Our music program consists of two music lessons per class per
week, which allows our professional musician / music teacher, Abby
Loces, to offer two different approaches. She also
collaborates with classroom teachers to help them bring music into
all curricula, from math to
language arts, as studies repeatedly show that learning about music
enhances all learning.
One class a week is dedicated to a three-part lesson in Music
Appreciation and Fundamentals focusing on Composers, Music Theory,
and World Music. During the second weekly class, Miss Abbey
offers Vocal Chorus, which is the training in tone, form, dynamics,
phrasing, ear training, and sight singing fundamentals. Twice
a year, students have the opportunity to perform with their peers
in a music performance, singing the songs they have learned in
Vocal Chorus.
There are also "special lessons" like the recent lesson on South
America, in which Miss Abby taught the South American "Clave"
rhythm and how to sing an easy Spanish phrase over a piano
"montuno" while students experienced hands-on learning by playing a
variety of Latin percussion instruments. She is currently
preparing the "Peter and the Wolf" music and story to introduce the
kids to the instruments that make up an orchestra with the
collaboration of university music students.