The music program seeks to instill a lifelong love and appreciation of music through a wealth of experience, both as a performer and audience member. All third grade students learn to play the violin using a modified Suzuki method, which includes note-reading from the start. Music classes are supplemented by dramatic musical productions staged for grades K-4 by the classroom teachers and a musical theater production for interested students in grades 5-8. Musicians perform two major concerts at school each year.
Music Essentials
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
musical alphabet
treble clef placement
three ways notes move
lines & spaces on treble clef
note values: eighth, quarter, half & whole
dynamics: pp to ff
Solfege with Curwen hand signs
Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals
Peter and the Wolf
instrument recognition by sight & sound
musical alphabet forwards & backwards
treble & bass clef placement
Five C notes on the grand staff
simple melodic dictation
five basic notes and rests values
changing dynamics
Solfege with Curwen hand signs
listen & identify major & minor scales & triads
intervals of 2nds through octaves
C, B, and D & concept of notes on the grand staff
counting rhythms
melodic & rhythmic dictation
Solfege with Curwen hand signs
basic tempos
keyboard geography
Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
instrument families of the orchestra
Third Grade
Fourth Grade general music
Beginning Orchestra
Solfege with Curwen hand signs
time signatures & conducting patterns
scales C, G, F and introduction of others
major & minor triads in C, G, and F
parts of the violin & the bow
violin placement & bow hold in rest position & playing position
performance etiquette
beautiful tone on open strings
A major scale
Suzuki method Twinkle Variations
differentiated instruction for non-beginners
spring performance
all intervals
all notes in the grand staff: low B to high D
all combinations of notes & rests
all tempos
all genres
elements of music
Essential Elements 2000, Book One
singing for non-singers
rhythm practice
conducting patterns
primo performance & primo encores repertoire
Beginning Band
Chorus & Musical Theater
Advanced Orchestra & Advanced Band
Essential Elements 2000, Book One
Sight singing
rhythm practice
conducting patterns
varied repertoire
dramatic musical production
concert performances: Thankful Hearts, Winter & Spring Concerts, additional concerts
Memorize acting monologue & song for mock audition
Pronunciation, annunciation, & projection in speech & song
Proper breathing technique from diaphragm & good posture
James River Day School cherishes children and challenges them to become scholars, leaders, and citizens for the 21st century, in a community of academic excellence.
