Vocal music is woven deeply into the fabric of life at Princeton Friends School. On Friday mornings and at all major school events, we use music to bring the community together, drawing our many individual voices into one voice. The songs that provide a sense of continuity and connectedness within our community tell stories, integrate with our Central Study or history units, engage our sense of humor, and carry enduring messages that connect with the school’s Quaker underpinnings.
In addition to weekly music classes for all students, opportunities for both making and appreciating music occur throughout the PFS program. The arts elective program at our school includes regular offerings in boys’ and girls’ a cappella, hand chimes, and body percussion, and the PFS Chorus and the PFS Hand Chimes Club meets once a week during lunch recess. Additionally, our strings program offers individual and orchestral string instrument instruction after school once a week. All of these groups perform at the Winter and Spring Arts Festivals, and students interested in musical theater participate in the annual school play. Students also enjoy performances by professional musicians during an annual assembly with a brass, woodwind, string, or percussion ensemble from the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and 4th and 5th graders take a field trip to Princeton University each spring for a concert by the full orchestra.