Music
Music at Miquon
Music at Miquon is something we make together.In any given class, you might find students building a rhythm that travels around the room, layering recorder parts, or turning a small musical idea into something the whole group takes up.
With our youngest children, music often begins with imagination. A melody might carry us up a snowy mountain or into a rowboat on a wavy lake. Drums become tree stumps or bubbling pots, finger cymbals shimmer like clouds, and even an occasional oinking pig finds its way into the conversation. Movement, story, and sound are closely connected, and each child finds their way in.
As children grow, these early experiences deepen.
You might see a second grader turning “steps” and “runruns” into a melody on a xylophone, or combining a musical “question” and “answer” into a complete piece. Older students take on new challenges—writing their own compositions, exploring digital tools, or navigating the different tunings of a recorder consort to create layered, overlapping parts.
Curriculum
Musical understanding develops over time.
Students return to the same core skills through the years, each time with more control, awareness, and intention.
This work is grounded in the National Association for Music Education’s core standards:
- Sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
- Perform on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
- Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments
- Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines
- Read and notate music
- Listen to, analyze, and describe music
- Evaluate music and music performances
- Understand relationships between music, other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
- Understand music in relation to history and culture
You can also check out our Music Curriculum Scope and Sequence.
Music Matters at Miquon
Music offers another way for students to understand themselves and each other. It asks them to listen carefully, collaborate, and take creative risks.
Over time, students come to see themselves as musicians—not just because of what they can do, but because of how they participate, contribute, and respond. Students experience what it means to be part of something larger than themselves.
Winter Assembly
Each year, families are invited to our annual Winter Assembly, a special day of celebration and Miquon camaraderie featuring performances from every classroom group.
It is a joyous day of the entire community coming together in a space outside of our regular school routine to see the culmination of many weeks of children’s musical work before us in celebration of the season.
