Kindergarten starts the musical process with a focus on rhythmic echoing and creation. Students participate in drum circles using various Orff instruments where they improvise rhythms within specific guidelines. Kindergartners also prepare for the Eric Carle Museum, where they set his books to music and additional holiday concerts.
Grade One begins their musical journey with the recorder. Students work from various texts to give them a well rounded approach to playing an instrument independently and collaboratively. Grade One also meets once per cycle for a class dedicated to singing and preparing for concerts.
Grade Two also continues the musical journey with recorder through independent, paired, and group practice. Grade Two begins composing melodically, a natural progression from their years of rhythmic composition.
Grade Three is the final year for students to play their recorder. The program at this level is much more rigorous than the younger years; third graders prepare to play a song at the Halloween Spooktacular Performance and a recorder accompaniment to the Lower School Veni Emmanuel Christmas Performance. Students also begin to study vocal practices in more detail at the third grade level.
Grade Four visits the Music Room twice a cycle; once as an individual class and once for Chorus, which includes the entire grade. The students are study musical genres in much more detail and complete composer research projects utilizing technological resources. Grade Four also begins playing hand bells in the second semester.
Grade Five also meets once per cycle individually and once for Chorus. The focus of the first semester is music theory, especially chords, scales, and chord progressions. The students compose their own 12 bar chord progressions, which helps them when they begin to prepare for their hand bell performance at the Veni Emmanuel Christmas Performance. Fifth and fourth grade choristers sing select pieces at performances that are age appropriate and more challenging than the unison pieces the younger students prepare.