What would the world be like without music? MMS students will never need to know! Our early childhood program surrounds children with the sounds of a variety of musical styles.  Infants and toddlers hear music—vocal and instrumental—daily.  Luckily we have talented teachers who play musical instruments in the classroom.  In preschool, students use the Montessori bells and other musical instruments. Daily singing--both planned and spontaneous—as well as stories of composers' lives and musical styles provides a solid background for the young students.

First-year elementary students start reading music as they learn to play the recorder. Playing together as a group teaches the importance of accurate rhythm. Second and third-year lower elementary students may choose to stay with recorder or begin violin, viola, cello, or bass (stringed instruments are available in smaller sizes). Studies show that studying an instrument nurtures the ability to think imaginatively, improves spatial relationship, and develops hand-finger dexterity.

Moving to the upper elementary classrooms offers the opportunity to begin a wind instrument: flute, clarinet, saxophone, or trumpet that, along with stringed instruments, continue through the middle and high school years. Additionally, weekly half-hour private piano lessons are available at a nominal charge.
As well as learning to play an instrument, these classes also include individual attention, music theory, appreciation, history, listening, composition, and performance. Vocal music classes concentrate on tone matching and development, repertoire, part-singing, and sight-reading.

In addition to the yearly musical, other performances for all students are a December holiday program, May piano recital, and the Celebration of the Arts.  Middle and high school students perform individually and in small ensembles for the MMS Solo & Ensemble Festival, and most participate in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association's District Festival in Livonia.

Many of our middle and high school students play in orchestras outside of school, including the Monroe Youth Orchestra, the Dearborn Youth Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Youth orchestras.

For enrichment, the school annually attends Toledo Symphony concerts, and older classes have enjoyed Toledo Opera presentations of Carmen, Marriage of Figaro, Barber of Seville, Samson and Delilah, and others.  Middle school students have journeyed to Stratford, Ontario and New York City for stage productions.

Other musical activities throughout past years include costumed Renaissance Festivals, our own version of Dickens' "Christmas Carol," providing music for Earth Day programs, ISD graduations, Christmas dinners, and Monroe's holiday parade.