Music

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MUSIC Mrs. Klassen

A Note About Music!

Dalhousie School offers music instruction for all grades as part of the school curriculum.

Learning Outcomes

Through singing, instrumental playing, movement, singing games, speech exercise and work on various computer programs, students will achieve the following outcomes as they move through the grades:

Performance Skills

Students will perform a varied repertoire of music to build their performance skills. Performance opportunities enhance a child’s self-confidence and feelings of self-worth. These opportunities are provided via classroom presentations, assemblies, concerts, and musicals.

Improvisation

Students will demonstrate creative idea development by improvising, composing, and/or arranging music while working with non-pitched instruments, recorders and the Orff instruments. The students are also encouraged to improvise/create movement to accompany speech, singing, instrumental or orchestral music.

Music Literacy

Students will demonstrate music literacy by reading and/or notating music. The building blocks for reading and writing music are introduced as early Kindergarten, and progressively added to with each successive year.

Listening Units

Students will listen to, describe, analyze and/or evaluate music or music performance. Students are exposed to a wide variety of musical styles. They have the opportunity to respond to musical selections through movement, art, speech, instrumental playing or drama.

Correlation with Other Subjects

Students will understand music in relation to other arts, disciplines, cultures and historical periods. The music program tries to tie in with other subjects being taught by classroom teachers. Students glean information about different time eras as they study composers throughout the ages.

The music program at Dalhousie includes the following: Singing, Instrumental Playing, Reading and Writing Music, Games for Group Readiness, Movement, Speech Exercises, Rhythmic and Metric Exercises, Scales and Modes, Study of Composers and their compositions, Music through Language Arts and a detailed study of the Instruments in the Symphony Orchestra. As part of our school’s music program, we also offer:

· Years 3 and 4 - Junior Choir

· Years 5 and 6 - Senior Choir

Extra-Curricular Choirs and Groups

There are a variety of extra-curricular special groups that practice outside of school time. They may include Handbells, Orff Instrumental Ensemble, Recorder Ensemble, African Drumming Club, and/or Drama Club. The choirs and special groups are given opportunities to perform at school programs such as the Remembrance Day, Volunteer and Grade 6 Farewell assemblies, Christmas concerts and Spring concerts. Rehearsal times, concerts and assemblies will vary from year to year and are announced in school newsletters.

Orff-Schulwerk Program

The music at Dalhousie School is mainly based on the "Orff-Schulwerk" program. In 1926 the German composer, Carl Orff, began his association with youngsters through his work with the Guentherschule, a school for gymnastics, dance and music, in the native city of Munich. Then in 1948 he did a series of radio broadcasts with children. The experience of those years and the collected material were condensed into five volumes known throughout Europe as "Das Schulwerk", and in English speaking countries as "Music for Children". A training centre for the Orff-Schulwerk was carried on at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria for several years. This has now have expanded into a larger Orff Institute where teachers from all over the world come to study. The Schulwerk has been translated and adopted for use in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, England, Spain, South America, Portugal, Greece, Japan and North America.

The "Schulwerk" is a program through which a child enters the world of music as an explorer, with new discoveries always before him/her. The central core is improvisation stimulated and guided by the teacher. Students develop their knowledge and understanding of music through movement, speech, song and instrumental ensemble. The Schulwerk is a wonderful preparation for any later musical activity. If children intend to play a musical instrument, they have the ideal basis. If not, they have the pleasure of real contact with the music by creating it themselves.

The Kindergarten music curriculum serves as an introduction to the "Orff-Schulwerk" program. Kindergarten students will find their first musical experience as a fun-filled activity where they will be introduced to singing, movement, and the playing of various rhythm and barred instruments.