Music

All students attend formal music classes on a weekly basis in the school’s music room. These classes are taught by music director Mike Schwagerus.

Students learn to sing, read music, and study various genres including sacred, classical, jazz, and popular music.

Click to hear the 4th graders play their recorders

Grades K, 1, 2 and 3

Students learn to read specific music symbols, practice singing fundamentals, and sing seasonal music both sacred and secular. In addition, they prepare .for taking the recorder class in fourth grade.

4^th Grade

Fourth Graders learn to play the recorder. The curriculum includes Recorder Karate and Carnegie Hall Link Up Program. Students earn reward belts for mastering songs from “Merrily We Roll Along” to “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” Fourth Graders perform an interactive concert with Sacramento’s Vita Academy Orchestra through the Carnegie Hall Link Up Program.

5^th Grade - Beginning Band

Students learn to play a wind instrument. The curriculum includes Sound Innovation as well as Smart Music, a web-based practice tool. At the end of the school year, the students perform a concert for family and friends.

5^th Grade through 8^th Grade

Students continue to develop music reading skills, learn music theory, and develop ear training and ensemble skills while studying important composers and styles of music. These composers and styles include:

• 5^th Grade Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
• 6^th Grade Opera and Broadway Musicals; Rossini’s Barber of Seville, The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked.
• 7^th Grade History of Jazz from Dixieland to Duke Ellington to Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
• 8^th Grade History of Rock including Bill Haley and the Comets, The Beatles, and Hillsong. Here the focus is connecting our Catholic faith with current songs and global concerns.