Music

The music curriculum is designed to give students a well-rounded experience in all areas of music, including a balance of creative and skill-building activities. John Feierabend’s Conversational Solfege (Unit 5 and up) forms the core of a year-long effort to strengthen students’ “inner hearing,” singing, and note and rhythm recognition. Listening activities help students understand various styles of music and their compositional elements.

We use Orff instruments to teach melodies, simple chord progressions, and improvisation using the mixolydian mode. Students also use PSR170 Yamaha synthesizers to acquire keyboard skills involving five-finger positions in different keys. Halfway through the year, the soprano recorder is introduced as a vehicle for enhancing musicianship, music reading skills, and composition.

The music curriculum integrates into classroom thematic studies. For example, when students are studying early American history, they may write and perform their own colonial street vendor cries. The Ancient Greece theme will explore drama, music, instruments, and musical modes of that culture.

Each year, Junior Unit students explore the music of major composers, including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, and Copland.