In sixth grade, the music program builds on note reading vocal technique and instrument discovery, with continued emphasis on pitch, tone, breathing and vowel formation. Students begin to recognize/express musical forms, meter, style, instrumentation, tempo and pace, dynamic markings as well as recognize and name major, minor, diminished and augmented chords and scales. Students continue to compose Orff-based compositions on classroom instruments using melodic patterns and ostinato. In the early fall, students prepare and perform traditional early American songs and rounds at Christ Church in Philadelphia (Philadelphia’s oldest church) as well as dance the Virginia Reel in the ballroom of one of the city’s oldest houses as part of an English curriculum trip. Much of the second half of the year is spent preparing for Medieval Night, a performance during which the students dance three complex Morris dances with a maypole, sticks and swords, and sing Gregorian chants, ballads and madrigals.