The discipline of music is practiced in a number of settings in the schools of New York, as a part of general education and as a specialized subject. The following material describe music standards based on the Arts Standards, with some specific performance indicators in music, a sample of typical activities in music, and a depiction of how these activities might be viewed in light of the standards and their implications for assessment. The performance indicators are written from the point of view of student accomplishment over time. Teachers should be aware that all indicators do not have to be met in each course; rather, over time and through a variety of experiences and courses (performing groups, classroom music), all students should gain the knowledge and skills required to meet the standards. Teachers and curriculum specialists are invited to submit additional examples of learning and assessment activities to illustrate specific standards and performance levels.
Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theater, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts.
MUSIC
Students will compose original music and perform music written by others. They will understand and use the basic elements of music in their performances and compositions. Students will engage in individual and group musical and music-related tasks, and will describe the various roles and means of creating, performing, recording, and producing music.
Elementary
* Create short pieces consisting of sounds from a variety of traditional (e.g. tambourine, recorder, piano, voice), electronic (e.g. keyboard), and nontraditional sound sources (e.g. water-filled glasses).
* Sing songs and play instruments, maintaining tone quality, pitch, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics; perform the music expressively; and sing or play simple repeated patterns (ostinatos) with familiar songs, rounds, partner songs, and harmonizing parts.
* Read simple standard notation in performance, and follow vocal or keyboard scores in listening.
* In performing ensembles, read very easy/easy music (New York State School Music Association [NYSSMA] level I-II) and respond appropriately to the gestures of the conductor.
* Identify and use, in individual and group experiences, some of the roles, processes, and actions used in performing and composing music of their own and others.
Intermediate
* Compose simple pieces that reflect a knowledge of melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, timbral, and dynamic elements.
* Sing and/or play, alone and in combination with other voice or instrument parts, a varied repertoire of folk, art, and contemporary songs, from notation, with a good tone, pitch, duration, and loudness.
* Improvise short musical compositions that exhibit cohesiveness and musical expression.
* In performing ensembles, read moderately easy/moderately difficult music (NYSSMA level III-IV) and respond appropriately to the gestures of the conductor.
* Identify and use, in individual and group experiences, some of the roles, processes, and actions for performing and composing music of their own and others, and discuss ways to improve them.
Commencement General Education
* Compose simple pieces for at least two mediums, including computers (MIDI) and other electronic instruments. (Pieces may combine music with other art forms such as dance, theater, visual arts, or film/video.)
* Sing and/or play recreational instruments accurately, expressively, and with good tone quality, pitch, duration, loudness, technique, and (singing) diction.
* Use common symbols (notation) to perform music on recreational instruments.
* Identify and describe the roles, processes, and actions needed to produce professional concerts and musical theater productions.
* Explain the commercial-music roles of producer, recordist, public relations director, recording company executive, contractor, musicians, union officials, performers, etc.
Music Major Sequence
In addition to the General Education standards, students:
* Compose a collection of works for wind, string, percussion, vocal, keyboard, or electronic media that demonstrate an understanding and application of the musical elements and music-related technology.
* Monitor and adjust their performance and compositional techniques, identifying strengths and areas for improvements.
* Improvise and arrange extended musical compositions that exhibit cohesiveness and musical expression.
* In choral and instrumental ensembles, read difficult/very difficult music (NYSSMA level V or VI); exhibit independent control over tone quality, intonation, rhythm, dynamics, balance, blend, expression, and articulation; and respond appropriately to the gestures of the conductor.
* Adopt at least two of the roles they identify as needed (composer, arranger, copyist, conductor, performer, announcer, instrument maker or provider, program annotator, recordist, etc.) to produce the performance of a musical composition in the classroom
* In performing groups, produce musical performances by peer-led small ensembles and sections of larger ensembles.
Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and
resources available for participation in the arts in various roles.
MUSIC
Students will use traditional instruments, electronic instruments, and a variety of nontraditional sound sources to create and perform music. They will demonstrate their ability to use various resources to expand their knowledge of listening experiences, performance opportunities, and/or information about music. Students will identify opportunities to contribute to their communities' music institutions, including those embedded in other institutions (church choirs, industrial music ensembles, etc.). Students will know the vocations and avocations available to them in music.
Elementary
* Use classroom and nontraditional instruments in performing and creating music.
* Construct instruments out of material not commonly used for musical instruments.
* Demonstrate how to play recorded music.
* Identify the various settings in which they hear music and the various resources that are used to produce music during a typical week; explain why the particular type of music was used.
* Demonstrate appropriate audience behavior, including attentive listening, in a variety of musical settings in and out of school.
* Discuss ways that music is used by various members of the community.
Intermediate
* Use traditional or nontraditional sound sources, including electronic ones, in composing and performing simple pieces.
* Use school and community resources to develop information on music and musicians.
* Demonstrate how to record and play back music.
* Identify a community-based musical interest or role and explain the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to pursue the interest or adopt the role.
* Demonstrate appropriate listening and other participatory responses to music of a variety of genres and cultures.
* Investigate some career options related to their musical interests.
