Stories

ACDS music program fuels learning

September 29, 2022

In the nearly 20 years since she started working as the Lower School music teacher at Aspen Country Day, Miss Kim has determined to never underestimate even the very youngest students.

“The children are so open to learning and they have the most interesting questions,” she said. “Once a Kindergartner asked why the stems on some musical stems point up while others point down. It led to a great discussion in the class on how music is read.”

The curriculum for the ACDS music program is based on the National Standards of Music Education with an emphasis on literacy, performance and cultural education. All students are introduced to the basics of music through a combination of Silver Burdett music curriculum materials, Orff instruments and instrumental techniques, and traditional instruments and choral instruction materials. Miss Kim also incorporates non-music elements into her lessons to help students make regular correlations between music and their core academic subjects.

Improved memory, enhanced language capabilities, strengthened hand-eye coordination, and heightened problem-solving abilities are among the benefits of a meaningful music education. A link has also been found by researchers between spatial intelligence and music that indicates it helps children visualize how elements fit together as they would when solving a math problem.

“Reading music opens the door to learning every instrument,” Miss Kim said. “But the advantages go far beyond that.”