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K-5 Music Curriculum
Throughout the school year, your child will exploring and creating with a number of different grade specific musical concepts. Before naming each concept, we prepare it through singing, speaking, moving, and playing in accordance with the Orff Schulwerk process and Kodaly method. After experiencing each concept through a variety of mediums, we present the concept by giving it a name. Finally, we continue practicing the concept, using its labeled name, and intentionally focus on how that fits into the greater picture of our current knowledge at each grade level.
Listed below are each of the concepts that we focus during the year, organized by grade level. For an in-depth look at our curricular scope and sequence, pacing guide, and elements of dance sequence, click one of the links below. If you have questions about what your student is learning in music class, don't hesitate to reach out via the 'Contact Me' page.
K-5 Music Curriculum Scope and Sequence
K-5 Music Curriculum Pacing Guide
K-5 Music Elements of Dance Sequence
4th and 5th Grade Recorder Curriculum
Kindergarten
- Steady beat
- Beat vs. no beat
- Beat vs. rhythm
- Form and travel in a line or circle
- Sing independently and in a group
- Explore locomotor and nonlocomotor movement
- Explore movement directions: forward, backward, sideways
- Explore personal and shared space in movement
- Identify sounds the go up, down, or stay the same
- Play unpitched percussion instruments (UPP)
- Perform steady beat and word rhythms on UPP
- Explore movement size: big and small
- Explore movement speed: fast, medium, and slow
- Explore moving single or multiple body parts
- Practice matching pitch
- Play finger games
- Experiment with vocal and pitch exploration
- Explore opposites (short/long, fast/slow, high/low, loud/soft)
- Practice the 5 voice types (speaking, singing, whispering, shouting, and inner)
- Sing songs with sol and mi
- Sing songs with call and response
- Experience music from around the world
- Explore movement shapes: rounded, twisted, angular
- Read creative rhythmic notation (iconic)
- Compose and improvise using long and short sounds or high and low sounds
- Explore basic folk dances
1st Grade
- Review all Kindergarten concepts
- Steady beat
- Ta, ti ti, and rest
- Sol, mi, and la
- Practice audiation by using 'magic lips'
- Play a chord bordun on a xylophone
- Play a tone color part on a xylophone
- Explore movement levels: high, middle, and low
- Perform and identify music in AB and ABA forms
- Perform and create rhythmic and speech ostinati
- Perform speech piece with one ostinato
- Explore movement pathways: curved, straight, zigzag
- Explore moving single or multiple body parts
- Compose and improvise rhythmic patterns using ta, ti ti, and rest in standard notation
- Read and notate melodic patterns on the 3-line staff
- Read and write simple rhythmic patterns using ta, ti ti, and rest
- Explore movement relationships: in front, beside, and behind
- Compose and improvise melodic patterns using sol, la, and mi
- Read and sing melodic patterns using sol, la, and mi
- Play simple sol, la, and mi melodies on the xylophone
- Experience music from around the world
- Explore movement relationships: near and far
- Identify and play up and down melodies
- Explore locomotor and nonlocomotor movement
- Explore basic folk dances
2nd Grade
- Review all 1st grade concepts
- Steady beat
- Ta, ti ti, two, and rests
- Do, re, mi, sol, and la
- Introduce and utilize the rhythmic building blocks for composing and improvising
- Explore movement size: big, medium, small
- Explore movement speed: accelerating and decelerating
- Introduce and perform music and speech in 2/4 meter
- Introduce and perform music that is piano or forte
- Read, sing, notate, and play melodic patterns on the 5-line staff
- Identify short phrases as same or different
- Introduce elemental forms (abab, abba, aaab, abca, abac, etc.)
