The preschool students have music once a week for 20 minutes. The focus of music education includes:

STEADY BEAT and TEMPO, meaning fast and slow

· Preschool students learn about the instruments.

· They play xylophones and other percussion instruments.

· Students do a lot of movement activities with scarves and instruments.

· Preschoolers work on listening, singing and playing skills.

• Simple folk dances are introduced.

Kindergarten students have music once a week for 30 minutes. The focus of music education includes:

STEADY BEAT, TEMPO, LONG AND SHORT - HIGH AND LOW SOUNDS

· Kindergarten students play xylophones, as well as other percussion instruments.

· Two-part pieces are played on the instruments.

· Students sing simple rounds, or canons.

· Kindergarten students learn folk dances.

First grade students have music once a week for 40 minutes. The focus of music education includes:

· Steady beat, of course!!

· Quarter notes (ta) and quarter rests are introduced.

· Eighth notes (ti-ti) are introduced.

· Three notes of the scale (sol, mi, and la) are introduced.

· First graders learn about ostinato, whether instrumental or vocal, and can play 2-3 parts on the instruments simultaneously.

· Students sing rounds or canons.

· First graders study folk dances from around the world.

Second grade students have music once a week for 40 minutes. The focus of music education includes:

· Half notes and rests are introduced.

· Whole notes and rests are introduced.

· Time signatures in duple time are introduced.

· Notes of the scale do and re are discussed and incorporated.

· Students are capable of singing partner songs as well as canons.

· Second graders are still folk dancing!!

· The xylophones and other percussion instruments are continually being used to accompany the students as an ensemble. As students progress in age the material that is being played on the instruments becomes more complex.

Third grade students meet for music once a week for 40 minutes. The focus of music education includes:

· Sixteenth notes (ti-ka-ti-ka) are introduced.

· The students continue to study solfege, or the notes of the scale.

· Third graders begin the study of time signatures that are not duple time, for instance three-quarter time.

· Music vocabulary is constantly being revisited. Words such as unison, tempo, octave, chord, bordun, ostinato, staff, clef, melody, harmony, dynamics, crescendo, and decrescendo are words students will know.

· Pentatonic scale is a familiar concept for students in the third grade.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students meet for music once a week for 45-50 minutes. Although fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students are at different developmental levels the areas of study in music are similar and cover the following skills:

· Students begin learning and playing syncopated rhythms, or dotted notes.

· Upper elementary students are learning to sing harmonies, as well as more complicated partner songs.

· The music being played on the xylophones and other percussion instruments is more complicated and will include up to 3 or 4 different parts being played simultaneously.

· The study of singing and understanding solfege continues.

· Students in the fourth grade learn how to play the recorders.

· Students discuss music history.

· Folk dancing is an ongoing experience at Holy Spirit Catholic School.