GENERAL MUSIC

GENERAL MUSIC   6,7,8 

The district-wide Fine Arts Committee has developed a fine comprehensive music curriculum based on the National Standards for the Arts: Goals 2000.  Our focus over the next several years is to develop the assessment pieces for the following Nine Content Standards:

·        Singing
·        Performing
·        Improvising
·        Composing and Arranging
·        Reading and notating music
·        Listening to, analyzing and describing music
·        Evaluating music and music performances
·        Understanding relationships between music, other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
·        Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 

Each student has the opportunity to experience a wide range of instruction and activities that are grounded in these Content Standards throughout their four years in General Music here at Keller.

Each year starts with an introduction or review of the basic language of music, music theory.  Worksheets are used to reinforce concepts.  After mastering the vocabulary of notes, rests, dynamics, signs, symbols and some basic terminology, students begin using this knowledge to compose and arrange music.   A variety of assessments, including quizzes, are used to measure students’ learning.  Students will develop musical literacy skills through sight-reading, dictation, and short composition projects.  Inner hearing will be honed through a variety of methods and interval recognition exercises.  They will continue building a base of simple folk songs, partner songs and canons. Students will explore tonalities and arrangement by playing a variety of percussion and tonal instruments.  They will learn about music and cultures from around the world, singing, dancing and playing instruments with music of a particular culture.

Students in Grades 6-8  keep a listening journal, which is based on in-class listening assignments.  They also present current events occurring in the musical arts.  Eighth graders present a brief overview of various careers in music and related fields.  Music students have the opportunity to earn extra credit for writing a review of a concert or music event that they attend.  Students who study an instrument either at school or privately also have the opportunity to perform for their classmates.

All students are required to have a binder for music, which assists in the organization of their work.  This same binder should be the one that was started at SSES and serves as a cumulative portfolio.

As students learn how to listen to and experience different kinds and forms of music, they become more knowledgeable about the many types of music.  Students can then begin to make connections to quality music in the world around them.  They are encouraged to further explore music that they find to their liking at home or in a more formal concert setting.

All of the above content is shared and experienced through ‘doing’ music.  Music, the oldest and most subtle of art forms, is a basic form of human expression. Our music program hopes to develop musicianship and artistry in informed listeners and performers who will enjoy the enrichment of quality music throughout the remainder of their lives. 

CHORUS 6,7,8

All choruses are scheduled within the school day on ACE days.  Students meet in class-size groups throughout the day and join together with other classes prior to a concert/performance.  This type of scheduling allows for a much more in-depth approach to the learning and singing of choral music from all genres and periods of music.  Students are expected to know the mechanics of music as well as how to sing their parts.  The Sixth Grade Chorus and the Seventh and Eighth Grade Chorus will perform two concerts per year:  The Seventh and Eighth Grade Winter Concert will be on Tuesday January 11 and the Sixth Grade Winter concert will be on Tuesday January 25.  The Spring Concerts will e on May 23 for the Seventh and Eighth Grade Chorus and on June 7 for the Sixth Grade Chorus.  all concerts will begin at 7:00 PM in the HKMS Cafetorium with choral students reporting at 6:20 for warm-ups.  Students singing in chorus are expected to participate in the evening concerts as part of their grade.  Great joy and satisfaction is gained from working together to achieve a beautiful sound.