Instrumental Music Curriculum

Grades 5-12

Muscatine Community School District1403 Park Ave.

Muscatine, Iowa 52761

Summer, 2001

Introduction

This Band Curriculum Guide for the Muscatine Community School District is a reference for allthe persons involved directly with band instruction and is an informative source for thoseinterested in these programs. This curriculum is compiled with the input from all musicinstructors and reflects the goals and objectives of each band course of study and the actualcourse outlines and exit skills expected from band students. Although not a complete source, theguide is based on national, state, and local philosophies and goals.

Each band instructor has many more specific class rules, policies, grading procedures, placementand audition methods, inventories, materials, letters, and forms that are utilized in the individualclasses which have not been included here. However, as with any school curriculum guide, it isintended to be revised and updated periodically in order to remain relatively current and accurate- hopefully every three years.

A special thanks goes to Jane Evans for overseeing the curriculum process and Dr. LeonardUpham of the University of Northern Iowas Price Laboratory School for valuable informationand guidance. Most importantly, our thanks and appreciation is extended to the Muscatine Boardof Education for their support of the band program in the Muscatine School District.

2001 2002 Instrumental Music Curriculum Members

Alyce Spoto ElementaryMichelle Bovencamp Elementary & Muscatine High SchoolSarah Robinson Central Middle SchoolDavid Sulzberger West Middle SchoolJeffery Heid Muscatine High SchoolJane Evans Tom Chiles -

District Mission Statement

The mission of the Muscatine Community School District is to ensure excellence ineducation for every student

Instrumental Music Mission Statement - 2000

Our mission is to develop a complete district-wide instrumental music curriculum thatuses all of our resources to their full potential and most importantly, to develop aprogram that provides students with as much opportunity for growth as possible, whilebuilding on the areas that are an important part of the community and the education ofthe student.

Music Philosophy

The Study of Music:

DEVELOPS A BASIC INTELLIGENCE

The older notion that human intelligence is unitary, being exclusively a manifestation ofthe level of ability to reason conceptually as measured by I.Q. tests, is undergoing aprofound revolution. The idea now gaining currency is that intelligence exists in severaldomains, such as the linguistic, the musical, the logical-mathematical, the spatial, thebodily kinesthetic, the interpersonal, and the intrapersonal, as proposed in one recentinfluential study (Gardner, 1983). The argument is being advanced that an educationsystem focused exclusively or predominantly on one mode of cognition-the conceptual,and which recognizes only conceptual forms of intelligence as being valid, is a systemnarrow in focus, limited in scope, and so unrealistic about what humans can know andthe ways humans function intelligently, as to be injurious and even dehumanizing in itseffects on the children and the larger society it is supposed to serve (Eisner, 1988).

These burgeoning ideas allow music education to affirm, with great courage, with greathope, with great relief, that it must be conceived as all the great disciplines of thehuman mind are conceived-as a basic subject with its unique characteristics of cognitionand intelligence, that must be offered to all children if they are not to be deprived of itsvalues (Reimer, 1989).

DEVELOPS A BASIC FORM OF COMMUNICATION

Humans have developed verbal symbols that constitute language, numerical symbolsthat constitute mathematics, and a variety of symbol systems that constitute the arts. Aworld of human achievement exists outside the realm of verbal and mathematicalsymbols. Because the forms of human feeling are much more congruent with musicalforms than with the forms of language, music can reveal the nature of feelings with adetail and truth that language cannot approach (Langer, 1942).

Like reading, writing, and speaking, music conveys thoughts, ideas, and feelings amongpeople. Because it is an effective and direct means of communication, music is usedfor a wide range of purposesfrom such earthy purposes as to sell commercialproducts to such spiritual purposes as to inspire and elevate our appreciation of life.The impact and power of music as a basic form of communication among humansmakes it an important area of learning (Phillips, 1993).