Commencement General Education
* Use traditional, electronic, and nontraditional media for composing, arranging, and performing music.
* Describe and compare the various services provided by community organizations that promote music performance and listening.
* Use print and electronic media, including recordings, in school and community libraries to gather and report information on music and musicians.
* Identify and discuss the contributions of local experts in various aspects of music performance, production, and scholarship.
* Participate as a discriminating member of an audience when listening to performances from a variety of genres, forms, and styles.
* Understand a broad range of career opportunities in the field of music, including those involved with funding, producing, and marketing musical events.
Music Major Sequence
In addition to the General Education standards, students:
* Develop a classified and annotated directory of nearby music-related establishments such as instrument and music retailers, instrument makers and repair persons, recording studios, union representatives, etc.
* Identify ways that they have contributed to the support of the musical groups of which they are members.
* Explain opportunities available to them for further musical growth and professional development in higher education and community institutions.
Students will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting the individual work to other works and to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.
MUSIC
Students will demonstrate the capacity to listen to and comment upon music. They will relate their critical assertions about music to its aesthetic, structural, acoustic, and psychological qualities. Students will use concepts based on the structure of music's content and context to relate music to other broad areas of knowledge. They will use concepts from other disciplines to enhance their understanding of music.
Elementary
* Through listening, identify the strengths and weaknesses of specific musical works and performances, including their own and others'.
* Describe the music in terms related to basic elements such as melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, timbre, form, style, etc.
* Discuss the basic means by which the voice and instruments can alter pitch, loudness, duration, and timbre.
* Describe the music's context in terms related to its social and psychological functions and settings (e.g., roles of participants, effects of music, uses of music with other events or objects, etc.).
* Describe their understandings of particular pieces of music and how they relate to their surroundings.
Intermediate
* Through listening, analyze and evaluate their own and others' performances, improvisations, and compositions by identifying and comparing them with similar works and events.
* Use appropriate terms to reflect a working knowledge of the musical elements.
* Demonstrate a basic awareness of the technical skills musicians must develop to produce an aesthetically acceptable performance.
* Use appropriate terms to reflect a working knowledge of social-musical functions and uses (appropriate choices of music for common ceremonies and other events).
* Use basic scientific concepts to explain how music-related sound is produced, transmitted through air, and perceived.
* Use terminology from music and other arts to analyze and compare the structures of musical and other artistic and literary works.
Commencement General Education
* Through listening, analyze and evaluate their own and others' performances, improvisations, and compositions and suggest improvements.
* Read and write critiques of music that display a broad knowledge of musical elements, genres, and styles.
* Use appropriate technical and socio-cultural terms to describe musical performances and compositions.
* Use anatomical and other scientific terms to explain the musical effectiveness of various sound sources traditional, nontraditional, and electronic.
* Identify and describe the contributions of both locally and internationally known exemplars of high quality in the major musical genres.
* Explain how performers, composers, and arrangers make artistic decisions.
Music Major Sequence
In addition to the General Education standards, students:
* Assess, describe, and evaluate the development of their personal contributions to their own, their school's, and their community's musical life by appropriately using musical and socio-cultural terms and concepts (contributions and skills of musicians, functions of music in society, etc.).
* Demonstrate a practical knowledge of sound production and architectural acoustics to predict the general effects on sound of room shapes, building construction practices, and common absorbers.
Students will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present society.
MUSIC
Students will develop a performing and listening repertoire of music of various genres, styles, and cultures that represent the peoples of the world and their manifestations in the United States. Students will recognize the cultural features of a variety of musical compositions and performances and understand the functions of music within the culture.
Elementary
* Identify when listening, and perform from memory, a basic repertoire of folk songs/dances and composed songs from the basic cultures that represent the peoples of the world.
* Identify the titles and composers of well-known examples of classical concert music and blues/jazz selections.
* Identify the primary cultural, geographical, and historical settings for the music they listen to and perform.
Intermediate
* Identify the cultural contexts of a performance or recording and perform (with movement, where culturally appropriate) a varied repertoire of folk, art, and contemporary selections from the basic cultures that represent the peoples of the world.
* Identify from a performance or recording the titles and composers of well-known examples of classical concert music and blues/jazz selections.
* Discuss the current and past cultural, social, and political uses for the music they listen to and perform.
* In performing ensembles, read and perform repertoire in a culturally authentic manner.
Commencement General Education
* Identify from performances or recordings the cultural contexts of a further varied repertoire of folk, art, and contemporary selections from the basic cultures that represent the peoples of the world.
* Identify from performances or recordings the titles and composers and discuss the cultural contexts of well-known examples of classical concert music and blues/jazz selections.
* Relate well-known musical examples from the 17th century onward with the dominant social and historical events.
Music Major Sequence
In addition to the General Education standards, students:
* Analyze music from various cultures on the basis of its functions, giving examples and describing uses to which music is put in those cultures.
* In performing ensembles, read and perform repertoire in a culturally authentic manner and use culture-based criteria for assessing performances, their own and others'.
| Student compositions | Classroom Music | Instrumental Music | Vocal Music |
| Course Information | New York State Standards | NYSSMA | Faculty |