Academics – Music

Music instruction at Cunningham Park Elementary School consists of a general music program for all grades Preschool through Sixth. All K-6 students receive general music instruction for at least 60 minutes each week in half hour class sessions. Preschool and Head Start classes meet for one half hour each week.

The general music curriculum provides for a broad approach to music education, incorporates elements of recognized pedagogical methods, including Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Music Learning Theory, and fulfills the requirements of the FCPS music curriculum, the Virginia Standards of Learning for music, and the National Standards for Music Education.

The FCPS general music curriculum specifies that:

Students will…

• develop and demonstrate critical listening skills
• develop and demonstrate the ability to read and notate music
• develop and demonstrate skills in music composition
• develop and demonstrate skills in singing
• develop and demonstrate skills in instrumental performance
• develop and demonstrate skills in movement
• demonstrate performer and audience behaviors
• describe, analyze, critique, and evaluate music
• explore music in terms of historical context
• explore music in terms of cultural context
   

The instrumental music curriculum expands beginning in the third grade with the use of recorders in the general music classroom. Students then have the opportunity beginning in fourth grade to learn a string instrument, and in fifth grade to learn a band (woodwind, brass, or percussion) instrument.

The vocal music curriculum expands beginning in the fifth grade with the opportunity to sing in the fifth-grade chorus, and then again in the sixth-grade chorus. Chorus, Band, and Strings are performance ensembles and, as such, present several concerts throughout the school year. Additional performance opportunities (such as All-County Chorus) are made available to highly-motivated students, usually by an audition process.