INVOLVES MAJOR DOMAINS OF THE LEARINING PROCESS

Music comprises its own complex body of knowledge (cognitive domain), requires thedevelopment of motor coordination (psychomotor domain), shapes attitudes andfeelings (affective domain), and requires learning through the senses (kinestheticdomain). Through music, students engage in the entire learning process, developing

keener understandings and insights as to how knowledge, skills, attitudes, feelings, andthe senses interrelate (Phillips, 1993).

DEVELOPS HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS

Music provides a means for studying the imagination and developing self-expressionand creativity. By exploring new ways of manipulating, organizing, and structuringsound, music education involves a learning process that moves from convergent todivergent thinking. Society values problem-solving. Creative activities in musiceducation help in the exploration of numerous possible outcomes to specific problems.

DEVELOPS AESTHETIC SENSITIVITY

The study of music teaches students to appreciate quality in those compositions ofhuman creativity that represent the highest order of thinking, feeling, and technicalachievement. When a student is able to understand and experience great works ofmusic, that student is able to experience the richness and beauty of life in its highestfrom. Music is a means of understanding and relating to the noblest desires andaspirations of all humans throughout the ages (Phillips, 1993).

PROVIDES A MEANS OF MULTI-CULTURAL EDUCATION

Music education is an important means of learning about and transmitting culturalheritages. Music and the other fine arts encapsulate all that it is to be human and whatit means to belong to any of the cultures on earth (Phillips, 1993). Music helps studentslearn about themselves, their traditions, and their ways of thinking and acting.Additionally, it helps them learn about others, understand their traditions, and accepttheir differences.

DEVELOPS PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

Participation in the music program provides students the opportunity to developresources for a rewarding personal life and for positive social interaction. Musicprovides a focus for lifelong learning and for worthwhile use of leisure time.

1. The student who has developed musical skills and a basis for makingeducated musical choices is able to control the quality and choice of his orher musical life (Leonhard, 1988).

2. Listening to quality music, playing an instrument, and singing all provide asatisfying dimension to life. The music education program in the schoolprepares students to use music for their own satisfaction, to play in schooland community bands and orchestras, and to sing in school, community andchurch choirs, thereby contributing to the musical life of the school andcommunity.

3. Participation in music performance groups and classes provides motivationfor and requires disciplined effort, cooperation, and systematic work pointedtoward the achievement of common, worthy goals the essence of a

democratic society (Leonhard, 1988). Students learn that each individual hasa commitment and responsibility to the whole group in the pursuit ofexcellence towards the groups goals.

4. Participation in the music program provides a setting for the student todevelop positive, disciplined work habits necessary to personal success andachievement.

5. Success in musical achievement, possible in varying degrees for all students,develops personal satisfaction, a sense of self-worth, and self-confidence.For those students lacking intellectual prowess or athletic ability, music maybe the principal means to develop these attributes (Leonhard, 1988). Musicmay also be the principal motivation for some at-risk students to remain inschool.

6. Participation in the music program enlivens the spirit of students and theschool as a whole (Leonhard, 1988).

7. Participation in the music program prepares students to participatemeaningfully in the rites and rituals of our society. Marriage and funeral rites,religious rituals, patriotic celebrations, and athletic events gain enrichedmeaning and significance through the presence of appropriate music.

References:

Abeles, H. F., Hoffer, C. R., & Klotman, R. H. (1984). Foundations of music education.New York: Schirmer.

Eisner, E. W. ed. (1985). Learning and teaching the ways of knowing. Chicago:National Society for the Study of Education, 84th Yearbook.

Eisner, E. W. (1992). The misunderstood role of the arts in human development. PhiDelta Kappan, 73(8), 591-595.

Fowler, C. (1988). Can we rescue the arts for Americas children? New York: AmericanCouncil for the Arts.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.

Langer, S. K. (1942) Philosophy in a new key. New York: Mentor Books

Leonhard, C. (1988). A realistic rationale for teaching music. Reston, VA: MusicEducators National Conference.

Phillips, K. H. (1993). A stronger rationale for music education. Music EducatorsJournal, 80(2), 17-19, 55.

Reimer, B. (1989). A philosophy of mus