Early Childhood and Lower School music classes encourage children to explore music through play, song, and dance. Students actively create, improvise, perform, and learn about the world around them through music.

The Early Childhood and Lower School music curriculum gives each child a thorough understanding of the rudiments of music. In Early Childhood music classes, the students develop a sense of steady beat, rhythm, melodic direction and pitch. By the time a child completes second grade, he/she has been exposed to the instruments of the orchestra, and various musical genres ranging from classical music to folk songs, both from the United States and around the world. Students are comfortable playing pitched and unpitched instruments, and can read rhythmic notation and understand simple solfege. Children have also participated in several concerts and a second grade mini-musical.

In third and fourth grade children achieve greater musical independence in their ability to read and play a piece of music. Each student has their own recorder with which to improve their skills. The third and fourth grade students also have the option to join the Lower School Chorus, which provides more performance opportunities, including a mini-musical production each spring. The Lower School chorus not only enhances a child’s singing abilities, but it also exposes them to the world of performance, acting and musical theater.

By Middle School children are ready to further their understanding and appreciation of music history as they are exposed to various periods of Western music. Greater emphasis is placed on understanding more advanced music theory and notation, but students are still actively engaged through creating and playing music. Middle school students may elect to take an additional exploratory music class each Trimester.

The Middle School also offers a choir that meets weekly as a MS choir exploratory class, as well as beginning, intermediate and advanced band. The Middle School Musical provides students with the opportunity to perform in an annual musical each spring. These additional opportunities give students the chance to further build upon skills they have acquired in the classroom.

Upper School music students chose from four music classes: Introduction to Fine Arts Music, Music Studies, Upper School Choir and Independent Study. IFA Music focuses on introducing students to basic reading, listening and applied music skills while acquainting them with music history. Music Studies is a music history and appreciation course that does not have a prerequisite, and US choir allows those students who enjoy singing to participate in choir during the school day.

The Upper School Choir performs at three scheduled concerts a year, and occasionally at events outside the school. Independent study is for those students who have fully exhausted the music curriculum.

The Music Department, in collaboration with the Theatre and Visual Art Departments, produces an Upper School musical every year. Any student who wishes to sing, but cannot fit Upper School Choir into their schedule is welcome to sing in Encore. Encore is a co-curricular choir that rehearses twice weekly before school, and like Upper School Choir, performs at three scheduled concerts a year, and occasionally at events outside the school.

All students at Elgin Academy may take voice or piano lessons from a private music teacher on campus. Students taking private lessons are given the opportunity to perform in recitals held at school.