Lower School Music

The Lower School music program is comprehensive, incorporating all aspects of the musical experience: singing, playing classroom instruments, moving and responding to music, notating, improvising and creating music, and describing or evaluating music. The origin, nature, and purpose of music, deriving from our Creator, are addressed, and students consider how music can be a means of glorifying God. Students gain a familiarity with the great composers and their works. Music and dance are incorporated into various class and school productions throughout the year. Kindergartners may perform a Native American harvest song as part of their study of Native American culture, fourth graders dance a roundel in their medieval mystery play, fifth graders learn traditional American folk songs as they study the Revolutionary period.

Learning Music by Doing

Students learn within an interactive, hands-on setting, as music is best learned and enjoyed by doing, and the curriculum incorporates principles and methods of Feierabend, Kodaly, Gordon, Dalcroze, and Orff. As music concepts are explored and applied (often in small-group settings), self confidence, critical thinking, and social skills are also strengthened.