” to pitch relationships to create major scale.
Rhythm: rhythmic patterns (ti-ri-ti-ri) and standard notation vocabulary.
Meter: time signatures 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8
Texture: exploring harmony through ensemble playing with singing and movement.
Harmony: major versus minor.
Timbre: recorder playing experience; “Join the Band” unit.
Expressive vocabulary: piano, forte, first and second endings, fermata
Classroom Extensions may include:
Kindergarten Musical Revue: A stage performance where students learn to publicly present themselves through speaking and song. Students will be exposed to various styles of music, as well as apply some preparatory musical concepts for future study in grade 1.
Grade 1 Music & Movement Enrichment: 8-week session held during recess from January to March. All students are invited to participate. Students will learn structured play-party games, locomotor movement games, musical expression through whole body gestures, all individually, with a partner, or in group forms.
Grade 2 Recitals: Spring culminating activity allowing the students the opportunity to present what they have learned in the classroom and perform for an audience.
Grade 4 Recitals: Recitals featuring ensemble work through recorder and non-pitched instruments may occur in January and/or June.
Enrichment Chorus
Third grade students can choose to participate in a 15-week chorus offered once-a-week during their recess. Fourth grade students may participate in an outside-of-school chorus enrichment through the parent group. All students are invited to participate. Students will learn breathing techniques to support pitch. They will sing a variety of music such as rounds, seasonal, patriotic, folk songs. Performances may include school Community Meetings, participation with the PMS Jazz Band or Chorus during their winter tour of the elementary schools, the Hathaway Hullaballoo, a community performance such as at a Newport Gulls game, or an evening concert.
Enrichment Beginning String lessons are offered to grade 3 and 4 students through a private violin teacher in a before-school program. Trimester fees are paid directly to the string teacher and rental of a violin can be coordinated on a Violin Rental Night. This beginning experience can continue into the String Club after-school program at the middle school.