Music
“When we sing well, we pray twice.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
As one of the Seven Liberal Arts, music is an essential part of our program at SGCA. Classically speaking, music is an art which studies the proportional relationships between discrete quantities and their evolution in time—in its most familiar form, we enjoy music as ratios of discrete frequencies, or notes, which form into harmonies and melodies within a compositional piece. Learning to play an instrument in an organized context opens a child up to a world of musical beauty, while the practice necessary for mastery demands an intense emphasis on discipline, form, and attention. Performance requires the development of sophisticated social skills to pick up on subtle cues in order to play in time and harmony within an orchestra in a way that is inspired, dynamic, and musical. Playing music also unites the emotional with the mental in a profound way that is therapeutic and gives form to expression. Music is a powerful unifier and a student who develops an intimate relationship with their instrument will have learned a skill that will enable them to connect with others throughout their life and will have developed an innate sense for resolving discord into harmony.
