Serving Preschool Through 8th Grade in the San Francisco East Bay Since 1962
"Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself." - Henry Ward Beecher

Did You know?

Seven Hills Lower School students attend music class twice/week, give musical performances throughout the year, and have the opportunity to take instrumental music lessons after school.

Lower School Music

The “...hills are alive with the sound of music” really is true here at Seven Hills. Our music room is set up on a bluff and often the sounds of instruments and voices can be heard through the trees. Our Lower School music teachers use the work and instrumentation of Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly as they introduce students to rhythm, melody, form, harmony, and musical expression. The Lower School music program emphasizes singing, movement, dance, and instruments for all students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Students begin with match pitch and the familiarity of a steady beat and gradually acquire an understanding and appreciation of four-measure patterns and diatonic scales. The recorder is added in 3rd grade so that students become familiar with notation and the music staff. By 4th grade students can improvise on barred instruments with pentatonic scales and by 5th grade they are formally introduced to four-measure patterns, play classroom instruments in various modes, create introductions, interludes and codas, and are extremely familiar with different styles of music. Students participate in school events and a 5th grade musical. Private fee-based classes are also available for piano, woodwind, string, and brass instruments.
 
Students are exposed to music through songs, chants, rhymes, stories, games, and movement using their natural instrument; the voice as well as xylophones, and percussion instruments. By using materials that are based on the ways children communicate naturally, the levels of musical development include exploration, imitation, improvisation, and creation. There is an emphasis on learning the fundamental elements of music while appreciating the creativity and beauty of music from all over the world.

Students have many opportunities to share music with an audience. There are Green and White Day assemblies, open classes, mini-musicals, Evening of the Arts, and many spontaneous lunchtime presentations.