About First Grade Music
First graders participate in music for the entire year, attending class 1 to 2 times a week. They have a performance in the spring. In class we focus on...
Pulse
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony
Tonality
Dynamics
Tempo
Tone Color
Texture
Form
Style
Etiquette
- Explore moving to a show beat
Rhythm
- Identify 1 and 2 sounds with written rhythm icons
- Identify quarter note, 8th note pair, quarter rest with traditional notation.
Melody
- Identify high and low
- Identify higher/lower (upward/downward movement of melodic direction)
- Identify mi/sol with solfege or numbers.
Harmony
- Introduce simple vocal harmonies with ostinatos
- Introduce harmonies on pitched classroom instruments
Tonality
- Introduce hearing/singing in various tonalities
Dynamics
- Identify loud and soft
Tempo
- Identify fast and slow
Tone Color
- Introduce families of unpitched percussion
- Exploring a variety of sound sources including: body percussion, environmental sounds, classroom instruments
- Introduce good posture and good vocal technique
Texture
- Explore songs using body percussion, unpitched, and pitched instruments
- Explore melody alone and melody with accompaniment
Form
- Introduce verse/refrain, AB, and ABA form
Style
- Explore various styles of music
- Introduce mood in music
- Exploring the function and context of lyrics in music
Etiquette
- Identify appropriate large and small group etiquette as a performer
- Identify appropriate large and small group etiquette as an audience member