TK-4th Grade Classroom Music

Our special curriculum includes both performance outcomes and music literacy outcomes. Please read below to learn more about what we include in each and every classroom music experience.

Length of Classes, Session Length, Units

These are 30 minute classes, once per week. The class content / objectives listed below are possible with a 34 week session. Within a 34 week session there are 5 Units, with assessment activities scheduled for every 4-5 classes.

Unit content includes:

  • Music literacy including treble staff reading, rhythm notation, sight-singing and dictation
  • Performance Practice: Healthful Singing, Instrument Skills, and Movement for choral, recorder and ukulele songs.
  • Please read our sample Unit description below.

"When I go to music class my favorite thing to do is sing because it makes me happy."

Yeimy, 1st Grader

SPECIAL FEATURES!

UKULELE:

Ukulele strumming and plucking on ukulele notation is included for grades 2 – 4, in addition to our Choral & Recorder curriculum.

"I like to listen to the songs. I feel relaxed."

~ Sophia, 2nd Grader

CHOREOGRAPHY WORKSHOP:

Movement & music are perfect partners. Students learn better through movement, music being no exception. Movement can help reinforce high / low contours of music, rhythm and steady pulse, AB form, and more. Myriad’s Teacher Nina will visit all classes several times this year to polish up our spring performances and give these students challenging moves to work on.

PERCUSSION WORKSHOP:

A special unit for our students on West African and Brazilian rhythms, explored through exciting group bucket percussion and hand percussion. Progressive challenges for each grade, featuring ostinatos, call & response, layered patterns, syncopation and meter recognition, ear-training and more.

COMPOSER FACTS:

We give our students Composer Fun Facts lessons with accompanying study sheets to take home and learn. Each grade learns about 4 composers per year, with the recommended session length.

"I like music because I like playing recorder and playing games like 'Race to the Candy Corn'. Music makes me calm because when I sing, I forget about other things."

~ Samuel, 3rd Grader

TransKindergarten / Kindergarten – 2nd Grades: Choral Emphasis (Ukulele added for 2nd Graders)

"When I hear music, it inspires me. I feel comfortable and happy when I'm in music. And it is something everyone can look forward to."

~ William, 4th Grader

INSTRUMENTS:

Voice, Rhythm Sticks, Orff Percussion Instruments, Boomwhackers, Desk Bells, Drums, Sound Shapes, Ukulele

"Music makes me great when it makes me fun...when it is not bad today for me and its not tough to me."

~ Jonathan, 4th Grader

PERFORMANCE OUTCOME:

One memorized choral final performance, to be held in-class or at a separate performance time. Children will learn correct singing posture, breathing, diction, vowel placement, pitch-matching, how to blend tone with other voices,how to follow a conductor, choreography, and performance poise.

MUSIC LITERACY OUTCOMES:

RHYTHM: Reading and writing quarter note, eighth-note (Kindergarten) plus half note, dotted half note whole note (1st Grade) plus dotted quarter note rhythms in 2/4 meter, 3/4 meter, 4/4 meter and compound 6/8 meter (2nd Grade can do ALL of the above) NOTES ON THE STAFF: Sight- Singing /Reading and writing the solfege notes do, re, mi, and soh on the treble staff in several key signatures. Learning the letter note names of treble clef notes, from the Conversational Solfege method.

3rd & 4th Grades – Recorder Classroom, Choral & Ukulele

INSTRUMENTS:

All listed in Levels TK / K – 2, Recorders (Purchased for students to keep), and Ukuleles

PERFORMANCE OUTCOME:

One recorder/choral / ukulele spring performance, to be held in-class or at a separate performance time. Children will play in 1 or 2 parts with an accompaniment and learn to follow their conductor. The skill of playing / singing together in unison or in harmony teaches ear-training, listening and evaluating skills, musicality, learning to hear pitch and is the ultimate in team-building skills.

MUSIC LITERACY OUTCOMES:

RHYTHM: Reading and writing all rhythmic values learned in K-2 Level on the recorder and ukulele NOTES ON THE STAFF: Reading and writing all treble clef notes within the range of the treble recorder used in the Performance Component. Reviewing notes from the K-2 Level, and adding new notes from our recorder songs. Ukulele notation included. ENRICHMENT FOR STUDENTS WHO EXCEL: For students who need more challenge, we will provide duet and trio opportunities, which can be taken home as extra bonus work, and performed for the class.

