Learning Activity

Examine the Benefits of Utilizing the Online Resource Musescore

Subject Area

Arts Education
Digital Literacy and Computer Science

Grade(s)

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

Musescore is an online music library for instrumentalists. Students may search specific song titles and then choose from various options available at varying levels of difficulty. Students may also listen to a recorded example of the music selected.  Students can choose to publish a composition of their own and make it available to other students through Musescore. The activity will provide students with greater knowledge of the impact of computing as referenced through R3. of the Alabama Course of Study.

Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 6

DLCS18.6.15

Identify emerging technologies in computing.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.6.15

Knowledge

Students know:
  • how to research for emerging technologies.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • gather information about new products.
  • share information in a legal and responsible way.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • technology is ever
  • changing.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 7

DLCS18.7.14

Discuss current events related to emerging technologies in computing and the effects such events have on individuals and the global society.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.7.14

Knowledge

Students know:
  • all technologies impact society in some way.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • identify impacts of emerging technologies.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • emerging technologies can have both positive and negative impacts to societies (Ex: a technology can improve efficiency but reduce the number of jobs available).
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 8

DLCS18.8.14

Analyze current events related to computing and their effects on education, the workplace, individuals, communities, and global society.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.8.14

Knowledge

Students know:
  • technology will always have positive and negative effects on others; it is important to examine the benefits and costs associated with implementing new technology.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • analyze current events related to computing.
  • analyze the effects of current events related to computing on education, the workplace, individuals, communities, and global society.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • it is important to examine the benefits and costs associated with implementing new technology.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Music

AE17.MU.6.3

Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or audio/video recording to document personal simple rhythmic phrases, melodic phrases, and two chord harmonic musical ideas.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.6.3

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: La- centered diatonic (minor)
  • Clef reading (diatonic)
  • Octave
  • Unison/ harmony
Harmony
  • Polyphonic
  • 2-part songs
  • 3-part songs
  • Descant
  • Bass clef
  • Accompaniment
Form
  • AB form
  • ABA form
  • Form
  • Canon
  • Composer
  • Composite forms
Expression
  • Tone Quality
  • Articulation
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (G3-G5)
  • Historical periods

Essential Questions

EU: Musicians' creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.
EQ: How do musicians make creative decisions?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Perform original music that adheres to a simple formal structure.
Creating
  • Describe distinguishing characteristics of music forms (e.g., verse-refrain, AB, ABA, rondo, canon, theme and variation) from various cultures and historical periods.
  • Compose an eight-measure melody based on a diatonic scale using familiar rhythmic patterns.
  • Create movement to illustrate the form of a composition.
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify instruments used in Western and world music ensembles.
  • Identify different functions and uses of music in American and other cultures.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Distinguish between and among the use of dynamics, meter, tempo and tonality in various pieces through active listening.
  • Describe roles and skills musicians assume in various cultures and settings.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Music

AE17.MU.6.15

Select music to listen to and explain the connections to interests or experiences for a specific purpose.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.6.15

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: La- centered diatonic (minor)
  • Clef reading (diatonic)
  • Octave
  • Unison/ harmony
Harmony
  • Polyphonic
  • 2-part songs
  • 3-part songs
  • Descant
  • Bass clef
  • Accompaniment
Form
  • AB form
  • ABA form
  • Form
  • Canon
  • Composer
  • Composite forms
Expression
  • Tone Quality
  • Articulation
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (G3-G5)
  • Historical periods

Essential Questions

EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Sight-read rhythm patterns commonly found in middle-level literature.
  • Sight-read eight-beat, stepwise, and unison melodic patterns.
  • Analyze a musical score to determine formal components such as D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Coda, etc.
Creating
  • Develop criteria to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of music performances and compositions including their own.
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify stylistic elements of a piece of music based on markings in the score.
  • Follow a musical score that contains formal components such as D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Coda, etc.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Identify the names of the lines and spaces in the bass clef.
  • Identify accidentals, including flats, sharps, and naturals.
  • Reflect on a variety of live or recorded music performances.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 7 - Music

AE17.MU.7.5

Describe the rationale for making revisions to music based on evaluation criteria and feedback from others, including teachers and peers.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.7.5

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard, invented, or technological)
Melody
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard, invented, or technological)
Harmony
  • Phrase
  • Accompaniment
  • Progression
Form
  • Binary form (AB)
  • Ternary form (ABA)
  • Style
  • Genre
  • Structure (melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic)
Expression
  • Tempo
  • Dynamics
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette

