Music: Kindergarten syllabus

The goal of the Kindergarten music curriculum is to give students opportunity to respond to the
elements of music. Students will sing, play instruments and move to music each time they attend
class. Their experiences with music this year will be the foundation they need to build on in
order to achieve the standards set by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The curriculum is based on the National Standards for Arts Education, the Kentucky Core
Content and Program of Studies for music.

1st nine weeks:

 Rhythm: discovering beat/no beat

 Introduce unpitched percussion instruments: rhythm sticks, hand drums, maracas,
tambourines, tone blocks, wood blocks, triangles, jingle taps, jingle bells, guiros,
boomwhackers and other specialty instruments when appropriate.
 Tempo: fast and slow
 Vocal exploration: speaking, singing, whispering, shouting
 Music Assessment Checklist focusing on beat competency and tempo

2nd nine weeks

 Work toward demonstrating beat competency

 Develop singing voices: matching pitches
 Rhythm:
 Dynamics: loud (forte) and soft (piano)
 Form: AB
 Music Assessment Checklist focusing on rhythm and dynamics

3rd nine weeks

 Rhythm: differentiate between beat and rhythm, read

 Form: call and response
 Melody: high and low pitches
 Introduce pitched percussion instruments: glockenspiels, xylophones and metallophones.
 Introduce families of instruments: brass, string, percussion and woodwind
 Music Assessment Checklist focusing on melody and tone color

4th nine weeks

 Students will continue to apply elements learned throughout the year using a variety of
songs, rhymes and books.
 Students will prepare songs for Kindergarten graduation.