The kindergarten edition of the My Music Journal textbooks is one of the newest installments in the series, allowing students to begin their music education at the earliest age possible. In this textbook, students will begin to learn many of the basic concepts of music, preparing them for a more thorough learning of the topics for the first grade. Students will begin by learning the basics of rhythm, including what a beat is, how to keep a beat, and identifying patterns and sounds within music. Several topics in melody will be covered in this textbook, such as learning and recognizing pitches, identifying high and low sounds, identifying upward and downward tonal movements, and the basics of major and minor keys. Students will learn the basics of tone color, including the different ways to use voice, how to identify several different instruments, and the basics of the instrument families. The concept of tempo will be introduced in this book, with an emphasis on the definition of tempo, identifying faster and slower tempos, and applying the definition of tempo using in-class instruments. The dynamics of music will be introduced in this series, allowing students to grasp the concepts of loud, soft, high, and low dynamics, identify these concepts in musical pieces, and demonstrate these concepts using classroom instruments. Students will begin to learn the basics regarding the form of songs, such as repeated sections and the AB form. Students will also be taught to engage in the harmony and texture of music in this textbook by listening and singing to various melodies both with and without instrumental accompaniment and to add rhythm to songs. Students will also be introduced to a variety of different styles of music, learning music from different cultures from around the world and different eras in history.
Teacher and student follow the same textbook. The teacher receives also Curriculum Outline and Assessments for My Music Journal - Music Teaching Method for Kindergarten.

My Music Journal Teaching Method for Kindergarten will teach the following:

Concept: Rhythm
The student will:
• hear music with strong feeling or beat
• distinguish between beat/no beat
• keep a steady beat
• begin to imitate rhythm patterns using body percussion or rhythm instruments
• distinguish between long and short sounds

Concept: Melody
The student will begin to:
• develop the ability to recognize and match pitch
• use the term melody
• identify upward/downward movement in a melody
• demonstrate upward/downward movement in a melody through body movement
• hear, sing, and identify high/low sounds
• hear, sing, and recognize echoes
• hear and sing songs in major/minor tonalities

Concept: Tone Color
The student will begin to:
• identify rhythm instruments by sight and sound
• identify and demonstrate talking, singing, whispering, and shouting as ways to use the voice
• identify environmental sounds by listening
• aurally identify the differences between instrument families

Concept: Tempo
The student will:
• understand and use the word tempo
• identify fast/slow tempo in a listening selection
• move appropriately to different tempos
• identify the tempo of a song as becoming faster/slower
• apply different tempos to songs being sung
• demonstrate different tempos with body percussion and/or on classroom instruments

Concept: Dynamics
The student will:
• use the terms loud/soft correctly
• begin to differentiate between the terms soft/low and loud/high
• identify louder/softer correctly in a listening selection
• respond to different dynamic levels when echoing, singing, and speaking
• use classroom instruments to demonstrate different dynamic levels

Concept: Form
The student will begin to:
• recognize repeated sections of a song
• recognize AB form
• begin singing after the introduction of a song
• recognize an “echo” song and respond appropriately
• recognize a “call-response” song and respond appropriately after the “call”


Concept: Harmony/Texture
The student will:
• listen to and sing melodies with accompaniment/no accompaniment
• add rhythm instruments to a song


Concept: Style
The student will:
• listen to and sing music with different cultural origins
• listen to and react to classical music