Essential Questions

EU: Musicians evaluate, and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.
EQ: How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Perform rhythmic, melodic, and/or harmonic phrases that are self-created or created by peers.
  • Perform on instruments or using technology harmonic accompaniments consisting of more than two chords.
  • Perform harmonic accompaniment to a simple melody using I, IV, and V chords.
  • Perform middle level literature on a variety of classroom instruments.
  • Sing alone and with others middle level literature with proper technique.
Creating
  • Improvise melodic and/or rhythmic phrases vocally, with instruments, or technology.
  • Compose melodic and/or rhythmic phrases.
  • Compose accompaniments using I, IV, and V chords.
  • Compose, using standard notation, iconic notation, and/or technology, pieces in AB or ABA form.
  • Create musical compositions in AB form using instruments or technology.
  • Examine, with guidance, how musical compositions are arranged for various ensembles.
Reading/ Writing
  • Compose melodic, rhythmic, and/or harmonic phrases using standard, iconic notation, and/or technology.
  • Sight read melodic, rhythmic, and/or harmonic phrases that are self-created or created by peers.
  • Using notation (standard, invented, and/or through technology) record musical ideas.
  • Cite specific example from music performed or composed that demonstrate the composer's musical intent.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Develop, with the guidance of teacher, a plan to document the composition process including craftsmanship, originality, refinement of ideas, and final presentation and/or performance.
  • Respond, using appropriate vocabulary, to personal musical creations.
  • Respond, using appropriate vocabulary, to questions about expressive intent of personal music creations.
  • Develop, with peers and teacher, a rubric for the refinement of personal musical creations.
  • Create, with teacher guidance, rubrics to evaluate students' personal compositions, songs, and/or arrangements.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 06-12 - Music

AE17.MU.TEE.I.12

Explain reasons for selecting music, citing characteristics found in the music and connections to interest, purpose, and context.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.TEE.I.12

Vocabulary

Choral
Rhythm
  • Sixteenth notes
  • Dotted notes/ rhythms
  • Compound meter
  • 3/4 time
  • 6/8 time
  • Cut time
  • Beat
  • Tempo
  • Syncopated rhythm
Melody
  • Intervals of thirds, fourths, and fifths
  • Subdominant arpeggio
  • Dominant arpeggio
  • Relative minor
Harmony
  • Soprano, alto, tenor, bass
  • 3-part singing (SSA, TTB, SAB)
  • 4-part singing (SATB, SSAA, TTBB)
  • Chord progression
Form
  • Rondo
  • D.S. al Coda
  • D.C. al Coda
Expression
  • Legato
  • Staccato
  • Tenuto
  • Accent
Other
  • Intonation

Instrumental
Rhythm
  • Dotted Quarter Note
  • Sixteenth Note & Rest
  • Compound Meter
  • 6/8
  • Cut Time
  • Syncopation
Melody
  • Minor
  • Theme
  • Upper Register
  • Lower Register
  • Conjunct
  • Disjunct
Harmony
  • Texture
  • Orchestration
Form
  • Endings
  • Dal Segno (D.S.)
  • Da Capo (D.C.)
  • Coda
  • Fin
Expression
  • Pianissimo
  • Fortissimo
  • Crescendo
  • Decrescendo
  • Diminuendo
  • Fermata
Other
  • Alternate Fingerings
  • Conducting Patterns
  • Gesture
  • Cue
  • Cutoff

Essential Questions

EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

Skills Examples

Choral
Performing
  • Perform a varied repertoire of music representing diverse genres and cultures and showing expression and technical accuracy at a level that includes changes in tempo, key and meter.
  • Respond appropriately to the cues of a conductor during performance and rehearsal.
Creating
  • Describe a varied repertoire of music using correct music vocabulary.
  • Define vocabulary and music terms in all rehearsal and performance music.
Reading/ Writing
  • Demonstrate sight-reading abilities at an age-appropriate level of complexity.
  • Read and notate music which represents a variety of meters and rhythms.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Evaluate performances of self and others to determine the accuracy of intonation, phrasing, and dynamic contrast.

Instrumental
Performing
  • Play instrument focusing on how musical elements such as tempo, beat, rhythm, pitch, form, harmony, and timbre to create meaning.
  • Sing, move, and respond to music from world cultures and different composers.
  • Improvise and compose simple rhythmic and melodic phrases.
Creating
  • Listen to and identify to music of different composers, historical periods and world cultures.
  • Recognize and identify longer music forms (sonata, 12-bar blues, theme and variations).
  • Identify elements of music including tonality, dynamics, tempo, and meter, using music vocabulary.
Reading/ Writing
  • Notice and describe what is heard in selected pieces of music and compare responses to those of others.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Analyze music in terms of how it communicates words, feelings, moods, or images.
  • Compare interpretations of the same piece of music as they occur through dance, drama, and visual art.
  • Use constructive feedback to improve and refine musical performance.
  • Develop and apply criteria for critiquing more complex performances of live and recorded music.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 06-12 - Music

AE17.MU.HI.I.10

Explain reasons for selecting music, citing characteristics found in the music and connections to interest, purpose, and context.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.HI.I.10

