Kindergarten
Kindergarten students are practicing steady beat by tapping and stepping while singing. They’ve learned to distinguish between singing, speaking, shouting, and whispering. Students have also mastered the concept of fast and slow.
In each lesson, students listen to a classical piece of music. These nine weeks, Kindergarten students have listened to several selections from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. We’ve heard Elephant, Aquarium, Birds, March of the Lions, Tortoise, and Hens and Rooster.
First grade
During the first nine weeks, first grade students worked on differentiating between beat and rhythm and reviewed kindergarten concepts. Students recently learned about quarter notes and eighth notes. We use rhythm syllables when we clap and say them. Quarter notes are ta and eighth notes are ta-di. Students are also working on high and low.
In each lesson, students listen to a classical piece of music. These nine weeks, first grader students have listened to “Dance of the Unhatched Chicks” from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, and several selections from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns including Elephant, Aquarium, Aviary, and March of the Lions.
Second grade
Second grade students reviewed the melodic pitches so, la, and mi from first grade, as well as known rhythms: quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests. Students recently learned about half notes, a rhythm in music that takes up two beats. Currently, students are learning about a melodic pitch lower than mi.
Students listen to a classical piece of music in each lesson. These nine weeks, second grade students have listened to John Phillip Sousa’s Hands Across the Sea and Stars and Stripes Forever. They’ve also enjoyed the William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini, “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg, and “Minuet” from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Third Grade
During the first nine weeks, third grade students reviewed the melodic pitches of the pentatonic scale: do, re, mi, so, and la. We also reviewed known rhythms including quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and half notes. Toward the end of the grading period, students learned a new rhythm combining an eighth note and two sixteenth notes called ta-dimi.
Students listen to a classical piece of music in each lesson. These nine weeks, third grade students have listened to Morning Song from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg, the “Allegro” movement from Symphony no. 1 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Movement 2 from Symphony no. 9 “New World” by Antonin Dvorak, “Fossils” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint- Saëns, “Pick a Little, Talk a Little” from the Music Man by Meredith Wilson, and the Overture to the Rosamunde Ballet by Franz Schubert.
Fourth grade
Fourth grade students reviewed the melodic pitches of the pentatonic scale: low so, low la, do, re, mi, so, and la. We also reviewed known rhythms including quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes, half notes, sixteenth notes, and eighth note and sixteenth note combinations. Students also learned about high do, a pitch a skip higher than la, and practiced do’ in known songs and games.
Students listen to a classical piece of music in each lesson. These nine weeks, fourth grade students have listened to: William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini, Overture to the Rosamunde Ballet by Franz Schubert, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, “Empress of the Pagodas” from Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel, “Pick a Little, Talk a Little” from the Music Man by Meredith Wilson, Flute and Harp Concerto in C, Movement 1 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and “Evening Prayer” from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdink.
Fifth grade
During the first nine weeks, fifth grade students reviewed the melodic pitches of the pentatonic scale: low so, low la, do, re, mi, so, la and high do. We also reviewed known rhythms including quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes, half notes, sixteenth notes, eighth note and sixteenth note combinations, and syncopation. Students learned the melodic pitch fa and practiced it in known songs and games.
Students listen to a classical piece of music in each lesson. These nine weeks, fifth graders listened to: “Evening Prayer” from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdink, Musette by Johann Sebastian Bach, Old Ark (folk song the choir is working on), Jamaican Rumba by Arthur Benjamin, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, “The Red Poppy” from The Russian Sailor’s Dance, op. 70 by Reinhold Gliere, and Symphony no. 9, movement 4, “Ode to Joy” by Ludwig van Beethoven.