Music
GRADE FIVE | GRADE SIX | GRADE SEVEN | GRADE EIGHT
The music curriculum is designed to enable students to appreciate music. The two-part curriculum teaches music history as well as basic musical concepts. The musical history aspect of the curriculum focuses on particular composers of an era with an in-depth look at their childhoods, career paths and style of music. Each grade focuses on a particular time period. Discussion of a composer's music includes an analysis of tempo, dynamics, rhythm, melody, instrumentation and mood. Students also learn about musical instruments, and students who play are encouraged to perform.
Music fundamentals are learned through participation. Students learn basic theory and ear-training elements such as note values and rhythms. The rhythms are then applied to patterns, canons and rhythmic dictations. The students develop listening skills and learn how to transfer music onto staff paper. Teachers emphasize the structure of melody and note reading. Students are exposed to a wide range of music including jazz, Gershwin, show tunes and contemporary artists.
The music curriculum also emphasizes singing and performance. At each grade level, students learn songs relating to a variety of Jewish and secular themes, including Israel, chagim, excerpts from tefillah and Tanakh, show tunes and contemporary pieces. Students sing as a class with an emphasis on posture, melody, harmony and attention to musical direction. Classes do weekly vocal exercises and practice performance stance and projection. Students also learn to sing in harmony, a cappella, in solos and in duets. Each grade works towards a Yom ha-Atzma'ut performance in which they have an opportunity to sing, act, speak, dance and work on backstage production.
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Grade Five
The fifth grade studies the Baroque Era. They focus on the lives of J.S. Bach and Vivaldi. They will study a Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, the Minuet in G, the Organ Fugue in G Minor and "Spring" from the Four Seasons.
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Grade Six
The sixth grade focuses on the Classical Era. Sixth graders study the lives of Mozart and Haydn. They study Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Twinkle variations and The Surprise Symphony.
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Grade Seven
Seventh graders study the Romantic Era. Students focus on Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Für Elise, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer's Night's Dream and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Swan Lake.
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Grade Eight
Students focus on Twentieth Century musicians. Specifically, they study Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Copland's Rodeo, Bernstein's West Side Story, Stravinsky's Firebird and Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite.
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