The St. Louis Catholic School Music Program
Mr. Robert Krier,  Instructor

About Mr. Krier:

• Professional Degrees:   Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees from Wichita State University,Wichita, Kansas.

• 17 years experience in the classroom -- elementary and secondary levels.

• 3^rd year at St. Louis.

• Personal:  Married to Patricia, a professional interior designer with Stickley Home Furnishings.

• Mr. & Mrs. Krier have 7 children and 3 grandchildren.

The Music Program: 

The primary goal:  The student will be musically literate upon graduation from 8^th grade.

All students will have music once per week all year long. In addition, all students will receive an additional class period of music during one of the trimesters, depending on grade level

Emphasis through out the elementary and middle school years will be in 3 main areas, the difficulty of which will depend, of course, on grade level.  Those areas of focus are:

• SINGING

Learning to sing independently from varied repertoire, including religious songs, expanding and exploring the vocal range.  We will also sing in groups, small and large, responding to direction from the director, using songs primarily from traditional Catholic Church repertoire.

• THEORY

The student will learn to sight-read simple melodies in treble clef, reading the various types of notes and rests, comprehending the duration and letter names of each. The student will be able to interpret time signatures, and will be able to identify and respond to words and signs for the most common musical terms pertaining to dynamics and tempo changes using the songs as examples and sources of study. The student will be introduced to and eventually be able to identify the major key signatures and keys with the goal of being able to sing the corresponding major scales, using the appropriate letter names translating into a good understanding of how a composition is constructed.

• INSTRUMENTAL TRAINING

All students will study the recorder and handbells during their years at St. Louis.   Besides studying the technical aspects of learning to play an instrument, many of the music theory concepts will be reinforced during the instrumental training.  

Choir 

The music program provides opportunity for interested students to explore their voices more in-depth by participating in Choir. The choir is open, by audition, to students in grades 3-8. We sing weekly at the all-school mass, providing choral music leadership for the entire school, with the goal of aiding in the participation of the liturgy. The choir rehearses once per week, preparing for the upcoming Mass and for various community events at which they are asked to perform.

Christmas Program 

In addition to the weekly music lessons and assignments, the entire school will begin preparations, in October, for the December Christmas Program. This production is our major, 1^st Semester, project for the Music Dept.                  

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