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First Grade Music |
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Music in first grade concentrates on building a musical community and creating an atmosphere of enjoyment. Through a variety of songs, chants, and movement experiences, the students focus on melodic direction, matching pitch, singing with an appropriate "singing voice," and establishing the concept of rhythm against a steady beat. First grade is an exciting time in music as the students begin internalizing rhythmic and melodic concepts. Students demonstrate this internalization by reading from and writing on the staff, identifying pitches within known songs, and improvising. Use of Curwen hand signs, solfege syllable names for pitches, and rhythm names have proved to be valuable tools in helping our first graders develop their musicianship. Students also work with pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments. First graders have the opportunity to play all the families of unpitched percussion instruments (skins, metals, woods, and shakers) and have a discussion about these families. Pitched percussion instruments also play an important part in our activities. Proper mallet and playing techniques along with ostinati (repeated patterns) and drones (our harmonic base) have been the focus of our pitched percussion experiences. Performance practice and audience etiquette continue to be a cornerstone of the music program; all students perform throughout the year at assemblies and the evening Soiree.
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