Music Curriculum

COURSE TITLE

All Music Courses

COURSE NO.

DEPT  MUSIC

STRAND

To meet the one credit graduation requirement in the visual, performing, and applied arts, students will develop competence in the artistic/creative process by demonstrating proficiency in all of the following guidelines. (From MMC Course Credit Guidelines, VPAA)

COURSE EVIDENCE

Specific evidence from course content expectations – units of study, activities, projects, etc. that support the given strand.

CREATE

C.1

Engage in full iterative cycles of the artistic/creative process by problem seeking, exploring, making analytical, application, aesthetic, and design choices, before completion.

The rehearsal process is the full iterative cycle.  Sight-reading, problem solving, analysis (rhythmic and tonal) phrasing/expressive elements.

C.2

Develop an idea, question, or problem that is guided by the personal, historical, contemporary, cultural, environmental, and/or economic contexts of the visual, performing, or applied arts discipline.

Access prior knowledge of compositional and historical relationships as it applies to style characteristics and compositional techniques. Students relate pieces to their personal life and perspective, and also to the original intent of the piece.

C.3

Understand, recognize, and use the elements, organizational principles, patterns, relationships, techniques, skills, and applications of the visual, performing, or applied arts discipline.

Music reading skills demonstrate the students’ understanding of the musical language by sight-reading and analyzing, understanding, and performing that language accurately.

C.4

Use the best available and appropriate instruments, resources, tools, and technologies to facilitate critical decision-making, problem solving, editing, and the creation of solutions.

Sectional and small group work requires students to self assess and evaluate performance.  Critical decision-making, solutions and editing, are all done collaboratively. Outside clinicians serve as a rehearsal resource. Students have unrestricted access to music technology and practice rooms to solve problems that are addressed.

C.5

Reflect on and articulate the steps and various relationships of the artistic/creative process.

Students listen to and evaluate performances (live and recorded) using a rubric based on state/national standards.

PERFORM/PRESENT

P.1

Apply the techniques, elements, principles, intellectual methods, concepts, and functions of the visual, performing, or applied arts discipline to communicate ideas, emotions, experiences, address opportunities to improve daily life, and solve problems with insight, reason, and competence.

These musical performance skills are demonstrated through the individual and team processes inherent in daily rehearsals and performances.

P.2

Demonstrate skillful use of appropriate vocabularies, tools, instruments, and technologies of the visual, performing, or applied arts discipline.

The skills from P.1 are polished throughout the course by instruction, study, practice, and execution of the rehearsal process.

P.3

Describe and consider the relationships among the intent of the student/artist, the results of the artistic/creative process, and a variety of potential audiences or users.

Classroom discussions center around compositional origins and how they relate to the performer and the listener.  Teachers and students hold frequent dialogues about the improvement of skills.  Students talk in a safe and nurturing environment about the collaborative process and impact of making and performing music for an audience.

P.4

Perform, present, exhibit, publish, or demonstrate results of the artistic/creative process for an audience.

Classes hold numerous public performances. Performance recordings are used for archival purposes and for self-evaluation in the classroom.

RESPOND

R.1

Observe, describe, reflect, analyze, and interpret works of the visual, performing, or applied arts.

Students evaluate and interpret the literature they perform, as well as self-assessing their own performance of that literature.

R.2

Identify, describe, and analyze connections across the visual, performing, and applied arts disciplines, and other academic disciplines.

Music is inherently interdisciplinary. Students will actively demonstrate the connections between music and other disciplines.

R.3

Describe, analyze, and understand the visual, performing, or applied arts in historical, contemporary, social, cultural, environmental, and/or economic contexts.

Through classroom discussions, students analyze music within its historical and cultural context.

R.4

Experience, analyze, and reflect on the variety of meanings that can be derived from the results of the artistic/creative process.

Students’ ideas are validated through a specific and open dialogue of each student’s unique perspectives and experiences.