Music

Students may elect to begin violin, viola, cello or string bass in fourth grade.  After renting an instrument from a local shop with string instrument expertise, these students take once-weekly lessons for 45 minutes during the school day.  They learn how instrumental music forms an integral part of every day life as they focus on the year's theme, "Bringing Music to Life in Beginning Strings."  In accordance with a standards-based approach, students also discuss how music connections with history, culture, and other types of art.  Weekly assignments encourage students to explore music on their own and require 15 minutes of practicing, 4 or 5 days per week.  The year culminates in a Stringfest in May, where all students join together to display the amazing musical growth they have achieved during the year.

Band, orchestra, and chorus can be taken as an elective in middle school, and students in each ensemble rehearse as a full group two out of every six school days (six-day cycle).  In addition, each student in an instrumental ensemble meets with their sectional group once every third cycle.  In middle school, individual musicians learn to become a cohesive musical whole, making beautiful and expressive music as one, unified ensemble.

String students may continue to study explore the joys of music through orchestra in the fifth grade.  They begin to play in distinct instrumental sections and groupings, and the orchestra may play two, three or even four different parts simultaneously.  Lessons take place once per week for 35 minutes during the school day, and the weekly assignments are supplemented by the use of Smartmusic practice software at home.  In January and June, fifth grade orchestra students from all over the Sudbury join together for district-wide rehearsals and concerts at Ephraim Curtis Middle School.  As always, the nine National Standards for Music Education continue to form the basis for all instruction in the orchestra curriculum.

Students in Select Orchestra, Select Chorus, and Jazz Band are the middle school’s music ambassadors to the community.  These ensembles perform regularly in Sudbury and beyond, including two evening concerts, a performance at the Massachusetts State House, and an annual Town Tour to the elementary schools in the spring.  Entrance into these groups is by audition, and students support this advanced musical experience with private lessons outside of school.  Rehearsals for Select ensembles are held outside of the regular school day.

Band lessons are offered to students in Grade 5.  Students may elect to study a woodwind (flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone), brass (trumpet, french horn, trombone, baritone), or percussion (snare drum) instrument.  They attend a 45-minute group lesson once a week during the school day and support their learning at home by practicing 15 minutes per day, 4 or 5 days per week.  Students receive weekly assignments through Smartmusic, an interactive music assessment computer program, to help them practice their music.  In addition, there may be occasional written music theory assignments.  

Lessons are designed to address the nine National Standards for Music Education throughout the school year.  Each student learns how to assemble, care for, and play their instrument.  During the school year, students experience and perform music from every period of time--from Medieval and Renaissance music to the Modern and Pop Culture music of today.  In the process, students build a solid foundation for reading and interpreting music notation and symbols, and they learn to produce a musically acceptable tone on their instrument.  We strive to have each student produce as good a quality of music sound as possible and emphasize that only practice can ensure success on a musical instrument.  Students are expected to perform in two band concerts with all of the fifth-grade band students.  Individual performances at school meetings and community gatherings are encouraged but not required.

Nathanael Erde - Orchestra Director, Grades 4-8
Michael Gorgone - General Music, Noyes Elementary School
Carrie Kenney - Middle School General Music and Chorus, Curtis Middle School
Dr. Robert Mealey - Band Director, Grades 5-8
Rex Phung - General Music, Ephraim Curtis Middle School