Music Program
Rhythm. Creativity. Connection.
Why Music Matters
Music helps students connect creativity with language arts, social studies, dance, science, and math. Through singing, rhythm, movement, instruments, notation, and listening, students build skills that support both artistic expression and classroom learning.
Parents for Carpenter (PFC) proudly funds Carpenter's Music Program, providing every TK–5 student with a comprehensive music education that supports both academic and artistic growth.
The Music Program supports Common Core State Standards at each grade level while helping students develop literacy, listening, memory, pattern recognition, collaboration, and performance skills.
Learning Through Music
• Supports language arts, social studies, dance, science, and math curriculum
• Helps students process sights and sounds, supporting emergent literacy skills
• Uses rhythm, tone, repeated patterns, and musical structure to reinforce mathematical thinking
• Encourages creativity, performance confidence, listening skills, and cultural awareness
What Students Learn
Kindergarten
Students explore beat, tempo, dynamics, melodic direction, high and low sounds, loud and soft sounds, and same and different patterns. They sing, echo short melodic patterns, use instruments to illustrate stories, and learn about instruments from different places around the world.
1st Grade
Students learn major and minor tonalities, duple and triple meters, rhythm reading, tempo, dynamics, hand bells, movement, expression, and songs that support science and language arts units.
2nd Grade
Students study sound, vibration, pitch, instrument families, timbre, and how music tells stories. They explore composers such as Edvard Grieg, identify instruments by sound, and connect music learning with writing and language arts.
3rd Grade
Students begin reading music from a score, learn music terminology, connect rhythm to fractions, explore performance and audience etiquette, and study works such as Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons through music, writing, poetry, and visual art.
4th Grade
Students study music as storytelling through works such as Danse Macabre, analyzing tempo, texture, tonality, mood, meter, dynamics, and instrumentation. They also learn recorder, read standard notation, and connect music to California history and Gold Rush songs.
5th Grade
Students connect music with American history through units on the National Anthem, Music of the Colonies, Music of the Slaves, and Music of the Civil War. They continue reading scores, performing notation, and exploring rhythm, pitch, form, harmony, culture, and historical context.
Helping Every Child Grow
Music gives students a meaningful way to listen, create, perform, analyze, collaborate, and connect ideas across subjects. Through music enrichment, Carpenter students experience learning that supports the whole child.
Through the generosity of Carpenter families and community partners, every student has the opportunity to experience the joy of music.
Questions about the Music Program?
