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Lower School Music at GCS
The philosophy of the Lower School Music program at Grace is based on the belief that music literacy is something that everyone can and should enjoy. The Kodaly based curriculum is based on going from the known to the unkown. The program is logical and sequential. Children have a total musical experience and progress to the symbolization of the experience. This approach leads the students to learn how to read music in a very natural way. In addition, music reading emphasizes left to right orientation and the acquisition of good listening skills - both of which contribute to the development and reinforcement of language reading skills. Based on our philosophy, the strength of the lower school music program at Grace is that it produces musically literate children who have a joy for making music. Curriculum Highlights First graders focus on learning to listen carefully to music. They learn to recognize loud and soft, to identify fast and slow, and they learn to differentiate between different timbres of percussion instruments and their own voices. There is also a great emphasis on beat, which is different from rhythm. With this foundation, the students move on to second grade music where they learn music vocabulary words and they begin to read rhythic patterns. They also learn the relationship of the notes of the pentatonic scale both through singing and signing solfege. By third grade students are reading the notes of the treble clef, and they all learn to play the recorder. Lower School Music culminates in fourth grade when the students continue their music reading and they learn about the instruments of a symphony orchestra. Students also have the opportunity to apply their musical knowledge to an instrument, or to choral singing. In fourth grade, students have the choice of studying either the flute, violin or cello during the school day, or they can become a member of the fourth and fifth grade GCS Chorus. Students who wish to do both can study an instrument in our afterschool program.
Early Childhood Music and Dance at GCS
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