Unpacked Content
Essential Questions
EU: Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.
EQ: How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?
EQ: How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?
Skills Examples
Performing
Given note parameters (e.g., three black keys, FGAB, etc.) improvise above a teacher accompaniment.
"Spell" words with note letter names (feed, ace, cabbage, etc.) and play them. Combine "words" to create a musical phrase.
Compose a pentatonic melody with two phrases; one ending on the dominant and one on the tonic. Repeat with a minor pentatonic scale.
Reading/ Writing
- Choose and perform two or three repertoire pieces in contrasting styles from a wide selection of choices.
- Understand and interpret the title/ genre/ purpose of the piece (e.g., "March," "Prelude," "Gavotte," "Boogie," "Water Lilies") and all expression markings in repertoire played.
- Perform several repertoire pieces as duets with teacher.
- Perform a composition of your own for the class and/or publicly.
- Given note parameters, for each exercise (e.g., CDE, CEG, ABC, FAC, etc.), take melodic dictation.
- Given note value parameters (e.g., quarter and half, half and whole, etc.), take rhythmic dictation.
- Play, then notate "anchor notes" on the staff.
- With teacher assistance, notate your compositions, on paper, or on music software, such as (free) Noteflight.
- Become proficient at Music Theory.Net Customized Exercises provided by teacher on Keyboard/ Fretboard Note Identification, and Note Construction (Beginner Levels).
- Given a list of styles to be played (e.g., classical, rock, movie music, jazz, etc.), identify the style of listening examples. Discuss.
- Listen to your teacher play passages with contrasting dynamics, tempos, articulations and identify whether you hear forte or piano, Allegro or Adagio, legato or staccato, etc.
- Class members perform pieces with descriptive titles (e.g., "Heavy Machinery," "Song of the Steppes," "Galop," "Evocation of Butterflies"), and discuss the expressive markings and compositional elements that evoke the image of the title.
- Video yourself performing a repertoire piece. Notice your posture and hand position, good points of the performance, and spots that need practice. Work on problem spots and re-record.
- Become proficient at Music Theory.Net Customized Exercises provided by teacher on Note Ear Training (pentatonic scale notes).
Vocabulary
Rhythm
- Beat (steady beat, rit., accel., fermata)
- Meter (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, barline, pickup measure)
- Notes and rests (quarter, half, dotted half, whole)
- Tempo (metronome markings = beats per minute; basic Italian and English terms, e.g., slow, fast, allegro, andante, largo)
- Other (ties)
- Scales (pentatonic, major, natural minor)
- Intervals (half step, whole step; second, third, fourth, fifth, octave)
- Staff notation (treble and bass clefs, grand staff, lines, spaces, ledger lines, treble G, bass F, sharps, flats, key signatures)
- Melodic figures (step/leap, arpeggio, phrase)
- Intervals (half step, whole step; second, third, fourth, fifth, octave; also, M3, m3)
- Triads (root, third, fifth; major and minor qualities)
- Function (tonic, dominant)
- I-IV-V7-I cadences
- Form (phrase, ostinato)
- Texture (melody, bassline, accompaniment)
- Notation (phrase mark, double bar, repeat sign)
- Dynamics (soft/loud, p, mf, f)
- Articulation (staccato, legato)
- Historical significance of instrument
- Posture, hand position, finger numbers, basic playing techniques
Anchor Standards
Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences.
