Music Curriculum

Overview

The Prospect Sierra music program is based on the recognition that music is a component of all cultures and that an awareness of this universal language--gained through singing, dancing, listening, and playing music together--can be a powerful tool for understanding people.  This aspect of the music curriculum is amplified by its integration with the humanities themes at all grade levels. The program strives to balance the intellectual and emotional aspects of learning music, while also incorporating the physical and the sensory. Elemental music theory, improvisation, and exploration are emphasized, and dance and movement are a vital part of the curriculum.
The music program promotes the education of the whole musician involving speech and song, dance and creative movement, rhythm games, and the use of Orff instruments (xylophones), which students play from kindergarten on.  Students are encouraged to explore and accept challenges, work with mutual respect, and realize the joy of making music together.

Elementary School

Students in the elementary school are introduced to music through the method developed by the composer Carl Orff.  His core principle was that the Orff Schulwerk method should allow the student to discover the elemental qualities of music as well as be inspired to create.  Improvisation is a major ingredient in this method, and providing the tools and vocabulary to create is the job of the teacher.

The Orff Schulwerk experience is child-centered.  It is based on the ways in which children naturally communicate.  Using their voices to speak and sing and their bodies to move and dance, children joyfully move from musical imitation to improvisation and literacy.

In addition to music classes twice a week, an elementary school orchestra, open to all students who play instruments, meets weekly before school and performs for the school and the community.

Middle School

The curriculum in the middle school continues the Orff approach begun in elementary school, and its goal is to foster an appreciation of music as a component of all cultures and to give students a background for ongoing studies.  Fifth and sixth graders have a band elective each week, and are invited to play in the middle school orchestra, which meets weekly before school in the morning.  In the seventh and eighth grades a year-long course, in conjunction with the humanities curriculum, integrates music from the various regions, cultures, and time periods studied--music of Africa and the Middle East, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and American folk, jazz, blues, and rock.  Additionally, students may enroll in ensemble as a trimester elective, with an option for jazz band or world beat.  Seventh and eighth graders also play in the middle school orchestra.

–Music updated fall 2006