Music

Music is an essential part of life and helps us express ourselves. At the elementary level, students are exposed to many opportunities to participate in musical activities. As part of the curriculum, students receive weekly music lessons. These lessons focus on music history, music theory, performance, and proper singing techniques. Students have the opportunity to sing in a chorus concert each year. The upper elementary students also have the opportunity to practice rhythms with drumsticks as part of our Montessori drum ensemble. This provides an additional opportunity for students to perform and grow their musical talents.

Music is also integrated into the classroom curriculum to provide connections between different disciplines, such as history, math, science, and geography. Exposure each year to outside talents includes field trips to Harrison School of the Arts to see musicals and/or band performances. Occasionally, we have guest teachers/speakers who come to Magnolia teach the students about dance and/or other musical connections.

Singing and movement are the main components of music in the primary classroom. Students enjoy dancing, clapping, swaying, jumping and marching. The students are developing voices and learning rhythms. The mission is to make music lessons interesting and fun so that the children will think of music as an enjoyable pastime. It is our goal to provide a rich and varied musical environment. Soft classical music is often played during the morning work cycle, and children are exposed to various musical genres throughout the year (including jazz, folk, modern, and music of different cultures around the world). The more diverse kinds of music each student is exposed to, the more opportunity for growth. Basic music competence is defined as the ability to sing both in tune with accurate rhythm, and to make rhythmically accurate movements. Every student is born with an aptitude for music, but it is exposure that develops music potential. By having a rich musical environment at school, we are giving our students the opportunity to reach their musical potential. Recent studies have proven that basic musical competence not only helps accelerate a student’s joy in music, but will also increase abilities in reading and math.