Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten
Five year olds bring a natural enthusiasm for music when they come to school. During the Prekindergarten and Kindergarten year, the children will develop a sense of steady beat and will respond to fast/slow, loud/soft, long/short and high/low. The lessons in their music classes include movement activities, for it is through movement that children begin to internalize beat and rhythm and make it a natural part of their musical experience. All through the year we work toward the ability to sing a melody with accuracy and good sense of pitch by matching tones and imitating patterns that I sing to them or that are played on instruments. Music concepts are presented in playful activities that spark the children’s sense of excitement and fun and they love and enjoy music even more. The students soon find their songs, dances, and musical stories are as important as anything else. Their music class built around fun and hands on involvement build the children’s confidence in their own powers for music making.
First Grade
The First grade students begin to read pitches and simple rhythms in music class. The method used is based on the principles developed by the Hungarian composer and educator, Zoltan Kodaly. Children will be introduced to solfa syllables – do, re, mi, fa, so, and la. – and their relationship to the staff and to each other. They will learn simple melodic and rhythm patterns and associate them with solfa syllables. The songs we sing in class are from a vast body of “child songs” and folk songs of the United States and elsewhere. Movement, playing rhythm instruments, creating simple melodies and ostinatos are also important in our study of music. The skills they develop in singing, playing, moving, creating, reading and listening allow students to immerse themselves in the music itself. Their music class built around fun and hands on involvement build the children’s confidence in their own powers for music making and build their self-esteem and cultural enrichment.