Music

All students from Kindergarten to Grade 7 attend music class twice per week. 

Primary Music Program

In our primary program, students in Kindergarten-Grade 3 follow John Feierabend’s curriculum “First Steps in Music”. This program aims to create students who excel in three crucial areas: 

  • Tunefulness (The ability to accurately sing a tune), 
  • Beatfulness (The ability to keep a steady beat) 
  • Artfulness (The ability to both create music, and to move artistically to music)

Teachers of “First Steps in Music” have what we call a 30-year plan. The goal of the program is not to create professional musicians, but rather to give students the tools they need to enjoy and appreciate music for their entire lives.  

Beginning in the mid-primary years, students will also begin learning to read and write traditional music notation, through the use of the “Conversational Solfege” program. This program uses songs that the students already know to teach about rhythms and pitch. We also begin learning how to sing in harmony with one another. 

Intermediate Music Program

Intermediate students at O.L.P.H. have the opportunity to learn to play many different instruments:

Grade 4 students continue to practice reading increasingly complex rhythms in order to learn bucket drumming. We also explore other percussion instruments throughout the year. 

Grade 5 students begin learning how to read pitch, by learning to play the recorder. Near the end of the year, the students are also given the chance to try playing alto and tenor recorders, and learn how to play in harmony with one another. 

Students in Grades 6 & 7 participate in our Concert Band Program. We explore increasingly challenging pieces of music, and learn how to play together as part of an ensemble. 

O.L.P.H. School also has an extra-curricular choir, which meets every Tuesday morning at 7:45. The choir is open to all students in grades 4-7.

Our Music Program produces 4 concerts per year:

  • The O.L.P.H. Christmas Concert takes place in mid-December, and includes all students from K-7
  • The Primary Spring Concert takes place in mid-march, and includes students from K-3
  • The Intermediate Concert takes place in mid-may, and includes students from 4-7
  • The Band Concert takes place in mid-June, and includes both the grade 6 and grade 7 concert bands.

If you have any questions about the OLPH music program, please contact our music specialist, Samantha Levasseur

samantha.levasseur@olphschool.ca

Anthem at the Kamloops Blazers Game!