Chorus & Music Education

Students in prek-8th are provided the opportunity to participate in chorus groups. Preschool-3rd grade students attend weekly music instruction classes and 4th-8th grade students attend weekly choir rehearsals. Choral groups perform at the Fine Arts Festival of Ocala each fall and contribute to the annual Christmas Program, Grace School Sunday's, and the GCS Fine Arts Festival every spring.

In addition to the choir programs, various instrumental music opportunities are likewise provided. Our music curriculum includes recorder training in 3rd grade, beginner and advanced band, & private guitar lessons.

Music Education lessons are designed to lead children through training in rhythm, vocabulary, repertoire, stories, instrumentation, and note-reading to the joy, experience, interpretation, and utilization of music for worship of God and discovery of His goodness in the world. In K3 the kids begin learning to repeat what the teacher says, and hear instrument sounds and shapes along with their letters. By K4, and especially K5, they can experience the surprise and dynamic contrast and tone of music themselves and start understanding what the songs are saying. In First grade we get a little more sophisticated, teaching different types of notes in musical symbols they can recognize in music as well as games and ways to act out the music about which they are learning. By Second grade, the stories deepen, the rhythm becomes more complex, the games get more challenging, and the activities become more team engaging, and rhythm gets subdivided. In Third grade, students are introduced to playing music according to what is written on the page, and are required to read notes as they learn to play recorders. This is in preparation for them playing in band in the next year. Further exploration of musical expression accompanies this stage. Through the eyes, ears, hands, and feet of the child, their world will expand to appreciate music and thereby the Maker of all Music, God Himself.