Music

Newtown Elementary offers an exciting and comprehensive music program. We have a full-time music teacher for students in kindergarten through grade six, as well as an instrumental teacher for grades five and six band students.

Students are very involved in our three choirs. In grades three and four, children can participate in the Junior Choir, while a Senior Choir experience is offered to those students in grades five and six. Both of these choirs are optional and rehearsals are held during school hours in two periods in a seven-day cycle. We also hold auditions for our Show Choir. This group is comprised of grades five and six students and rehearsals take place after school hours. Our school band takes place during regular school hours and students have both sectionals and full band rehearsals.

Children that are members of our school choirs and band are offered opportunities to perform at assemblies and school gatherings. We believe that it is extremely important to foster a love of performance and we encourage children to have as many positive experiences as possible through their music-making. We, therefore, also offer children opportunities to perform outside of our school environment at events such as the Tree Lighting Ceremony in Mount Pearl in December and the annual Choral Connections event.

While our school choirs are often featured in school assemblies and concerts, all of our students take turns in participating in these events during the year. Various grade levels organize assemblies for a variety of occasions including Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas and Easter. Along with our Christmas and spring concerts, in which students in grades two to five perform, students from kindergarten, and grades one and six hold their own special concerts over the course of the year.

In addition to the choral performance component of our music program, students in grades kindergarten through six are offered the opportunity to learn the basics of music and to develop musical skills. Learning the basic theory of music is also a daily practice in our music class. Students are introduced to a variety of music from all over the world in their classes. Under the new music program introduced by the Department of Education in September of 2005, they are exposed to a new cultural aspect of music, including rhythms, songs, and listening examples from all over the world.

Students have an opportunity to learn to play Orff instruments such as xylophones, metallophones, drums, maracas, bongos, along with new instruments such as boomwhackers. They are encouraged to develop an appreciation of all forms of music, including classical pieces, that are listened to, discussed and analyzed. We also offer our grades four, five, and six students the opportunity to learn to play the recorder, following the new Recorder Resource Kit handbook.

In music class, students are also encouraged to express themselves through movement with scarves and free creative dance.

The students at Newtown Elementary are very interested and excited about being a part of our music program. They love to perform and to share their musical talents with those around them. We hope that this enthusiasm continues for many years to come!