Music and Performing

Grades K-5About 45 minutes a week

Singing is the one instrument every child already owns. Singing together, listening all the way through a piece, and standing up to perform build an ear, a memory and a kind of courage a screen cannot.

What you need

  • Songs you both know (folk songs, hymns, the national anthem)
  • A recording of a six-minute classical piece
  • Any simple instrument: a recorder, a keyboard, or pots and spoons
  • Staff paper or a notebook

What done looks like

  • He sings a whole song from memory, close to the tune.
  • He sits through a full piece and tells you something he noticed.
  • He performed for someone outside the family and finished the piece.

What to do, grade by grade

  • K: a new short song every two weeks, sung from memory; high and low with his voice (a siren up and down).
  • Grade 1: forte (loud) and piano (soft) on purpose; listen to a whole piece, then name one thing.
  • Grade 2: sing in a group (family, church, a choir) and hold his own melody.
  • Grade 4: play or sing for a neighbor or grandparent on purpose.
  • Grade 5: prepare and perform a piece for an audience outside the family; compose a short tune and write it down.

How to teach it

  1. Sing a line, he echoes it. Build the song line by line.
  2. For pitch, move your hand up for high and down for low while singing.
  3. Before listening, give one thing to listen for: "When does it get loud?"
  4. In a group, have him cup a hand behind his ear so he hears himself.
  5. Practice a performance for the family three times before the real one.
  6. For composing, four measures is enough. The test: can someone else play it from his paper?
Curriculum goals this sheet covers (8)

In the words of the grade-by-grade guide.

  • Sings a short song from memory and lands somewhere near the right pitches
  • Tells a high sound from a low sound and shows the difference with his own voice
  • Sits through a six-minute piece of music and afterward names one thing he noticed
  • Uses loud and soft on purpose while singing or playing, and knows the words musicians use for them
  • Sings in a group and holds the melody instead of drifting to whoever is loudest
  • Plays or sings for someone outside the family on purpose
  • Composes a short original piece and writes it down clearly enough for someone else to play it
  • Performs a prepared piece for an audience outside the family

Goals covered: Sings a short song from memory and lands somewhere near the right pitchesTells a high sound from a low sound and shows the difference with his own voiceSits through a six-minute piece of music and afterward names one thing he noticedUses loud and soft on purpose while singing or playing, and knows the words musicians use for themSings in a group and holds the melody instead of drifting to whoever is loudestPlays or sings for someone outside the family on purposeComposes a short original piece and writes it down clearly enough for someone else to play itPerforms a prepared piece for an audience outside the family

All real-world sheets