Music Curriculum

Welcome to St. George's music curriculum page! All St. George students Preschool-8th will have regular weekly music classes.

Mr. Higa's Melody Message

I was in middle school by the time I first joined a choir, or any organized musical activity. That was the beginning of my life as a musician, but it was not my first exposure to music. I was lucky enough to grow up in Hawai’i, where music is an integral part of life and it is a normal thing for everyone to participate. I always tell my students, I came from a “singing culture”. When I moved here to Seattle, I discovered that the standard response to finding out my profession is, “oh I don’t make music, I only listen”.

I try to instill in our students the idea that music is our heritage as human beings, it is not simply “something that other people do”. One of the proudest moments of my life was at the 8th grade graduation ceremony after a very difficult year coming out of the pandemic. The 8th grade class surprised me by singing the song I had been teaching them, “Lean on me”. Their home room teacher told me it was their idea, that they had practiced all on their own.

They had formed their own Singing Culture. This is what I hope to do with every student that comes to St. George.

Building a Community of Voices: Celebrating Our Musical Journey at St. George

Overview

Pre-school & Pre-K

Pre-school & Pre-K will begin half hour lessons weekly. The children are introduced to musical concepts, the use of sound, language and rhythm by rote as well as the idea of performance and public presentation. I try to show them that they can learn skills through practice and hard work, which they can then use for their own benefit and enjoyment.

They learn songs in a non-English language to perform at the Advent and Spring concerts in tandem with the Kindergarten class. This is to engender collaboration, preparation and an appreciation of languages, as well as making them comfortable with performing in public.

Grades K-5

Grade K-5 will be seen twice a week when possible for half hour lessons. They will be taught with a combination of practical work with their instructor, musical examples presented with media or live by their instructor and work towards their own performances at the Advent and Spring concerts.

Musical Growth: Grades K-8

Kindergarten begins to learn new songs regularly, pitch and rhythmic concepts such as musical notation are gradually introduced and practiced along with basic music theory. Kindergarten is given more complex and diverse types of music to explore from around the world. They will work with the Pre/PreK classes on a song in a non-English language, again to engender collaboration, preparation and an appreciation of languages, as well as making them comfortable with performing in public. In this case I remind them that for the first time, they are the older, more experienced class, and therefore need to set an example for the younger children.

In 1st grade, the level is raised in musical training. Students will encounter more challenging sight-singing, rhythm and harmony. They are introduced to more music as a whole, western Classical, Jazz and Traditional styles as well as more international music. They will collaborate with the 2nd grade on music that is more challenging both in concept and performance for their concerts.

In 2nd grade, in addition to a higher level of practice and theory students will be taught further in the concepts of harmony and diverse musical styles. They will once again be the more senior group in working on music with the 1st grade for the Advent and Spring concerts and encouraged to lead by example.

In 3rd grade, students continues the trend of learning higher level musical skills and techniques and begins to incorporate an understanding of how contemporary music is related to the skills they have learned. For their concert performance they learn a medley of 20th and 21st century music and learn about where the songs come from, the musicians, audience and world around the songs.

In 4th grade, in addition to being further enriched in musical skills and concepts, students will collaborate with the 3rd grade on the songs they are to perform. They will once again be the more experienced half of the group and encouraged to show it, but they will also begin to help with the development of the medley itself. They are asked to weigh in on questions of which keys are better for them, tempo and order of the songs all to create the best effect for their performance.

In 5th grade, students are given the opportunity to work with their instructor in choosing the song they will be performing for the Advent and Spring concerts. For the first time, they will be performing by themselves as a class, making the choice and work more personal. I try to make sure that the song they perform is suited to their maturity and capabilities as more experienced musicians. They will continue more complex skills and theory training to prepare them for middle school instrumental work.

In 6th grade, students will learn technique and musical performance with drums. They will be given an opportunity to work with each of the types of drums available and eventually decide which instrument they will be performing with. They will be learning rhythm and hand technique, be given examples of various styles of drumming. This work will culminate into a rhythmic set that they will performed at either the Advent or Spring concerts.

In 7th and 8th grade, students will be checking out ukuleles from St. George Music for the semester in which they have music. The purpose of this is:

To give them ample time and opportunity to practice on a real and working musical instrument
Becoming familiar with the care and tuning as well as the playing of said instrument.
Learning to be responsible in taking custody of school property passed down to them from older classes, which they in turn pass on to younger classes

The ukulele class will learn technique and performance practice for singing and playing on stage. They will be given the opportunity to help choose their repertoire with the ultimate decision made by their instructor. Weekly classes will culminate in performance at the conclusion of the semester. The Advent concert in December and Spring Concert at the end of the school year.

Student Choir: Thursdays 3:15- 4:00 Students in Grades 2-8 lead the liturgical music for our weekly Friday school liturgy and a few select Sunday Parish liturgies. In addition the students well collaborate on unique, advanced pieces for school concerts.