List of 6 items.

• Tiny Torreys and Junior Kindergarten

  The main purpose of music classes in the Early Childhood Center is for students to practice a sustained singing tone, demonstrate steady beat using movement and instruments, and develop listening skills for a variety of musical styles. Students learn simple songs with movement, play percussion instruments and practice echo games with rhythms and pitches. In addition, students use movement to explore different styles of music and concepts including form, tempo, instrumentation, dynamics and beat.

• Kindergarten

  “Music tells a story” is the theme for the kindergarten music class. Students continue to develop the pitch matching and rhythmic awareness that began in the Early Childhood Center. Using level I of the Kodaly curriculum, students begin to use stick notation for rhythms and learn the solfege notes for the major scale. These concepts are reinforced by singing folk songs and playing singing games. Students also learn the instruments in the classical orchestra and listen to classical repertoires that tell stories:  “Peter and the Wolf,” “Nutcracker,” and orchestral works that have narratives. In the spring, students perform choral versions of several movements of Camille Saint-Saen’s “Carnival of the Animals” with percussion instruments and sound effects, working with guest artists from the community. Students also learn songs in contemporary styles, adding choreography.

• Grade 1

  As first-graders are learning to read more fluently in the regular classroom, they are also learning their way around a choral score in music class. The year begins with the students becoming familiar with choir folders. They begin by following the words of a song, then following words with a staff line of notes above it, then lastly, by keeping their place in an octavo with grand staff and piano parts. This skill set takes time to develop, and students have plenty of time to go over a piece until they become more familiar with it.  At the same time, students sing folk songs from rote to reinforce rhythmic and pitch concepts. Using the Freddy the Frog books students learn the note names for the treble clef staff and note values. At the end of the year they also study jazz or rock-and-roll music forms, learning the instrumentation and basic forms of the musical styles as well as the biographies of musicians who worked in those styles. Choral music for the Grandparents’ Day and Spring Sing shows is taken from a wide variety of genres—jazz, popular, folk, show, and classical—with added movement.

• Grade 2

  Second-graders continue to practice choir music reading skills and begin to sing music in harmony. The letter names for the treble clef are learned, replacing the solfege names assigned to notes in previous years. Students learn the history of the clefs and staff lines and become more familiar with “musical road signs” that appear in their written music. Students practice playing rhythmic and pitch patterns on percussions instruments in Orff arrangements. At the end of the year they study jazz or rock-and-roll, learning the instrumentation and basic forms of the musical styles as well as the biographies of musicians who worked in those styles. Choral music for the Grandparents’ Day and Spring Sing shows is taken from a wide variety of genres—jazz, popular, folk, show and classical—with added movement.

• Grade 3

  Music-reading skills are further developed in third grade through use of more complicated choral scores and learning to play the recorder. Students learn the basic techniques for playing and caring for a wind instrument and learn to play in ensembles, using alto and tenor recorders and pitched and unpitched percussion instruments. Music appreciation units on composing techniques, world music, and improvisation take students to a deeper experience. Choral music for the Grandparents’ Day and Spring Sing shows is taken from a wide variety of genres—jazz, popular, folk, show and classical—with added movement.

• Grade 4

  Building on the third-grade instrumental experience (recorder), all fourth-grade students take beginning violin during one general music class per week. Students use school instruments and do not take the instruments home for additional practice.  Students learn basic violin technique, improve rhythm and pitch skills, and develop more advanced listening, music-reading and performance skills. They continue to use their music-reading skills in choir and instrumental music and add more complicated choreography to songs. Students also learn music from several periods of California history and folk dances, in conjunction with the fourth-grade California social studies curriculum.