K-12 Music Department
Mission Statement:
It is the mission of the North Haven Public School Music Department to foster creative, caring, and sensitive citizens by providing a rigorous learning experience that promotes higher-level critical thinking, encourages students to develop a sense of individual and group worth, and nurtures literate musical consumers and performers.
The North Haven Public Schools Music Department offers a standards-based curriculum through the four musical processes of creating, performing, responding and connecting. Music instruction occurs in all schools from pre-kindergarten through high school.
Why we provide music instruction:
- Music-making is one of the oldest, most intimate and basic forms of communication and cultural expression
- Singing and playing an instrument provide people with the means of learning musical and developmental skills
- Through composing and improvising, people learn to connect ideas with symbols, sound patterns, and musical elements
- Reading and notating music are essential to music literacy
- Educated music listeners learn to describe, analyze and evaluate music and music performances as an expressive art form
- Critical listening and thinking skills learned through music are essential to a successful, comprehensive educational experience
- Music is an important element of the historical and cultural record of mankind
Essential Questions
- Why and how do people create music?
- How do people sing and play an instrument?
- How is music communicated?
- How is music analyzed and understood?
- How is music performance evaluated?
- What is the relationship between music and other disciplines?
- How does music reflect as well as shape history and culture?