- Perform and identify music in AB, ABA, ABC, and all elemental forms
- Explore movement relationships: meeting and parting
- Explore movement facing: front, back, and side
- Explore movement shapes: symmetrical and asymmetrical
- Perform pieces with chord bordun, tone color part, and one ostinato
- Play a broken bordun on xylophone
- Compose short melodies using do, re, mi, sol, and la with or without a 5-line staff
- Read short melodies using do, re, mi, sol, and la with or without a 5-line staff
- Compose and improvise rhythmic patterns using ta, ti ti, two, and rests
- Experience music from around the world
- Explore balance using one or more body parts
- Explore movement energy: heavy and light, sudden and sustained
- Sing or speak in 2 parts
- Sing or speak in a simple 2-part canon
- Explore basic folk dances
3rd Grade
- Review all 2nd grade concepts
- Steady beat
- Ta, ti ti, ti ta ti, two, three, four, ti ta ti, and rests
- Low la, low sol, do, re, mi, sol, la, and high do
- Sing or speak in 2-part canon
- Introduce do-centered pentatonic
- Introduce phrases as 'short musical fragments'
- Introduce pentatonic and the pentatonic scale
- Introduce introduction, interlude, and coda
- Explore movement sequences: beginning, development, end
- Explore movement to a rhythmic pattern
- Explore movement energy and attack: sharp and smooth
- Introduce and perform music and speech in 4/4 meter
- Play a level bordun on the xylophone
- Read, sing, and play melodies using the pentatonic scale from the 5-line staff
- Perform rhythmic speech with two or three ostinati
- Play a melodic ostinato on the xylophone
- Explore movement relationships: mirroring and shadowing
- Introduce pianissimo and fortissimo
- Introduce and improvise with question and answer
- Introduce C and Am chords on ukulele
- Play a crossover bordun on xylophone
- Sing or speak in a 2- and 3-part canon
- Explore movement timing relationships: before, after, canon
- Explore movement quality: tense, relaxed, loose, tight
- Explore, identify and perform music in rondo form
- Explore singing partner songs
- Introduce and perform music and speech in 3/4 meter
- Compose and improvise an 8-beat rhythmic or melodic pattern
- Compose and improvise using low la, low sol, do, re, mi sol, la, and do'
- Experience music from around the world
- Explore creating simple choreography
- Explore movement relationships: alone and connected
- Explore movement in free rhythm using breath
- Introduce treble clef note names
- Sing, play, and compose a melody in do- or la-based pentatonic
- Explore intermediate level folk dances
4th Grade
- Review all 3rd grade concepts
- Steady beat
- Single eight note, ta, ti ti, tika tika, ti tika, tika ti, tum ti, two, three, four, and rests
- Low la, low sol, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, high do
- Explore movement relationships: over and under
- Explore movement facings: front, back, and side
- Introduce soprano recorder, notes D2, C2, B, A, and G
- Play by ear, read, and improvise with D2, C2, B, A, and G
- Read, sing, and play melodies using do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, do on the 5-line staff
- Introduce and experience music in la-centered pentatonic, improvise and compose
- Sing 3- and 4-part canons
- Introduce F, G, and G7 chords on ukulele
- Introduce crescendo and decrescendo
- Explore movement quality: sharp and swinging
- Explore movement in free rhythm with the breath
- Introduce and experience music in re-, mi-, and sol-centered pentatonic
- Play a single moving drone on the xylophone
- Perform pieces with two or three ostinati
- Explore movement flow: free and bound
- Introduce hexatonic and hexatonic scale
- Explore creating simple choreography, concrete and abstract
- Experience music from around the world
- Compose and improvise an 8-beat rhythmic or melodic pattern
- Compose and improvise using low la, low sol, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and high do
- Explore intermediate level folk dances
5th Grade
- Review all 4th grade concepts
- Steady beat
- Single eight note, ti ti ti, tum, ta, timka, katim, ti ti, tika tika, ti tika, tika ti, tum ti, two, three, four, and rests
- Low la, low sol, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, high do
- Sing 3- and 4-part canons
- Introduce E, low D, F#, F, and low C on the soprano recorder
- Play by ear, read, and improvise with all known notes
- Introduce the families of the orchestra
- Explore movement in free rhythm: breath and cued
- Explore choreographing movement according to musical style
- Introduce three eighth notes beamed (ti ti ti) and dotted quarter note (tum)
- Introduce and perform music and speech in 6/8 meter
- Introduce major and minor
- Perform pieces with 4 or more parts
- Introduce Dm on the ukulele, play known chords
- Explore movement quality: suspended and collapsed
- Explore movement weight: push and pull, weight sharing
- Introduce asymmetrical meters (5 and 7)
- Introduce diatonic scale
- Play double moving drone on a xylophone
- Explore music with shifting chords
- Explore creating movement inspired by artistic media
- Explore and perform modal music (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Mixolydian)
- Experience music from around the world
- Sing music in 2 parts
- Compose and improvise an 8-beat rhythmic or melodic pattern
- Compose and improvise using low la, low sol, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, and high do
- Explore intermediate or advanced level folk dances