Music & Performing Arts
At Far Hills, the study of music plays an important role in building each student's strength of mind and character. All students in PreK–Grade 7 take general music classes that focus on the National Core Arts Standards of creating, performing, responding, and connecting to music.
Performance is key to our program—all general music classes perform in at least three concerts, musicals and plays each year.
Upper School students further their musical learning by practicing clarinet, saxophone, or flute for one year in a group setting and read rhythms and notes on the treble and bass clefs. They continue to perform together in an ensemble setting and sing two- and three-part harmonies in unison. Grades 5 and 6 focus on the study of Jazz Music, while Grades 7 and 8 focus on the study of musicals.
Grade 8 students take musical selectives which can range from creating, performing, responding, and connecting to music with activities such as STOMP, video music making, and more.
We offer a free early childhood music program for children ages 4 months–4 years once a month to the community at large through our Mommy & Me Music Classes. These classes, held on the Far Hills campus, help to expose young children to beat, meter, rhythm and tonality through moving to and singing. It also gives parents the opportunity to bring music into the home by learning songs and rhymes to sing with their children outside of class.
Learn more about the class and join us!
In Lower School, students create, compose, and publish original melodies. They move to music to experience form, collaboration, global connections, and various cultures and connect music with social emotional learning, math, STEAM, reading, writing, history, and social studies. They collaborate to perform together in ensembles and learn how to perform on traditional and virtual instruments.
Focused studies on Beethoven, Bach, NJ Musicians, Mozart, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky take place in Kindergarten–Grade 4.
Our Music and Movement curriculum services children in our Prekindergarten, Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 and focuses on just that—music and movement combined.