Elementary School

Classes are 40 minutes long and occur during regular school hours. Throughout the year your child will be required to participate in group performances, including end-of-year concerts and district-wide festivals.

Please take the time to discuss these options with your child as s/he will be in this class for the entire year. Students are most successful when they make a commitment and stick with it for the entire year!

BAND students will learn and perform on one of the following: flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, or trombone. Band students will not only learn to perform on their instrument, but they will also learn to read music notation. This includes reading of rhythms and also notes on the musical staff.

STRINGS students will learn and perform on one of the following: the violin, viola, or cello. Strings students will not only learn how to perform on their instrument, but also they will learn to read music notation.  This includes reading of rhythms and also notes on the musical staff.

VOCAL students will learn and perform music from around the world through singing, games and simple accompanying instruments. Vocal students will also learn to read music notation as well as solfege. This includes reading of rhythms and also notes on the musical staff.

Learning an instrument is challenging and takes time.

Your encouragement and reminding your child to practice and to bring their instrument to class each week makes a considerable difference in their ability and facility on their instrument!

Many of the most successful students have someone who they play for at home and who continue to ask them to show and demonstrate what they are doing in music class. This support helps the students to solidify what they already know and what they need more work on for future lessons.Each week your student will need to practice and keep a practice log. Your supportive ear will help them in completing this weekly assignment. 

Cody Alves

Cody is the elementary string teacher for NVUSD. He teaches 40-minute string lessons for both 4th and 5th grade students across 14 elementary schools. Before teaching in Napa, Cody taught in the Sacramento String Project; a nation-wide college program that teaches Suzuki string pedagogy to music education students at California State University, Sacramento, while simultaneously offering group and private lessons to young string students from surrounding school districts. In this program, Cody spent 5 years learning from revered string pedagogues Judy Bossuat-Galic and Timothy Stanley. Outside of teaching, Cody enjoys being the concertmaster in the Napa Valley String Orchestra, and at home, tinkering with computers.

Chris Pimentel

Chris has been a professional musician in and around Napa Valley and the Bay area for over 30 years. He has taught privately, and as an adjunct instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College. Since 2016 he has taught band, choir, strings, and has collaborated in developing the Music Exploration classes offered through NVUSD since 2018. Chris holds a BA in Jazz Studies from Sonoma State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with distinction in his field. Chris Still enjoys playing music in the Bay Area and Napa Valley, as well as Skiing, Mountain Biking, and hiking.