Specialists – Music

Music – Mr. Starr
Students go to music class approximately every 3rd day.

By the time students leave LHE, they will have learned concepts such as rhythm, meter, melody, harmony, form, and scales. They will also have experience putting these concepts into practice by playing instruments and singing, as well as performing for the whole school.

In Kindergarten, the focus is rhythm. Students learn to count rhythms on the rhythm sticks using ta, ti-ti, and tika-tika, and also learn rests. They also learn to sing songs together as a class.

In 1st and 2nd grade, the build on their rhythmic knowledge, and learn how to play longer rhythms on multiple instruments, including drums, castanets, and claves. They also learn the major scale on solfege.

In 3rd grade, students learn specific rhythmic values such as quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes, and also learn about chords and harmony through the ukulele. They expand their knowledge of melody and scales by learning about multiple minor scales and how they differ from the major scale.

In 4th and 5th grade, students learn about form, synthesizing their knowledge of rhythm, harmony, and melody into an understanding of how music is organized into a song. They will also be split into different sections, with each part of the class playing a different rhythm or instrument, in order to gain understanding of how a musical ensemble can function with different parts playing at the same time.