SECOND GRADE CURRICULUM
Just like first grade, second grade students continue to develop their music listening skills and audiation skills (thinking music in their heads), and continue to build an extensive "listening, thinking, and speaking" vocabulary. In second grade, the students are now ready to delve deeper into their understanding of these concepts.
SOLFEGE
Second grade students explore tonal and rhythm solfege on a much deeper level. We learn additional tonal solfege (La, Ti, Do, Re Mi, etc.) to help us develop a better understanding of Major and Minor tonality, and rhythm solfege (Du de, or Du da di, etc.) to help us understand concepts of Duple meter (groups of 2 microbeats) and Triple meter (Groups of 3 microbeats). Students spend time in each lesson practicing solfege to become better at making and understanding these concepts of music.
MELODY and HARMONY
The students continue to develop understanding of a MELODY, and enjoying improvising melodies of their own! The students learn that every melody has a tonality (a specific set of pitches) and a resting tone (a "Home note"), and that this resting tone can be moved to various lines and spaces of the staff.... G-Do, F-Do, etc. (Major Tonality), or E-La, C-La etc. (Minor Tonality). The students also learn about specific aspects of melody (Question and Answer phrases, notes that move by step, skip, jump, etc.). Second graders begin to "sight-sing" various melodies using tonal solfege, to reinforce these concepts.
The students continue to develop understanding of a MELODY, and enjoying improvising melodies of their own! The students learn that every melody has a tonality (a specific set of pitches) and a resting tone (a "Home note"), and that this resting tone can be moved to various lines and spaces of the staff.... G-Do, F-Do, etc. (Major Tonality), or E-La, C-La etc. (Minor Tonality). The students also learn about specific aspects of melody (Question and Answer phrases, notes that move by step, skip, jump, etc.). Second graders begin to "sight-sing" various melodies using tonal solfege, to reinforce these concepts.
Students are also exposed to concepts of HARMONY, and continue working with tonic and dominant (the two basic chords of major and minor tonality) as well as other harmonies like subdominant, etc. Second grade students begin to label these harmonies by singing the corresponding solfege pitches that make up each harmony (Do-Mi-So, or So-Fa-Re-Ti, etc.) Students "investigate" the harmonies of songs, and try to determine which harmonies are being used. Finally, the students continue to sing melody and harmony as a whole class, and in smaller groups.
RHYTHM and METER
The second graders continue to develop their awareness of meter and beat. The students now have a much stronger grasp of the concept of beat and microbeat (subdivision of beat) and continue to label beats and microbeats with solfege to discriminate whether the music is in triple meter (3/4 time, etc.) or duple meter (4/4 time, etc.). Now that the students have had the opportunity to listen to and speak an assortment of rhythm patterns, they are given many opportunities to read music notation, compose basic compositions of their own, and play their compositions on various instruments in the classroom!
RHYTHM and METER
The second graders continue to develop their awareness of meter and beat. The students now have a much stronger grasp of the concept of beat and microbeat (subdivision of beat) and continue to label beats and microbeats with solfege to discriminate whether the music is in triple meter (3/4 time, etc.) or duple meter (4/4 time, etc.). Now that the students have had the opportunity to listen to and speak an assortment of rhythm patterns, they are given many opportunities to read music notation, compose basic compositions of their own, and play their compositions on various instruments in the classroom!
MOVEMENT
Second graders continue to explore various forms of movement, including a great deal of FOLK DANCING! Folk dancing allows the students to participate in a more "formal" means of movement, in which they must work with their classmates to complete a dance properly. The students listen to the FORM within a piece of music, then let the music tell them when to begin each new motion of the dance. After moving to the music, it is easy to analyze the FORM of the music into sections (A, B, C, etc.)
SINGING
We continue to develop our singing voice throughout the year. The students are reminded to use their "head voice" and to use proper breath support and proper breathing technique while singing. Some children learn how to sing quite easily, while other children may take some time to learn how to consistently sing with a head voice. For this reason, we continue to work on proper singing techniques throughout the students' time here at Perry.
Second graders continue to explore various forms of movement, including a great deal of FOLK DANCING! Folk dancing allows the students to participate in a more "formal" means of movement, in which they must work with their classmates to complete a dance properly. The students listen to the FORM within a piece of music, then let the music tell them when to begin each new motion of the dance. After moving to the music, it is easy to analyze the FORM of the music into sections (A, B, C, etc.)
SINGING
We continue to develop our singing voice throughout the year. The students are reminded to use their "head voice" and to use proper breath support and proper breathing technique while singing. Some children learn how to sing quite easily, while other children may take some time to learn how to consistently sing with a head voice. For this reason, we continue to work on proper singing techniques throughout the students' time here at Perry.
It sounds like a lot of work, right? Don't worry, we also have A LOT OF FUN in while we are in music class! The students actively make music in a classroom environment that is filled with play, movement, and exploration!