The mission of the Performing Arts Department in Hanover County is to equip students with the skills to communicate through music and drama, with the understanding that these art forms are an important universal language and foundationally basic to our society and other cultures.
- Stephanie Ransome, MM
Beaverdam Elementary School: Learning to Lead
OWL School 2nd Grade Music Teacher
Hanover County Public Schools
Our Music Curriculum
Our curriculum is designed to integrate with the classroom curriculum and is based on the Orff-Schulwerk approach. This approach embraces the philosophy that experience should precede conceptualization. It is an inductive approach in which multiple experiences involving speech, rhythm, moving, and humming are integrated so that students make and participate in music before learning how it is notated. A culture of community is created in this approach because every student is involved as an active participant rather than merely a spectator. Using solfege and a sight reading website, students learn how to sight sing traditional notes and rhythms. Our song of the month lets us explore traditional folk songs and keeps us working together as a team.
Cross-Curricular Integration
Listening, moving to, and discussing all styles of music is also an important part of the curriculum. We discuss the title, composer, time period, and instrumentation. Through each piece, we explore other countries, cultures, and periods of history.
Annual Talent Showcase
We encourage all our students to audition for the Beaverdam annual talent showcase each June. We always have a wide variety of acts from Irish dancing to Taekwondo board breaking to rock bands. Our Beavers definitely have talent!