MUSIC
Stapleton Elementary School
Links and More
Quaver Music
All the elementary schools in our district utilize a powerful online music curriculum called "Quaver Music". The activities, songs, and information included, coupled with a music teacher's unique touch, leads to an amazing program that our students thoroughly enjoy. Parts of the online curriculum can be accessed at home by students, and even more can be used once they have a Quavercode from me. I'm currently working on getting at least every Fourth and Fifth grader logged into Quaver so they can continue their music education independently!
- a side note for 4th and 5th graders - if you sign in at home online, you need a device that can run flash. Most computers already have this, but currently iPads/iPhones/iPods don't support flash. Windows computers and Macs seem to work fine though!
Orff-Schulwerk
Although the music curriculum takes ideas from a variety of pedagogies, Orff is one in particular that the students love. It largely involves the use of xylophones and other classroom instruments in order to develop rhythm, pitch, and an appreciation for ensemble playing. The American Orff-Schulwerk Association is a great resource for music educators, and their website is a place where you can go learn about what your children might be doing in music!
Kodaly
The Kodaly music pedagogy is centered on the use of the voice to gain a better understanding of music. Through singing children's songs and using the vocal pitch system known as "solfege", students start to hear and recognize distance between notes. The better they can hear and understand music as a language, the better musicians they will be, and they will have a deeper appreciation of the musical arts throughout their lifetime.
Gordon Music Learning Theory
The Gordon Music Learning Theory invovles many aspects of other pedagogies, as it is one of the most recently developed. The all encompassing idea of GML is audiation, which the GML website defines as "when we hear and comprehend music for which the sound is no longer or may never have been present". This is different from aural perception, which is simply listening. Someone could listen to someone else speaking Latin all day, but that doesn't mean they understand it. Music is a language, and a student cannot be defined as fluent in that language until they can listen to, speak, read, and write it. Students who can successfully audiate will become very strong musicians.
"Those who wish to sing,
always find a song."