Here are the GENERAL Skills

students are learning, by grade. Some of these skills are basic and essential to all music education, while some skills are more complex, building upon the foundations laid in the early grades. Our planned and sequenced lessons teach and reinforce these important skills for all young musicians.

CHORAL : GRADES TK - 4

  • Reading music well – with both rhythmic and melodic notation / systems
  • Developing solid steady beat ( a must for collaborative music making with others, in any genre)
  • Singing on pitch and in-tune
  • Singing with clear diction and open vowel shapes
  • Proper breath support - our emphasis is always on healthful singing, so the children learn to use their vocal cords safely, without strain.
  • Learning correct singing posture and poise for performance events
  • Simple choreography ~ learning physical patterned movement while singing is a complex, whole-brain learning objective. All of this in our fun, seasonal songs with fully orchestrated back tracks – these young singers really feel like they are part of a Glee experience!
  • Following a conductor and understand conducting patterns
  • Composers and the characteristics of their historical period

CHORAL, UKULELE (added in 2nd grade), RECORDER (added in 3rd Grade): GRADES 2-4

  • ALL of the above plus…
  • Playing the recorder with correct technique coordination and accuracy
  • Reading recorder music on the staff
  • Strumming and plucking on ukulele notation is included for grades 2 –
  • Playing as an ensemble while following the score and the conductor – these are beginning band skills.
  • Playing 2-part and 3-part music
  • Learning about the instruments in the orchestra and important composers
  • Learning about music from other cultures

KINDERGARTEN

  • Songs: Seasonal & Performance Selections WRITING, READING, & FLASHCARDS
  • Rhythm Reading: Patterns & Songs with Quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes
  • Melody Reading: Patterns & Songs with do, re, mi, so, and la, using Kodaly hand signs; space & line notes on the staff; moving by step and skip on the staff
  • Composers: Baroque - Pachelbel (1652 – 1706), Classical - MOZART (1756 - 1791) with music history fun fact sheets & listening examples in class

1st Grade

  • Songs: Seasonal & Performance Selections 1st GRADE DIFFICULTY: WRITING, READING, & DICTATION
  • Rhythm Reading: Patterns & Songs with quarter and eighth notes in 2/4 meter, measures, bar lines and double bar lines; Dotted quarter notes, eighth notes in 6/8 meter
  • Melody Reading: Patterns & Songs with do, re, mi (F, G, A Letter Names) in F Major on the staff
  • Composers: Baroque - Vivaldi (1678-1741), Classical – BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) with music history fun fact sheets & listening examples in class

2nd Grade

  • Songs: Seasonal & Performance Selections 2nd GRADE DIFFICULTY: WRITING, READING, & DICTATION
  • Rhythm Reading: Patterns & Songs with quarter and eighth notes in 2/4 meter, measures, bar lines and double bar lines; Dotted quarter notes, eighth notes in 6/8 meter
  • Melody Reading: Patterns & Songs with do, re, mi (F, G, A Letter Names) in F Major on the staff; 3 note phrases
  • Composers: Baroque - Handel (1685-1759), Classical – HAYDN (1732-1809) with music history fun fact sheets & listening examples in class

3rd Grade

  • Songs: Seasonal & Performance Selections 3rd GRADE DIFFICULTY: WRITING, READING, & DICTATION
  • Rhythm Reading: Patterns & Songs with quarter and eighth notes in 2/4 meter, measures, bar lines and double bar lines; Dotted quarter notes, eighth notes in 6/8 meter
  • Melody Reading: Patterns & Songs with do, re, mi (F, G, A Letter Names) in F Major on the staff; 3 and 4 note phrases
  • Composers: Baroque - Lully (1632 – 1687), Classical –CLEMENTI (1752-1832) with music history fun fact sheets & listening examples in class

4th Grade

  • Songs: Seasonal & Performance Selections 4th GRADE DIFFICULTY: WRITING, READING, & DICTATION
  • Rhythm Reading: Patterns & Songs with quarter and eighth notes in 2/4 meter, measures, bar lines and double bar lines; Dotted quarter notes, eighth notes in 6/8 meter
  • Melody Reading: Patterns & Songs with do, re, mi (F, G, A Letter Names) in F Major & G Major on the staff; 3 and 4 note phrases
  • Composers: Baroque - Bach (1685-1750), Classical – GLUCK (1714-1787) with music history fun fact sheets & listening examples in class