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Beat (division into twos and threes)
  • Meter (2/2, 3/8, 6/8, common time, cut time, alla breve)
  • Notes and Rests (dotted quarter, eighth)
  • Tempo (more Italian terms, such as adagio, allegretto, andantino, con brio, con moto, lento, moderato, vivace, vivo; metronome ranges for tempos)
  • Other (syncopation, anticipation, a tempo)
Melody
  • Scales (chromatic, whole tone, harmonic minor, blues scale)
  • Intervals (P1, m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, tritone [A4, D5], P5, m6, M6, m7, M7, P8)
  • Staff Notation (accidentals, enharmonic notes)
  • Melodic Figures (sequence, Guitar: hammer-on, pull-off; Piano: grace note)
Harmony
  • Circle of Fifths
  • Intervals (P1, m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, tritone [A4, D5], P5, m6, M6, m7, M7, P8)
  • Triads (four qualities, inversions)
  • Seventh Chords (M7, Mm7, m7)
  • Function (tonic, dominant, subdominant)
  • Cadences (open, closed)
  • Other (consonance/ dissonance)
    • Expression
    • Dynamics (pp-ff, cresc., dim.)
    • Articulation (accent, sfz, tenuto; Guitar: hammer ons, pull offs; Piano: two note slurs)
    • See Beat and Tempo above
    • Character/ Style (English and Italian terms, e.g., cantabile, dolce, espressivo, giocoso, scherzando, spiritoso)
    Other (at a level appropriate to the Early Intermediate / Intermediate student)
    • Playing techniques/ practice techniques
    • Scales and Arpeggios
    • I-IV-V7-I/i-iv-V7-i cadences
    • Improvisation (e.g., diatonic chord progressions, such as F-G-C-Am)
    • Sight-Reading
    • Ensemble Playing
    • Repertoire, representative of various styles, memorized and performed

    Essential Questions

    EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
    EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

    Skills Examples

    Performing
    • Guitar: Play a 3-chord song using open chords (CAGED) using a down-up strumming pattern.
    • Piano: Play C, G, F, D, A and E major scales, one octave, hands separate.
    • Perform 3 pieces of contrasting styles with varied time signatures to demonstrate proficiency.
    • Perform while focusing on how musical elements such as tempo, melody, harmony and dynamics help convey meaning within a piece.
    • Perform a varied repertoire of music representing diverse genres and cultures and showing expression and technical accuracy at a level that includes changes in tempo and meter.
    Creating
    • Define musical vocabulary terms that appear in selected repertoire.
    • Identify various composers, historical periods and world cultures found in selected repertoire.
    • Describe tempo changes within a piece and what effect that has on the desired performance outcome.
    Reading/ Writing
    • Develop sight-reading benchmarks and growth goals in line with local guidelines.
    • Identify key signatures of 4 major scales.
    • Read and notate music which represents a variety of meters and rhythms.
    Responding/ Evaluating
    • Analyze music in terms of how it communicates words, feelings, moods, or images.
    • Develop constructive feedback to improve and refine musical performances.
    • Develop and apply criteria for critiquing more complex performances of live and recorded music.
    • Examine performances of self and others to determine accuracy of parts in relation to pitch, rhythm, dynamic contrast and phrasing.
    • Discuss personal preferences for certain musical pieces, performance, composers and musical genres.

    Anchor Standards

    Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.

    Phase

    During/Explore/Explain
    Learning Objectives

    Learning Objectives

    Upon completion of this activity, students will be able to identify how advanced digital technology has transformed opportunities available across the globe for instrumental instruction.

    Students will use audio recording equipment to document musical ideas.

    Students will select music based on interests and evaluation criteria.

    Activity Details

    Students will view the musical content available on Musescore along with the opportunities for publishing original content.  Students will discuss the impact of digital learning programs such as this one on the educational environment with attention to possible impacts for financially disadvantaged school districts.  The students will compile a list of current roadblocks facing the global digital learning environment along with possible solutions. The teacher will guide a discussion of how worldwide current events such as a pandemic change the landscape of education and the need for digital content.

    Assessment Strategies

    Assessment Strategies

    The class will discuss the validity of digital instructional content as it pertains to instrumental instruction. Students will create an 8 measure composition utilizing https://musescore.org/en. Students who wish to may share their composition with the class for group discussions concerning content and structure. The teacher will conclude the lesson with a verbal group discussion concerning the pros and cons of digital music resources.

    Variation Tips

    Additional online programs for accessing instrumental music may be explored for variety and comparison. For example, https://www.pianoshelf.com/  is a wonderful digital resource for piano literature of various genres.

    Background and Preparation

    Background / Preparation

    The teacher will need to visit the digital tool website (https://musescore.org/en) to become familiar with the search, playback, and publish options.

    Digital Tools / Resources

    Musescore (Online Music Library for Instrumentalist)
    https://musescore.org/en

    Approved Date

    Owner (Author)

    lbean
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