Class Descriptions

Read the class descriptions for an overview of concepts covered for each level. For information on how these concepts are taught (methodology and teaching philosophy), see the Home page and Philosophy section.

Children must be at least 5 years old by September 1st for the Primary I class. If you're interested in early childhood classes (birth to age five), Meadow Star Music recommends Music Together through Young Naperville Singers.

The two biggest areas of focus in Primary I are steady beat and exploring the singing voice.
Melody: Children will work to find their singing voices and to differentiate between singing and speaking. They'll identify lower/higher pitches and melodic direction.
Rhythm: Children will keep the beat with movement and instruments, both while singing and listening. Later, they will begin to explore short sounds and long sounds with iconic notation.
Harmony: Children will perform with and without accompaniment.
Form: Children will identify same & different in sections of music, as well as echoes.
Expressive Elements: Children will explore louder & softer and faster & slower. They will use and identify a variety of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments.

Rhythm: Children in Primary II music class will read and identify rhythms with one sound per beat, two sounds per beat, and a beat of silence (with iconic notation and stick notation). Later, they will explore rhythms with three equal sounds per beat.
Melody: Children will continue to work to find their singing voices as they more intentionally identify the higher & lower pitches "So" and "Mi." Later, they'll add "La" and begin to read the pitches on a simplified staff, focusing on melodic contour.
Harmony: Children will accompany themselves with a chord bordun on pitched percussion percussion instruments. They will also begin to explore rhythmic ostinato patterns as an accompanying texture to songs.
Form: Children will demonstrate an understanding of phrases in music through movement, and they'll identify AB and ABA form.
Expressive Elements: Children will identify different categories of unpitched percussion instruments in their music making (wood, metal, skin). They will continue work on vocal qualities, contrasting dynamics, and tempo.

Rhythm: Children in Primary III music class move from iconic & stick notation to standard notation, reading quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and quarter rests. They begin work on half notes (one sound stretched over two beats). Later, they begin reading compound rhythms (dotted quarter note as one beat, three eighth notes as three sounds in a beat).
Melody: Children will add "Do" and "Re" to their pitch repertoire, working within the pentatonic scale (Do Re, Mi, So, La). They will read these pitches on a five-line staff, sing songs with these pitches, and play these pitches on barred instruments.
Harmony: Children will perform chord borduns with more complex rhythm patterns, and they'll also learn to accompany themselves with broken borduns. They will have extensive experience creating harmony or texture with ostinato patterns. As a group, they will perform multiple ostinato patterns simultaneously to accompany a song.
Form: Children will continue to identify phrases, AB form, and ABA form, as well as call & response and question & answer forms. They will also begin to read parts of notation that help with understanding form (such as bar lines, measures, and reapeat signs).
Expressive Elements: Children will differentiate between pitched and unpitched perussion instruments. They will learn the terms forte and piano.

Rhythm: Children in Intermediate I music class review quarter notes, paired eighth notes, quarter rests, and half notes before reading groups of four sixteenth notes. They identify time signatures with 2, 3, and 4 beats per measure. Later, they review compound rhythms (where the beat is divided into three equal sounds instead of two), and they read rhythms with a quarter note followed by a single eighth note.
Melody: Children will expand the pentonic scale to include high Do and low La & So. They will read these pitches on a five-line staff, use these pitches in their singing, and play and improvise with these pitches on barred instruments. Later, they will begin to read fixed letter-name pitches on the treble staff. They will begin recorder instruction with the pitches B-A-G.
Harmony: Children will continue to add more complex accompaniments and ostinato patterns to their songs, such as arpeggiated (or crossover) borduns. They will explore major (Do-based) and minor (La-based) tonalities.
Form: Children will transfer their knowledge of AB/ABA forms to verse & refrain. They'll work more extensively on question & answer form, and they'll use terms such as introduction, interlude, and coda.
Expressive Elements: Children will learn crescendo and decrescendo dynamics, and they will read the fermata symbol. 

Rhythm: Intermediate II students will read combinations of sixteenth notes and eighth notes, and they will perform syncopated rhythms (eighth note - quarter note - eighth note). They will perform these rhythms in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 time signatures. They will also learn to read and perform compound rhythms in 6/8 time.
Melody: Children will add the pitches "Fa" and "Ti" to their pitch repertoire, enabling them to perform major and minor scales with half steps and whole steps. They will read both solfege pitches and fixed letter pitches on the treble staff. They will continue recorder studies with the pitches low E and low D.
Harmony: Intermediate II students will perform level borduns, moving borduns, and other bass ostinato patterns. They will create harmony by singing and playing in canons/rounds.
Form: Children will explore rondo form and other variations on AB and ABA forms, as well as continue their work with question & answer form.
Expressive Elements: Children will be introduced to articulations such as legato, staccato, and accent. Time permitting, intermediate students will explore timbres of Western orchestral music and musical instruments from many different cultures.

Rhythm: Intermediate III students will learn to read a dotted quarter note followed by a single eighth note in 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 time, as well as review all known rhythms (including syncopated rhythms and combinations of 8th notes and 16th notes). They will continue more advanced work in 6/8 time, and they will explore music with changing or irregular time signatures.
Melody: Using their knowledge of solfege, children will explore different modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, etc.). They will continue to learn treble clef fixed letter pitches, adding recorder pitches F#, high C, and high D to their pitch repertoire.
Harmony: Intermediate III students will learn about and perform I, IV, and V chords on pitched percussion instruments. They will also perform more complex canons/rounds and other types of part-singing (such as partner songs and countermelodies).
Form: Children will review AB, ABA, rondo, verse & refrain, and question & answer forms, as well as experience theme & variations and 12-bar blues.
Expressive Elements: Time permitting, intermediate students will explore timbres of Western orchestral music and musical instruments from many different cultures.