Music

At Atrium, students explore music each day through listening, through singing and playing, and through creating and composing. They learn music as a joyful language and as a serious art, as a medium of cultural expression, and as a way to communicate and express their own ideas, experiences, questions, and dreams. In all music classes – from the first explorations in PreK to the deeper and more sophisticated projects in the Upper Elementary and Middle School classes – students work both individually and collaboratively, building skills in music literacy, performance, and composition.

Atrium's instrument program involves every grade, PreK to eighth, and provides a comprehensive survey of diverse instruments, and a foundation in the major instrument families: percussion (both unpitched and pitched), winds, strings, and keyboard.

Percussion Instruments: Across all grades students play a broad array of percussion instruments. Pitched percussion instruments such as xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels expand students’ ability to play melodies, understand melodic structure, and work together as an ensemble. Unpitched percussion instruments convey a vibrant array of musical colors and textures, as well as the rich musical language and traditions of many different cultures. With them, students build skills in rhythm and ensemble playing, while exploring ways to bring stories and characters to life through the many different kinds of sounds.

Ukuleles: Elementary students, beginning in second grade, play soprano ukuleles, while middle school students play the slightly larger concert ukuleles. Smaller and simpler than a guitar, the ukulele allows students to progress quickly so that they are soon playing their first chords and can follow the chordal structure of simple songs. With its soft gentle sound, ukuleles readily blend together so that students can play together as a group. The skills developed in learning to play the ukulele will help students to learn other stringed instruments they might like to pursue in the future, such as guitar, violin, and cello.

Keyboards: Knowledge of the keyboard is fundamental to understanding so much about music: from building music literacy and exploring music theory to building skills in other instruments. Students in all grades build familiarity with the keyboard. In Middle School, students further build their technical skills and learn fundamental chords and chord sequences.

Recorders: Each student, in every grade, has their own recorder, and learns basic woodwind skills such as breath control, finger coordination and dexterity, and articulation in the context of different musical explorations. Students in Grades 4 and 5 have a particular focus in recorder playing, pushing their skills to new levels, and playing together as a recorder ensemble.

An after-school instrument elective program is also available for students in grades 4-8. Recent instrumental offerings include violin and guitar. Beginning students will learn the basics in a weekly small-group class setting, and students with some experience on their instrument will have a weekly private lesson. Students who learn to play instruments in our after-school program or who take instrument lessons privately outside of school will have opportunities to perform, solo or as part of an instrumental ensemble, in music class and at assemblies.