Music

Music: All students at Vernon Center Middle School will receive at least 4 courses during their time in the building which are up to date with the most recent National Standards. The focus of the National Standards are CPR (Creating, Performing, and Responding). In Grade 6 students study American Popular Music as their 'Responding' course. This course exposes students to artists from 1900-present day. Students learn how to listen critically to music, apply use music vocabulary when talking about WHY they like or dislike a piece of music, and learn about how events in the historical timeline relate to the music being composed during that time period. Students will spend some time researching and sharing out about a musical artist that is important to them as part of this course as well. In Grade 7 students receive a 'Performing' course called Intro to Piano. This is a move at your own pace piano course that is appropriate for students who have never played the piano for as well as students who study piano privately outside of school. The class learns about music theory and music literacy elements as a full group and students apply that knowledge while working on repertoire individually at their piano stations. In Grade 7 students also receive a 'Creating' course called Exploring Music Composition. In this course students learn about a wide variety of composers and then write pieces of music inspired by the techniques of those composers. Students may study music both with and without lyrics, chance music, beatboxing, graphic notation, vocal percussion, bucket drumming, and/or world drumming. In Grade 8 students take their music composition skills to the next level by applying them in a music technology course called Soundtrack Creation. In this course students learn about the role of music in movies and video games. Student projects may include narrated spooky stories with scary soundtracks, video game soundtracks, anime battle music, and news themes. In addition to these core offerings, students are also able to take Chorus and/or Band as additional performance opportunities. These ensembles rehearse during the school day and perform in 2-3 concerts per school year. Additional performance opportunities such as the VCMS Jazz Band and participation in the Eastern Region Festival are offered outside of school hours.

Chorus: The middle school chorus is offered to students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Chorus rehearsals are held during SOAR. Students explore various styles of music and perform twice a year: at the Winter concert and Spring concert. Students of general music classes learn about various musical genres and styles and perform on various musical instruments. Students of 8th grade Soundtrack Creation class compose music on iPads using Garage Band and other apps.