Elementary Music Program

 

Bicentennial School is a Primary to nine school.  Students in grades Primary to Six receive a general music program consisting of two half hour classes a week.  This year our grade five students are lucky enough to receive three periods a week! The following concepts of covered during our elementary classes:

 

P/1 and 1/2 The grade p/1 and 1/2 split classes will be following similar but not identical curriculum.  They will be learning about concepts of beat, rhythm, dynamics (soft and loud), creative movement, using music as a way of playing cooperatively, singing, identify high and low sounds.  They will also be taking part in listening activities and class discussion on how different styles of music can mean different things.  Students will experience music from different cultures and will be asked to share some music that they listen to at home.
3/4 The Grade 3 and 4 classes are combined to their music period. They will be building on the skills they learned in the younger grades, such as rhythm, beat and pitch.  This year students will be expected to create their own rhythms and will learn about rhythmic improvisation.  Students will be asked to move creatively to music and create movements to represent different musical forms, melodies and rhythmic patterns.  Students will take part in a variety of listening activities that are developed to broaden the styles of music our students are familiar with.  Students will experience music, games and activities from different cultures as well as from their own.  Students will be asked to take part in groups discussions related to music.  Students will be introduced to the different families of musical instruments. Students will learn the note names in the treble and bass clef and experiment with tuned percussion instruments.
5 Students in grade five will be experiencing music from several different cultures, including their own.  Grade five students will be taking part in activities designed to get them thinking about the intent of the composer and the impact of the music upon the listener.  Grade five students will be building upon the skills they learned in the younger grades, such as keeping the beat, creating rhythms and creative movement.  Students in grade five will be given the opportunity to learn the recorder and will be taking part in creating music through Orff instrumentation.  Grade five students will be learning about the instrument families and will be able to identify different instruments by sight and sound.  Students will take part in activities that require cooperative participation, singing and composing.
6 Students in grade six will be taking part in activities that will expose them to many different styles of music.  These activities include listening activities, group participation in games and singing activities, and creative movement.  Students will be able to listening to a piece of music and discuss how it makes them feel and why they believe the composer may have written the particular piece.  Students in grade six will be expanding on their knowledge of music theory and will introduced to concepts such key signatures and the theory behind the major scale.  Grade six students will be asked to improvise a regular basis using rhythms and will begin to create music using the pitched percussion instruments.  Grade six students will also be given the opportunity to take part in grade six band.  Students who take band will receive two extra classes a week.

Winter Concert

Each year the elementary students perform a winter concert for the community.  All parents, family members and community members are welcome to attend this event.  The students work very hard on this performance and enjoy singing and acting for the community!!