Primary Music

About our program....

The Primary Music curriculum, which follows the international curriculum model, is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoltan Kodály and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. (Click on the names to learn more.)

The students learn to read rhythms using international rhythm syllables, and they learn to read notes through movable-Do Solfège. Singing and aural skills are at the core of the curriculum, but the students also learn to play many classroom instruments.

All classes compose music, notate it, and perform it for their classmates. We learn about beat, tempo, rhythm and meter, along with timbre and texture, dynamics, phrasing and form. The students learn to evaluate, describe and analyze music. They learn how music relates to its place in time and culture, and how music can be used as a form of communication. Other Primary Music concepts include: note-reading, melody and harmony, pitch, movement to music, modes and tonality, various types of part-singing, interpretation and improvisation.

Singing As the voice is the most accessible instrument to most people, singing is the core of the PYP music program. The students sing songs in unison, in rounds, and in harmonizing parts. We focus daily on good singing posture and technique, as well as using the elements of music to sing expressively. The students sing songs from a variety of world cultures.

Playing Instruments Students have many opportunities to play percussion instruments in music class. In addition, all students learn to play the recorder (blokfløjte) in PYP 3, mallet (Orff) instruments in PYP4, and guitar in PYP5. There is an after school program for students who are interested in private instrumental lessons.

Creating and Composing CIS students learn to use the elements of music to express themselves through their own compositions. They learn to make thoughtful choices about rhythm, melody, form and instrumentation through the creation of new music. They perform and evaluate their compositions with their peers.

Notation Music is a language all its own. CIS students learn to record and communicate musical ideas through graphic notation and traditional notation. Rhythmic notation begins in Kindergarten, and pitch notation begins in PYP3. The students notate their own compositions and practice notating the rhythms, melodies and sounds they hear.

Listening and Appreciation Our students listen to standard classical repertoire and music from a variety of musical genres. Listening exercises are used to study the basic elements of music, as well as form, music history, style and musical expression. The students learn to identify a variety of musical styles, cultures and well-known compositions.

Movement Movement is closely connected to music. Our students learn a variety of folk dances and singing dances from around the world. They also learn to move in response to music in order to express a musical concept, a theme or character. We use movement on a daily basis to learn and reinforce musical concepts in class.

Primary School Ensembles

Kodály Music Education

The Kodály concept is an approach to music education inspired by a Hungarian composer and educator, Zoltan Kodály (1882-1967). Its primary goals are to make music accessible to all people and to cultivate a love and appreciation for music that is supported by understanding and direct musical experience.

Kodály's philosophy is that music is for everyone and is necessary for healthy human development. A person cannot be complete without music, and music serves to develop a person on all levels: emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Folk songs are the primary source material for beginning music education. Singing is the foundation of musical culture. He believed that every child should be musically literate. The voice is the instrument, with singing as the basic musical activity. Kodály music education is child developmental, not subject developmental. There is comprehensive training in rhythm, Solfège, sight-singing, listening, writing, performing, creating, and focus on aural and visual memory perceptions.

In educating children, Kodály asserted that only music of the highest quality should be used. Just as only the most nutritious food is given to infants, so too the highest quality of music must be given to the musically infant in order to cultivate an aesthetic appreciation for fine music. For Kodály, fine music meant genuine folk music and recognized composed music of the great composers.

The musical objectives of Kodály musical training may be listed as to develop the ability of all children to:

1. Sing, play instruments and dance from memory, a large number of traditional singing games, chants, and folk songs, drawn first from the child's own heritage of folk song material and later expanded to include music of other cultures and countries.
2. Perform, listen to, and analyze the great art music of the world.
3. Achieve mastery of musical skills, such as musical reading and writing, singing and part-singing.
4. Improvise and compose, using their known musical vocabulary at each developmental level.

In the Kodály method:

Rhythm symbols and syllables are utilized.
Hand signs (Solfège) are used to show tonal relationships, using moveable "Do".
The concept is child-developmental in its learning sequence.
Singing is the major instrument, because the voice is the most accessible of all instruments. It offers direct access to the world of music, without the technical problems associated with playing an instrument. Moreover, singing without the aid of an instrument leads to highly developed aural skills.
The concept begins with the total experience, then moves to the symbolization of that experience. The pedagogical principle of going from the known to the unknown is utilized. The same learning process as that in learning language is followed.

Kodály in the Primary Years

At the kindergarten level, the emphasis is on singing in tune, matching tones, and feeling the beat. The students already learn to identify rhythmic patterns of simple, familiar songs. They learn and practice basic concepts including high-low, loud-quiet, fast-slow, and long-short. We learn to internalize music right from the beginning.

Each year reviews and builds upon the foundations set before. The students progressively learn more complex rhythms, meters, and scales. They are introduced to music written on the staff, with key signatures, time signatures, and all standard musical symbols and terms. We also listen to great musical works, and learn to analyze and describe them using proper musical terminology. The students continue to practice Solfège, using hand signs to solidify tonal relationships. Beginning in Grade 3, the students sing canons and part-songs.

Music literacy remains a key component of this method and is developed gradually and sequentially. Kodály envisaged a deep literacy that went beyond just knowing letter names. Instead the musically literate should be able to look at notation and think sound. “The good musician understands music without a score as well as understands the score without the music. The ear should not need the eye nor the eye the (outer) ear”. Students who go through a complete Kodály program have excellent sight-reading and singing skills, which are the core of music education.

Dalcroze Music Education

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) was a Swiss teacher and composer known for developing eurhythmics, an approach to music education involving whole body movement. The Dalcroze method of music education uses the whole body to understand the basic elements of music: rhythm, dynamics, tone and form. The students move, sing, and play as they engage in listening, responding, and inventing. Dalcroze training stimulates, develops, and refines all the capacities we use when we engage in music: our senses of hearing, sight, and touch; our faculties of knowing and reasoning; our ability to feel and to act on our feelings. Coordinating these capacities is the kinesthetic sense, the feedback mechanism of the nervous system which conveys information between the mind and the body. The education of this sense to the purposes of music is at the heart of Dalcroze.

It has three branches: 1. Eurhythmics trains the body in rhythm and dynamics. 2. Solfège trains the ear, eye and voice in pitch, melody and harmony. 3. Improvisation puts it all together through the student's own creativity and invention: in movements, with voice, and at an instrument.

Dalcroze in the Primary Years

Primary students, in particular, have a lot of energy, and moving (especially to music) is very natural to them. Dalcroze utilizes their natural kinesthetic tendencies to internalize music and get a deeper understanding of beat, rhythm, tone, and form. Even the youngest students feel beat, tempo, pitch and meter by moving to music. Later in the Primary Years, the students refine their coordination and musicianship by doing two or three movements--each representing some musical characteristic--simultaneously. Dalcroze not only develops musical skills, but coordination, motor skills, and independence.