Curriculum By Grade Level
Kindergarten
Goals for the Year
1. To develop basic musical knowledge: musical hearing and discrimination of sound,
feeling of rhythm, beat, and tone color
2. To lead the child to a love of singing, to sing clearly in tune in groups and alone, and
to move together harmoniously (locomotor coordination).
3. To awaken in the child an interest for music and to form musical tastes through
correct performance of melodies.
4. To influence the sensitivity of the child and to help develop through music a feeling
for aesthetics.
5. To develop the body in breathing, walking, and moving.
Materials
Approximately 80 songs, finger-plays, chants, and rhymes will be learned. Rhythm
and a feeling for beat are developed in action- and game-songs, marches, finger-plays, and
in chanting rhymes in unison. Songs used generally deal with the child’s environment
(animals, seasons, holidays) and are carefully selected with regard to range and rhythmic
difficulty.
Training in kindergarten is done without the conscious awareness of the child.
Teaching of musical concepts will begin in Level 1.
Curriculum
Level 1
1. Rhythm and Beat: Ta (Quarter note)
Ti-Ti (Eighth note)
Rest (Quarter note)
2. Melody: High and low sounds, soft and loud
Do Mi So La
Staff
Pitch matching games
3. Harmony: Intervals formed by the four notes studied
(steps, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths)
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences
5. Literature: Approximately 50 songs and games songs are taught
by rote or notation.
Two-part songs, partner songs, ostinatos and dances
also form repertoire.
Curriculum
Level 2
1. Rhythm: Meters in time 2, 3, and 4, and upbeat
Accent, strong beat, barlines, measures, repeat signs,
first and second endings
Conducting
Fast and slow
Note values: half, whole, dotted half notes, and half
and whole rests
2. Melody: New sounds: Re, Do (high), La, So (low)
Scales: Pentatonic scales
3. Harmony: Intervals of the pentatonic scale
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences in song lines
5. Literature: Approximately 60 songs, many of which are
memorized with words and syllables
Singing games
Two- and three-part rounds
Partner songs
Ostinatos
Dances
Curriculum
Level 3
1. Rhythm: Traditional note names are learned: whole, half,
quarter, eighth, sixteenth
Freestanding eighth notes and eighth rests
Syncopations
Dotted rhythms
2. Melody: Fa and Ti (whole and half steps)
Pentaton scales with passing sounds
Five-note scales, major and minor (pentachords)
Seven-note major and (natural) minor scales
Dynamics, marks of expression
3. Harmony: Chords: major and minor triads
Intervals of the major and natural minor scales
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences in lines
Naming of musical sentences with letters
Variation
5. Literature: Approximately 60 songs, many of which are
memorized
Singing games and dances
American and international folk songs
Two-part songs, descants
Partner songs
Rounds
Ostinatos
6. Reading: Music reading will be practiced from:
Rhythmic notation
Syllable ladder (so, re, mi…)
“Living piano” (each child represents a note)
Hand signs
Staff
Curriculum
Upper Levels
1. Rhythm and Meter: Syncopations and dotted rhythms
Diminished and delayed syncopations
Diminished dotted rhythms
3/8 and 6/8 meters
2. Scales: Pentaton
Penta- and hexachords
Major and minor scales
Altered notes
Chromatic scale
3. Harmony: Intervals
Chords, triads, inversions
Cadences
Figuration
4. Notation: Absolute and relative pitch
Grand staff
History of musical notation
Dynamic marks
5. Music History: General outline of music history
History of the orchestra
Introduction to the great composers
6. Literature: National and international folk songs
Classical music
Rounds, partner songs
A capella and accompanied choral music
Dances
Music Curriculum
Music curriculum at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School is based largely on the sequential
music education approach known as the Kodaly Method. This well-known and very fine
method was adapted for American schools from the original Hungarian model by Katinka
Daniel. Her many excellent books comprise much of the teaching material and song
literature used in the classes. The “Levels” of the curriculum do not necessarily correspond
to class grades (excepting that of Kindergarten), but rather, to musical levels. The
curriculum under Level 3, for example, may be continued into classroom grade four or five.
Curriculum listed under “Upper Levels” would generally begin in classroom grade five and
continue through middle school.
