Music

Philosophy

The purpose of the Music Program is to help each boy discover and develop his natural love of music.

By the time he enters Middle School, a Browning student has already received training in five fundamental aspects of music: singing, playing instruments, listening, movement, and notation. The focus of the Middle School Music Program is on expanding the students’ awareness and appreciation of the more subtle aspects of these five areas of musical experience. Building upon the Lower School training, fluency in reading notation and performing instrumental music as an ensemble is stressed in the Middle School.

Grade Five

Grade Five Music builds on the skills learned in Grade Four. Reading notes in the treble clef is achieved by work on Orff instruments (xylophones and glockenspiels), as well as on the recorder. Students learn the structure of the pentatonic scale and the intervals that are produced in reference to the “home pitch”. The concept of half and whole steps are reinforced by use of the Kodaly “sol-fa” syllables and the boys learn to move fluently between reading the notation with pitch letter names (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) and the sol-fa syllables. Recorder technique emphasizes playing music actually written for the instrument in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and the history of these periods becomes a relevant musical experience. The boys attend special educational concerts during the school year as a means of expanding their musical horizons and of developing listening skills that enhance their music appreciation.

Grade Six

Grade Six Music raises the bar in regard to technical proficiency on the xylophone and recorder. Work with two mallets and playing accompaniment chords to a melodic line are emphasized in order to create homophonic textures and the beginnings of ensemble technique. Recorder skills advance to playing songs in two parts on the soprano recorder, as well as learning to play the Alto recorder and reading the notation of this “transposing” (F tuned) instrument. By the end of the year the boys are playing three-part pieces on recorder (two soprano and one alto) and explore composing their own pieces for the instrument. The boys attend special educational concerts during the school year as a means of expanding their musical horizons and of developing listening skills that enhance their music appreciation.

Form I

Form I Music begins an exploration of performance on several types of musical instruments. Following an introductory unit that reviews basic theory knowledge and sight-reading skills, the students learn to play performance pieces on Orff instruments, hand chimes, recorders, and African drums. The emphasis of the class is on developing an ensemble technique and the discipline required to achieve a coordinated group effort.

Form II Fine Arts

Form II fine arts consists of one trimester’s study in each of three areas: music performance, art, and computer graphics. One third of the class is enrolled in each of these areas, and at the start of the following trimester, the groups rotate into a discipline yet to be studied. By the end of the year, all Form II boys will have completed work in each of these three areas. In the music component of the rotation, the students themselves are allowed to choose the project and the instruments they would most like to play. The complexity of the material and subtlety of interpretation are distinguishing features of this level of study. This class provides an intense, one-trimester opportunity to perform in an ensemble on an instrument of the student’s choice. In the computer component of the rotation, students are encouraged to create graphic and web based animations utilizing the most up-to-date multimedia software packages. Software packages have included Adobe Photoshop, an image editing software and Macromedia Flash, the industry standard for creating web animations.

Middle School Chorus

The Browning Middle School Chorus provides an opportunity for students to sing with boys from different grade levels and prepare music for performances such as the Thanksgiving Assembly, Holiday Program, and Interschool Choral Festival. Focus is on producing a free and healthy sound, and reinforcing sight-singing skills learned in the classroom. Special attention is given to the “cambiata” (changing) voices in the group. The boys participate in a choral “adjudication” at the end of the year and celebrate their hard work after the competition with a day at Six Flags Great Adventure.