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 The Arts
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The Arts - Music
Music takes many forms at Moorestown Friends, with instruction beginning in PreSchool and continuing through electives in Upper School. Students learn to sing, read music, play instruments and appreciate a variety of musical styles. Performance opportunities include concerts, talent shows and "coffee houses," and students can join vocal and bell choirs as well as instrumental and string ensembles. The music computer center allows students to compose and arrange music. Music in the Lower School
Moorestown Friends offers many opportunities for children to perform. These include a Winter Concert for all Lower School students, musical plays for each pre-kindergarten through fourth grade class, and, for third- and fourth- graders, talent shows and a Spring Concert. In Pre-School and Pre-Kindergarten students learn to match pitch with the singing voice and repeating rhythm sequences. In Kindergarten and first grade, basic note reading skills and the introduction of simple Kodaly rhythm symbols and solfege melodic syllables are added to the program. By using music books, charts, and papers, students begin to learn new and different ways of expressing and notating music. A great deal of time during the fall in 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades is spent on learning to read music. The Kodaly rhythm symbols are used to drum as 3rd- and 4th-graders compose original rhythm compositions. Aided by their classroom teachers, all 2nd-graders learn to play violin through the Suzuki method. Students learn to play the recorder in 3rd and 4th grade. Each spring, music becomes a concentrated study. Second-graders explore different types of music, dance, and theater. Third graders concentrate on learning about the instruments of the orchestra. Fourth graders enjoy a unit on the history of rock music.
Moorestown Friends Middle and Upper School students can participate in choral groups that perform at school events and in community settings. Choirs include A Cappella Choir (a select chamber ensemble), Concert Choir, Womens Choir, Middle School Choir, and 5th grade Choir. In alternating years, the Upper School Choirs travel out of state for a four-day choir trip to participate in a choral festival. They perform for adjudicators and choirs from across the country, getting feedback on their performance from the judges. They also attend concerts by other choirs. All choirs perform two concerts at Moorestown Friends School, with one in late November/December, and one in late April/early May.
Starting at the end of their fourth-grade year, students are given the opportunity to learn a percussion, brass or woodwind instrument, which they continue in the middle school as members of the Fifth Grade Band. In their sixth- through eighth-grade years, students can choose to play in either the Middle School Wind Ensemble or the Middle School String Ensemble. The Upper School Wind Ensemble plays a wide range of material, ranging from traditional band literature to jazz band charts. There is also an Upper School String Ensemble, which is sometimes combined with the band to comprise a small orchestra. Classes, independent study or lunch-time workshops are sometimes designed to match specific student interests. In addition, members of the MFS music faculty and other adjunct music teachers offer after-school private instruction on several different instruments.
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The
Lower School music program provides many musical experiences
for children at all levels. Listening to many types
of music, moving to music, creating music, experimenting
with sound, singing, reading music and playing the
recorder and the xylophone are all important parts
of a child's musical development.
Choral
Music 
Instrumental Music at
MFS