Elementary General Music

Curriculum Overview
Early Childhood/Kindergarten:
Infants (Birth-18 months)
Toddlers (18 -30 months)
Nursery (30-48 months)
Preschool (4-5years)
Kindergarten (5-6)
Music Training: Informal/Experiential
Singing: -Using the voice in different ways, vocal exploration, finding and using the singing voice
Rhythm: -Opportunities to feel the steady beat, move with others to a common beat, lead in keeping the
beat
Movement: -Movement used to develop creativity, coordination
-Beat-related movements move from passive experiences to independent beat motions (nonlocomoter and
bi-lateral)
Expressive Elements: Work with comparatives (Loud/Quiet, Fast/Slow, High/Low)
Instruments: -Instrument exploration
-Use of instruments in simple beat-related activities
Listening: -Listening examples accompany movement activities (creative and beat-related)
Creativity: -Creating new verses, actions to songs and activities
Primary (Grades 1 and 2):
Grade 1 (6-7 years)
Grade 2 (7-8 years)
Musical Training: Formal/Beginnings of Music Literacy
Singing/ Melody: -In-tune singing of pentatonic and diatonic songs
-Beginning of easy part work by the end of 2nd grade (partner songs/simple canons)
-Reading of simple 2-note, 3-note, and pentatonic songs (in solfege and on the staff with F and G as Do)
Rhythm/Meter: -Beat, Rhythm, reading simple rhythms ( beat/division/beat rest in simple and compound
meters; half note and half rest in simple meter)
-Understanding of simple meters (2 and 4)
-Understanding of 6/8 meter
-Experience with other meters
Movement: -More organized folk dances
-Alternating and locomotor beat motions that represent pulse and meter
-Using movement to represent dynamics, phrasing
Listening: -Use of listening examples to reinforce musical concepts
-Reinforcing instruments, composers, musical genres and styles
Form: -Understanding of simple forms (question/answer /binary, ternary)

Composition/Improvisation: -Use of known pitches, rhythms, and formal elements to compose and
improvise
Expressive Elements: -Introduction of terms for some comparatives (p and f)
-Using movement to demonstrate phrasing
Instruments: -Use of pitched and non-pitched Orff instruments to created simple accompaniments to songs
and rhymes
Upper Elementary (Grades 3-6):
Grade 3: (8-9 years)
Grade 4: (9-10 years)
Grade 5 (10-11 years)
Grade 6 (11-12 years)
Musical Training: More complex musical concepts
Singing/Melody: -In-tune singing of more complex pentatonic, diatonic, and modal songs
-Ability to sings canons, partner songs, and harmony parts
-Ability to read pentatonic, diatonic (major and minor) melodies with F, C, and G as Do
-Absolute pitch names
Rhythm: -Reading more complex patterns including syncopations (sixteenth notes, dotted rhythms)
-Understanding of new and unusual meters in addition to simple meter (compound and irregular meters)
Movement: -More complex folk dances
-Movement that expresses phrasing, form, and expressive elements of specific pieces
-Conducting in a variety of meters
Listening: -Using listening to reinforce musical concepts
-Reinforcing instruments, composers, musical genres and style
Form: -Introducing more complex forms (Rondo, Sonata-Allegro, Blues Form, Strophic)
Composition/Improvisation: -Use of know pitches, rhythms, and formal elements to compose and
improvise
Expressive Elements: -Introduction of more expressive terms (Crescendo, Decrescendo, Legato, Staccato,
pp, ff, mp, mf)
-Using movement/conducting to express these elements
Use of Instruments: -More complex Orff-instrument arrangements
-Introduction to the Recorder
Other elements: Jazz, Musical Theater, Comparing Popular Music to Classical, Folk, and World Musics
At all levels, an attempt should be made to tie music in with history, culture, and other subject areas.
Educators should make every attempt to utilize a wide variety of musics representing different genres and
cultures.