The goal of general music instruction is to follow the Delaware Content Standards for Music. There are nine standards for music and each one is introduced at developmentally appropriate levels.
Students will:
- Sing, independently and with others, a varied repertoire of music
- Perform on instruments, independently and with others, a varied repertoire of music
- Improve melodies, variations, accompaniments
- Compose and arrange music within specific guidelines
- Read and notate music
- Listen to, describe, and analyze music performances
- Evaluate music and music performance
- Make connections between music, the other arts, and other curricular areas
- Understand music in relations to diverse cultures, times, and places
General music is taught once a week to children in grades K-5. Children are encouraged to discover and learn how to use their “singing voices” through songs and movement activities. Rhythm instruments are used to practice the basic elements of rhythm. Different styles of music are introduced through listening lessons. Folk dancing and movement activities are practiced at each grade level. Chorus is an optional activity for 4th and 5th grade students.
Project MUSIC (Music Uniting Students, Inspiring Communities) is a service-learning project now in its eighth year, connecting student musicians from the University of Delaware and Thurgood Marshall School, giving students from both schools opportunities to work with each other and learn from each other. We will be producing on opera this spring, with 4th and 5th grade students singing and dancing in the chorus, and playing minor roles. Each year we "take the show on the road" by performing at Laudis Hall on the UD campus.
