Gina Madlom - K-8 Music 8 years at Holy Family - 8 years teaching experience Room 212 Ext.224 madlomg@archmil.org
Philosophy of Education
The goal of the music classroom is not only to further develop musical talents and abilities, but also to help each student grow as a person and a Christian. Ideally in the classroom, the student-teacher relationship is one of mutual inspiration and learning. Each child brings to the classroom unique talents, skills, ideas and challenges. My role is to help nurture and further develop those qualities. I intend for the music classroom to be a positive learning environment that fosters appreciation of music and provides a place where students can come and learn, and express themselves. Through the exploration of a variety of musical expressions, I hope to nurture creativity among all students and foster a desire to become well-rounded individuals. As a music educator, I wish to share my knowledge and love for music with children, with hope that they will have a desire to continue creating music throughout their lives.
Curriculum Summary
In order to accomplish a sequential, complete curriculum we follow the National Standards for Music Education: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music Performing on instruments Improvising Composing and arranging music with specified guidelines Reading and notating music Listening to, analyzing, and describing music Evaluating music and music performances Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts Understanding music in relation to history and culture Primary - We begin in K4 and K5 using a variety of methods to explore music and rhythm, including the Kodaly Method, musical games, movement to music, singing and playing instruments. We utilize Orff musical instruments frequently in the classroom, which the children love to play. They also start to read and write simple musical notation. We continue using these methods throughout the primary grade levels, introducing piano/keyboarding in 1st and 2nd grades. Intermediate - Besides expanding on these skills, in Third and Fourth grades we begin playing the recorder. In fifth grade we work on building sight-reading and singing skills. Students focus both on becoming more independent singers as well as singing as part of a choir. Middle School - Units explore conducting, guitar, world drumming, composition, a variety of music genres and choral performance. A large part of the middle school curriculum is preparing for the spring musical. We study characters and story, and learn and rehearse the music.
Performances
All students participate in two performances a year. The entire student body performs in a Christmas Concert. K4-5th grades put on a Spring Concert and the Middle school performs a Spring Musical. There are also various other opportunities provided for our students to perform in and around our community throughout the year.
Liturgical Music
Students in grades 5th - 8th have the opportunity to cantor and play instruments at the school's weekly liturgy. Sacred music is also incorporated into the music curriculum.