Music

The Summit Music Program is designed to provide each student with the skills and experience necessary to participate in lifelong music making. Students at all levels are exposed to written music, ear training, and the vocabulary of music in the most age-appropriate ways possible. Pre-Kindergarteners begin with exposure to expressive terms (such as dynamic indicators: forte, mezzo forte, piano, crescendo) via games and participatory learning. These skills build in each grade level, and by the time students reach 5th grade, students who have been through the music program have a solid foundation in music literacy and possess the skills and understanding necessary to discuss these concepts with their peers while making music.

Instruction is given via multiple avenues, such as listening to music, participating in singing and playing, and transcribing and composing music. Often the same piece of music will be a springboard for all of these avenues, giving each student the best possible chance to master the material. Students of every skill level are encouraged to use multiple strategies to participate, honing skills that are already present, while gaining others to enrich their understanding of music making.

The Summit Music Program utilizes community resources, such as the Opera Theater of the Ozarks, Mariachi and Mexican musicians sponsored by the Springfield Sister Cities Association, and the Springfield Symphony String Quartet, to provide students live exposure to music that relates to and inspires learning in music and in other classes. Studies are also supplemented with filmed and recorded music that integrates with the curriculum.

Students participate in vocal music of various cultures, with emphasis placed on selections that reinforce classroom learning. Examples include Spanish and Japanese language songs, songs about the solar system, patriotic songs, songs naming the states and their capitals, and traditional songs of multiple cultures for holidays and celebrations. The Summit Music Program has a strong commitment to instrumental music. Students from Kindergarten through 4th grade participate in Piano Lab once each week to gain basic piano keyboarding skills. Second through 4th grade students learn the soprano recorder. Fourth grade students add the alto recorder as part of a pilot program begun in 2009–2010. Students throughout the grades occasionally utilize rhythm instruments, individually pitched instruments such as hand bells and boom whackers, drum sticks and practice pads. Older students often use their own personal instruments to work on pop and stage band music within the 5th–12th grade music program. The Summit Strings, an after school program, accepts violin family instruments as well as acoustic guitar and student piano accompanists and is open to students 2nd grade and older. Each aspect of the program reinforces the music reading, terminology, individual practice skills, and ensemble work ethic that foster the skills necessary for lifelong music making.

The fall and spring concerts provide all Summit students experience in ensemble musical performance and participation. In preparation for performance, students are encouraged to use multiple strategies (reading standard notation, glossing scores and parts with students own notation and aids, active listening, repetition and rote and ear training, and partnering with other students) to master their parts. Concerts are designed to include pieces that enable students to be accompanied by other student ensembles whenever possible. At least one piece integrates all grades into one performance, utilizing whatever skills the students possess at their stage of development.