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PreK - 5 General Music: Bancroft, Sanborn, High Plain, South, and West Elementary Schools and Shawsheen PreSchool
The Andover Public Schools Music Curriculum is a singing based curriculum which embraces the Orff-Schulwerk approach to music and movement education and utilizes the music literacy methods of Dr. John Feierabend and the Kodály Music Concept. The Orff approach builds 21st century learning skills through imitation, exploration, improvisation, and composition. Children use singing, expressive speech, instrument playing, and movement to become creative thinkers, collaborative problem solvers and life-long musicians. Active music making is at the core of this philosophy, and the emphasis on creative movement appeals to kinesthetic learners. Just as we learn language aurally, our students experience and perform music without notation at first. Students learn to read and write nontraditional and standard musical notation as they develop the desire to recreate and remember their own ideas, which reinforces the concepts they absorb through performance. The materials in the curriculum are selected from a rich repertoire of traditional folk songs and rhymes along with music from diverse styles and cultures. Each of the following elements of music are explored throughout their elementary music education: beat/rhythm, pitch/melody, timbre, tempo, dynamics, form, style, and texture. In grade three, all students have the option to explore string instruments. In grade five, all students will participate in a whole grade choral block.
6-8 General Music - Wood Hill, Doherty, West Middle
In middle school, each student has music class four times per week for nine weeks. Each class is 48 minutes long. Music class consists of project work, with a more in depth exploration of topics. Students are playing instruments including guitar, ukulele, and piano, singing and performing in groups or pairs.
The music curriculum continues to embrace the philosophy of Carl Orff and Kodaly, strengthening musicianship through singing, playing instruments, and creating music. Building on the various sounds to symbol approaches in elementary school, students begin to learn the traditional symbols that represent the sounds they are creating. They begin to compose and arrange music, working in pairs and in groups. More classical and popular music is explored. They reach deeper into their musical understanding through analysis of music. Students learn to relate music to other disciplines through interdisciplinary projects and the use of technology such as GarageBand and Soundtrap.
Bancroft Elementary - Evelyn Casey - evelyn.casey@andoverma.us; Nurt Villani - nurt.villani@andoverma.us
West Elementary - David Rice - david.rice@andoverma.us
Nurt Villani - nurt.villani@andoverma.us; Sabrina Lambros - sabrina.lambros@andoverma.us
High Plain Elementary - Martha Gigure - martha.giguere@andoverma.us; Nurt Villani - nurt.villani@andoverma.us
South Elementary - Lori Pratt - lori.pratt@andoverma.us; Diane Waddell - diane.waddell@andoverma.us
Sanborn Elementary - Diane Waddell - diane.waddell@andoverma.us
Shawsheen PreSchool - David Rice - david.rice@andoverma.us
Doherty Middle School - Jeff Buckridge -jeffrey.buckridge@andoverma.us
West Middle School - Emily Lapointe - emily.lapointe@andoverma.us
Wood Hill Middle School - Leo Diamante leonardo.diamente@andoverma.us