TLC students experience music with their entire bodies. Singing, rhythm chants and games, movement, playing rhythmic and melodic instruments, composition, and performance provide the means by which students learn the fundamentals of music. These basics include pitch, melody and harmony, beat and rhythm, music reading, and musical expression. Formal instruction in recorder is offered to 4th – 6th grade students and those in 7th and 8th grades learn to play guitar. All students participate in choral and instrumental performance four times per year, including the school’s spring musical. In addition, TLC supports students studying music privately outside school by providing opportunities for them to perform for the larger TLC community throughout the year.
Over the years, we have enjoyed participating in LEAF in Schools and Streets (LSS)! LSS is an outreach program that sends performing artists into local communities and schools for hands-on workshops. We have had residencies with Heather Taft for Irish step-dancing, Joe Adams of Hunab Kru for breakdancing, the Warren Wilson Folk Choir for Appalachian singing, and the Green Grass Cloggers for, well, clogging!