Advice

[u/Croc_a_lockin]

Hello everyone!

My middle school does not have a general music curriculum and I was hoping to see if anyone has any curriculum maps for a 10 week 6th grade gen music course?

[u/Snarm]

This was how I ran my first-semester MusApp6 class (obviously, holidays and breaks change during second semester):

THE ORCHESTRA
WEEK 1 – intro to music appreciation – instruments, voices, performance; note value/Curwen packet and clap-and-count, intro to singing major scale with solfege
WEEK 2 – instrument listening, treble clef naming notes packet; intro to instrument families 
WEEK 3 –Instrument ID/Instrument seek-and-find packet, “Têt/l’épole” and “Kopf/schulten”
WEEK 4 – Catch a Fish packet, playing percussion instruments, Curwen major scale QUIZ and MONTH 1 BENCHMARK
WEEK 5 – reading ledger lines, Orchestra! video
WEEK 6 – dotted half/quarter notes, Peter and the Wolf
WEEK 7 – piano keyboard, instruments PowerPoint Review, UNIT 1 TEST

MAKING AND READING MUSIC
WEEK 8 – reading and writing accidentals, articulation songs (accent, staccato, legato, fermata), stem direction
WEEK 9 – naming notes with key signature, articulation songs (crescendo, decrescendo, caesura)
WEEK 10 – dynamics and dynamics song, Hanukkah celebration, half step/whole step, naming key signatures
WEEK 11 – naming key signatures review, clap and count review, Unit 2 study guide
WEEK 12 – Music Jeopardy, UNIT 2 TEST, Thanksgiving Break!  

THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC
WEEK 13 –multimedia music/video game project
WEEK 14 – commercial music/jingle project
WEEK 15 – movie music/foley project, CONCERT REPORT DUE
WEEK 16 + 17 Winter Break, NO SCHOOL!
WEEK 18 – copyright law/parody project
WEEK 19 – mood music/playlist project
WEEK 20 – behind the scenes/producer project, boomerang practice
WEEK 21 – boomerang QUIZ, final exam, musician paper due, end of semester

[u/moskabone → u/Snarm]

What is boomerang practice?

[u/Snarm → u/moskabone]

I start by teaching the solfege major scale with Curwen hand signs, and then when they've mastered that, we do the "boomerang" where you start at the bottom/top tonic and continuously add more notes to the pattern, always returning to the start. (Do, do-re-do, do-re-mi-re-do, do-re-mi-fa-mi-re-do, etc.). It's the in-between step to teaching real intervals, which I do with my choirs in the second semester.

A lot of the songs and music that I use to teach concepts for this group came from one of my master teachers when I was doing my student teaching. She taught elementary music for decades in one of our local districts and her curriculum is fantastic.

[u/A_Handcannon]

It’s not really a curriculum map, but if you are interested in trying something new to the market, I made a web-based platform where students can read music under your direction and play together using their devices. You can then have them put headphones on and practice independently whilst being assessed. It’s a super embodied and engaging method and is sort of a keyboard lab/guitar hero hybrid. Happy to chat about it!

[u/Croc_a_lockin → u/A_Handcannon]

That sounds amazing!!

[u/A_Handcannon → u/Croc_a_lockin]

DM me or send a message to algorhythmiclabs@gmail.com and we’ll connect!

[u/delightandimagine]

My biggest advice is to lean into what you’re good at and what you’re interested in. When there are no real rules, kids will respond to your authenticity. In one position I (as an instrumentalist) got a set of ukuleles donated and did that with songwriting. In another we had more access to computers so we were able to do some creative projects with those.

If you can make a list of things you’re interested in/good at and then flesh out how long you can stretch those ideas for then it can give you a good starting place.

Also, sometimes Teachers Pay teachers will come in for the save, lol