ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

In completing an analysis of need for this instructional unit I recognized gaps between “what is and what needs to be”, in the music department curriculum. Of course, music is not part of the structure of standardized tests;therefore, I have no national test scores to determine my student’s progress. However, in reviewing the benchmarks and standards for music I do find gaps, which need to be resolved and addressed in the development of new unit plans. The most revealing deficiency was related to Standard #6: Listening-Students listen to, analyze, and describe music, Benchmark #12.6.1 Know the uses of the elements of music in the analysis of compositions representing diverse genres and cultures, and #12.6.2 Understand technical vocabulary of music.

Because I have no standardized test scores to support my analysis I have relied mostly upon my own observations and in-house evaluations. One major reason for the weakness in this area is we are primarily performance oriented groups in that our Choir and Band are asked to perform constantly throughout the school year at functions such as athletic events, concerts, contests, banquets and other community events. Because of this emphasis, we rarely have time in the daily schedule to focus on musical analysis involving structure and form. My students need to develop the ability to explain and discuss music using appropriate music terminology and state their personal preferences for specific musical works and styles in a musically knowledgeable manner. They also need to develop an acceptance when listening to and analyzing a variety of forms of music including that from non-western cultures such as China and Africa as well as other types of non-contemporary western music.

I currently use a computer program entitled “Essential Music Theory (EMT)” in all my music classes. Incoming freshmen are required to complete the first levels of this computer program and typically score between 65 and 75% on general music knowledge such as, key signatures, music symbols, etc. Most students never have the time to progress through the program to the level of working on and testing of musical structure and form. Occasionally there are students who graduate and enroll in college music courses who come back to inform me they felt they needed more theory background to prepare them for the college level courses. Therefore, I have determined the need to find more time in the structure of the music curriculum to address this deficiency to prepare students to advance to the next level of their education.

Our school system also requires all teachers to incorporate our school district’s goals and objectives into unit plans when applicable. One of these goals states: Students will increase proficiency in language arts and reading. By adding the additional component of listening to, and analyzing music I will be requiring the students to utilize upper level thinking skills as well as correct written expression. This will reinforce our school goal to incorporate writing across the curriculum and at the same time address the need to expose the student to musical structure and form.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: A benefit of this kind of study is to help students break through their established musical prejudices. The goal is not to make students appreciate or “like” the music they study, it is to help them develop life long skills to understand and respect it.

Goal(s): 1. The student will respond emotionally and intelligently to a wide range of music representative of many styles and cultures. 2. The student will develop knowledge and understanding of, and respect for, superlative human musical achievements.  3. The student will acquire the technical understanding necessary, including acquisition of basic musical concepts, such as music theory, analysis, listening, performing, creating and critiquing.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. How will I become more discriminating musically?  2. Why is a musical performance or performer considered great?  3. How can I use these skills in everyday listening to music?
Objectives: 1. Given printed scores of various musical pieces the students will listen to the songs which will be bracketed in color (hook in black, A sections in red and the B section or bridge in blue) and analyze for A-A-B-A form in a group critique.  2. Given two scores of music, a John Philip Sousa March (The Washington Post March) and a Scott Joplin Rag (Maple Leaf Rag) the students will compare for similarities and differences using pre-determined teacher generated questions, and which will be evaluated in a group critique.  3. Given colored pencils, manuscript paper and previous examples of various musical forms the students will as a group compose original scores of rhythmic pieces in a five line staff, which will be evaluated by the group using a student/teacher created evaluation tool.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer)will provide evidence of understanding? 
Short quizzes made up of multiple choice, matching and true/false items will ask the student to recall such information as definitions, terms, form and structures, and styles.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance)will provide evidence of understanding?
Some of the open-ended questions for this unit would be: 1. Discuss the emotion that each color suggests.  2. What color does a particular piece of music suggest and why?  3. How does a composer unify a large work made up of three separate movements?  4. Compare and contrast the emotional content of each composition. 5. What descriptors can you use to describe the various compositions?
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
The students will produce a five-line staff composition. To evaluate this finished product the students will be required to write a performance critique with a student/teacher generated rubric as a guide, focusing on analysis of the compositional process and the finished product. The student will have a choice of performing their composition at a local concert.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
The teacher will monitor success, not failure, throughout the unit, offering suggestions to students who are having trouble with some of the compositional mechanics. The teacher will check for understanding to ensure adequate progress during each step of the unit to insure completion of the unit within the timeframe. Teacher assessment will also occur using a pre-determined rubric of traditional criteria based on tone, balance, blend, etc.

Instructional Strategies

Like all good education, music education is designed to stretch students, and promote higher level thinking through acquisition of basic musical concepts and vocabulary, knowledge of music theory and history, and development of skills in analysis, listening, performing, creating, and critiquing. One of the surest ways to help students to understand music is to create it and then to perform it. Performance is used as a means to gain musical understanding. This composition project is action learning. Every student has the innate capacity to be musical, to understand musical communication, and to improve musical reactions, understandings, and skills. The basic pedagogical approach is to engage students in thinking. As a teacher I can relate information about music to my students, but I have found they will learn best experientially. Students like to discover for themselves rather than to be told. Each student will compose independently, 12 measures of the 5 line stave. Cooperatively the group will decide what the time signature will be and what the instrumentation will be and who will be responsible to perform which instrument. Through trial and error the group will decide what does and doesn’t work before the final video presentation.