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Beginner Ensemble is offered to students with little or no experience playing a musical instrument. It provides an opportunity to young musicians to perform in a small orchestral setting. Goals are to develop a cohesive musical group working to establish fundamental technique, good intonation, and a keen musical sense of performing together as a team.

The Fifth Grade Chorus class is designed to encourage students to get on their feet and sing with enthusiasm. Everyone practices good posture, pronunciation, and performance techniques. Students are required to memorize the lyrics and melodies of the songs chosen for concerts. The curriculum explores the folk songs of America: songs of the workplace, spirituals, and songs of hearth and home.

The Sixth Grade Chorus class continues the work of the fifth grade, with a concentration on international songs. Students investigate their family roots, and compile a list of countries of origin. Songs are selected that represent the always varied, and often fascinating, backgrounds of our students. Each year, the sixth graders get a chance to sing in Irish, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Korean, Czech, or any combination of these and many more languages. It brings the students closer together.

In the fifth grade students apply artistic processes and skills, using different kinds of paint, clay, foam board, and collage materials to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art. They develop creative skills in problem solving, communication, and time management that contribute to lifelong learning. All of these components of art making are combined in a safe and fun environment that encourages creativity and creative risk taking.

The seventh grade art curriculum focuses on creativity and learning various art making techniques, such as painting, printmaking, ceramics, drawing, and sculpture. Assignments encourage experimentation and invention and are designed to develop a relationship between arts, culture, history, and other academic subjects.

Guitar I is an introductory level course exploring both popular and classical music. Chords and melodies are taught using a combination of tablature and standard notation.

Guitar II is a continuation of the Guitar I course that explores both popular and classical music. Chords and melodies are taught using a combination of tablature and standard notation.

Mountain Voices is a singing class where the songs are chosen from the age of great doo-wop, film songs of many decades, and contemporary hits and performs in public throughout the year. The students practice all the fundamentals of good singing: breathing deeply, staying on open vowels, maintaining good posture, memorizing lyrics and melodies, and perfecting techniques of successful performance. The goal is to have fun, achieve beautiful sounds, and learn to communicate as “one voice.”