Essential skills are the MINIMUM that we expect ALL students to attain by the end of their respective music course. The values we should be looking for in the essential skills are: Endurance (they have value beyond this year), Leverage (They have value beyond this class), and Readiness (they will need this for school next year). The essential skills should be what we are teaching and assessing. We will go beyond these in our classrooms.
Band
- We will continue to strive for musical mastery by accurately practicing quality: Articulations, Intonation, tone quality and sound production, Rhythmic Accuracy, and Note Accuracy.
- We will demonstrate an understanding of musical terms through performance.
- We will make historical and cultural connections through the music we play.
Choir
- Identify music on treble and bass staves by pitch letter name.
- Identify a pitch’s position in a musical scale by its solfege syllable name.
- Identify duration in sound by interpreting musical note values.
- Navigate a musical score through successful interpretation of musical direction markings.
- Interpret how music will be performed through correctly identifying musical performance vocabulary.
- Perform as an individual with attention to: Breathing technique, Breath Support, Diction and Enunciation, and Placement of Sound.
- Perform in an ensemble with attention to: Intonation, Tone Quality, Blend, Phrasing, and Following cues of a director.
- Perform written music with attention to: Pitch, Duration, Style, Articulation, Dynamic, and other written directions in the music.
- Interpret music by: Read and perform music within the context of various musical keys and scales.
Orchestra
- Read music notation.
- Play their instrument with good characteristic sound and technique.
- Play music in an ensemble with good balance, blend, and tone.
- Play music expressively.
- Apply life skills developed in ensemble to other aspects of their life, such as cooperation, effort, and perseverance.
General Music
Perform on the following instrument groups:
- Play individually and as an ensemble.
- Read music notation with attention to pitch.
- Read music notation with attention to rhythm and duration.
- Engage with music literacy skills which will improve reading comprehension.
- Interpret music notation for performance on instruments.
- Listen to music from varied historical periods and genres.
- Learn and be evaluated against a rubric for music quality based on the following: Technique, Tone Quality, and Accuracy
- Demonstrate fluency with historical periods and genres through various assessments and projects.