Goals for the Year
1. To develop basic musical knowledge: musical hearing and discrimination of sound,
feeling of rhythm, beat, and tone color
2. To lead the child to a love of singing, to sing clearly in tune in groups and alone, and
to move together harmoniously (locomotor coordination).
3. To awaken in the child an interest for music and to form musical tastes through
correct performance of melodies.
4. To influence the sensitivity of the child and to help develop through music a feeling
for aesthetics.
5. To develop the body in breathing, walking, and moving.
Materials
Approximately 80 songs, finger-plays, chants, and rhymes will be learned. Rhythm
and a feeling for beat are developed in action- and game-songs, marches, finger-plays, and
in chanting rhymes in unison. Songs used generally deal with the child’s environment
(animals, seasons, holidays) and are carefully selected with regard to range and rhythmic
difficulty.
Training in kindergarten is done without the conscious awareness of the child.
Teaching of musical concepts will begin in Level 1.
Curriculum
Level 1
1. Rhythm and Beat: Ta (Quarter note)
Ti-Ti (Eighth note)
Rest (Quarter note)
2. Melody: High and low sounds, soft and loud
Do Mi So La
Staff
Pitch matching games
3. Harmony: Intervals formed by the four notes studied
(steps, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths)
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences
5. Literature: Approximately 50 songs and games songs are taught
by rote or notation.
Two-part songs, partner songs, ostinatos and dances
also form repertoire.
Curriculum
Level 2
1. Rhythm: Meters in time 2, 3, and 4, and upbeat
Accent, strong beat, barlines, measures, repeat signs,
first and second endings
Conducting
Fast and slow
Note values: half, whole, dotted half notes, and half
and whole rests
2. Melody: New sounds: Re, Do (high), La, So (low)
Scales: Pentatonic scales
3. Harmony: Intervals of the pentatonic scale
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences in song lines
5. Literature: Approximately 60 songs, many of which are
memorized with words and syllables
Singing games
Two- and three-part rounds
Partner songs
Ostinatos
Dances
Curriculum
Level 3
1. Rhythm: Traditional note names are learned: whole, half,
quarter, eighth, sixteenth
Freestanding eighth notes and eighth rests
Syncopations
Dotted rhythms
2. Melody: Fa and Ti (whole and half steps)
Pentaton scales with passing sounds
Five-note scales, major and minor (pentachords)
Seven-note major and (natural) minor scales
Dynamics, marks of expression
3. Harmony: Chords: major and minor triads
Intervals of the major and natural minor scales
4. Form: Question and answer
Similarities and differences in lines
Naming of musical sentences with letters
Variation
5. Literature: Approximately 60 songs, many of which are
memorized
Singing games and dances
American and international folk songs
Two-part songs, descants
Partner songs
Rounds
Ostinatos
6. Reading: Music reading will be practiced from:
Rhythmic notation
Syllable ladder (so, re, mi…)
“Living piano” (each child represents a note)
Hand signs
Staff
Curriculum
Upper Levels
1. Rhythm and Meter: Syncopations and dotted rhythms
Diminished and delayed syncopations
Diminished dotted rhythms
3/8 and 6/8 meters
2. Scales: Pentaton
Penta- and hexachords
Major and minor scales
Altered notes
Chromatic scale
3. Harmony: Intervals
Chords, triads, inversions
Cadences
Figuration
4. Notation: Absolute and relative pitch
Grand staff
History of musical notation
Dynamic marks
5. Music History: General outline of music history
History of the orchestra
Introduction to the great composers
6. Literature: National and international folk songs
Classical music
Rounds, partner songs
A capella and accompanied choral music
Dances
Music Curriculum
Music curriculum at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School is based largely on the sequential
music education approach known as the Kodaly Method. This well-known and very fine
method was adapted for American schools from the original Hungarian model by Katinka
Daniel. Her many excellent books comprise much of the teaching material and song
literature used in the classes. The “Levels” of the curriculum do not necessarily correspond
to class grades (excepting that of Kindergarten), but rather, to musical levels. The
curriculum under Level 3, for example, may be continued into classroom grade four or five.
Curriculum listed under “Upper Levels” would generally begin in classroom grade five and
continue through middle school.
