Music
All students have two or three music classes per week depending on the grade. They have opportunities to learn music concepts through singing, playing instruments, moving and listening. Reading notation and composing, music history and appreciation and performance are also a regular part of the program.
Music Room 720-561-6944
MUSIC CURRICULUM
Students experience a wide range of activities that develop their musical knowledge and ability in five conceptual areas:
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony
Form (the structure of music)
Expressive Qualities
The activities and essential experiences within these five areas will always follow the develop mental sequence for musical instruction with children:
- All music learning begins with the ear.
- Music skills are first expressed through the voice and the body; instruments are an extension of these.
- Children need experience in hearing, naming, and producing musical sounds before music symbols are introduced and meaning brought to symbols.
The characteristics of the music program throughout the grade levels at Heatherwood include:
- Moving, singing/speaking, listening, playing, reading/notating, and creating/improvising are activities that students are involved in during music classes.
- The approach is layered, beginning with speech, movement, and song, then extends to unpitched percussion, barred instruments, and recorder.
- Solfege and rhythmic notation are used in the Primary grades as a bridge to ‘reading’ music in the Intermediate grades.
- The soprano recorder is used as a tool in late 3rd grade and throughout 4th and 5th grade to support the music reading standard. Guitar instruction begins in 5th grade.
- Students are assessed during regular classroom activities in grades K-3. BVSD requires a formal music assessment at the end of 4th grade.
- The music curriculum at Heatherwood functions as a part of the total educational program in the school; Ms. Unruh integrates reading, language, math, social studies, and the science of sound (3rd grade) in the music repertoire.
Feel free to come and visit a music class! We always love to perform for our parents!