Figure 1.1 Making music is fun! Courtesy of Sonor Instruments.
Because music and children seem naturally to go together, it is no wonder that music has long been an important part of the elementary school curriculum. In fact, music has been part of the school curriculum since 1838, when Lowell Mason, considered the father of American music education, introduced vocal music into the Boston public schools (Brand, 1992). In Mason's day, and for many decades after, elementary music instruction focused mainly on singing and music reading. Gradually the classroom music curriculum expanded to include listening, playing informal instruments, and creative and movement activities. Since the 1960s, it has also focused on helping children develop concepts about music. Today's curriculum is a rich and varied program that allows children the opportunity to explore and learn about the world's music through a variety of means.
Almost every elementary school district today includes some form of music instruction—some districts have elementary music specialists, and others rely solely on classroom teachers to teach all subjects. Most educators believe that the best instructional format is one in which music specialists have the primary responsibility for teaching music but work in close collaboration with classroom teachers, who have the unique opportunity to make music a part of the daily life of the students and integrate music with the total curriculum. Certainly, whoever is responsible for teaching music to children should be well trained in the subject, understand the developmental characteristics of elementary school children, and through a personal love of music and children be able to ignite the spark to turn children on to the exciting world of music.
Before children ever walk through the doors of an elementary school, they have had multiple exposures to music and have experienced music in many different ways. As infants, they naturally "babble" and shake rattles; as 2- and 3-year-olds, they invent little tunes and twirl and sway to music; as 4- and 5-year-olds, they make up songs to accompany their play, sing lots of familiar songs, and try all kinds of movement to music. In prekindergarten educational settings and childcare centers, children play many kinds of classroom instruments; explore sounds; create dramatizations to songs; play singing games; and respond to music of various types, times, and cultures. Certainly, children in their preschool years experience music joyfully and playfully—music and life seem to go together!
Once children enter elementary school, they are ready to embark on an exciting journey that will help them expand their musical understanding and participate fully in America's musical culture. This journey must be well planned and carefully sequenced. It must include music-learning experiences that will lead to clearly defined skills and knowledge but at the same time offer the joy and personal satisfaction that are inherent in music. Music instruction must be offered and available to all children. "Music for Every Child—Every Child for Music" must be the motto for music at the elementary school level.
Figure 1.1 Making music is fun! Courtesy of Sonor Instruments.
Such a program for all elementary school children is referred to as the "classroom music program" or the "general music program." Its emphasis is on providing a sequential music-learning curriculum for all children. In addition, children in the upper grades should be able to elect to study formally a wind or string instrument as well as have the opportunity to sing in choral ensembles. These instrumental and choral experiences should augment the classroom music program—a curricular program intended for all children.
I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.
Plato
Music is a powerful art form, and as children are involved in meaningful musical experiences, their sensitivity to music and their aesthetic response increase by leaps and bounds. And to increase children's enjoyment of and sensitivity to music should be the goal of elementary school music education. The following rationale for "Why Music?" articulates clearly and forcefully why music must be at the core of the elementary school curriculum.
Music is worth knowing. It is a field of study with its own body of knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking. The ability to perform, create, and listen to music with understanding is desirable for every member of society. Studying music transmits cultural heritage, develops each person's music potential, provides an opportunity for creativity and self-expression, helps students understand the nature of humankind, enables students to become sensitive listeners, cultivates a unique symbol system, and enhances the quality of life.
(Teaching General Music, 1991: 1)
As a core subject, the study of music contributes significantly to a child's complete education. It helps children understand their own culture and the cultures of others. It enables them to develop creativity, learn self-discipline and teamwork, increase their sense of self-worth, develop listening skills, and engage in creative problem solving and abstract thinking. It allows them to explore and develop their musical intelligence as well as their linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences (Gardner, 2011).
To ensure that all American students have access to the study of core subjects in their school curriculum, the U.S. Congress passed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act in 1994. This legislation established music and the other arts as one of the core academic subjects in which students should be able to demonstrate competence. The 1994 legislation was followed in 2015 with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Public Law 114-95, 2015, which outlines the subjects, including music, that are important for a well-rounded education. Music, for the first time, is listed as a stand-alone subject.
The elementary school curriculum includes a plethora of subjects—mathematics, English Language Arts, social studies, science, visual arts, and music. Since children seem to learn best when connections are made between subjects, an integrated curriculum is a high priority. Music can be infused and integrated with other subjects in the curriculum throughout the school day just as other subjects can be integrated with music. By integrating and relating these subjects one to another, learning becomes more meaningful and children can begin to see the relationships between subjects. An integrated curriculum contributes to excellence in ALL subjects.
Experiences in music should help children grow in the three domains of learning: the cognitive, the psychomotor, and the affective (Bloom, 1956). The cognitive domain encompasses intellectual learning: knowing, understanding, and thinking. The psychomotor domain focuses on the manipulative or physical skills: singing, playing, moving, and performing music. The affective domain emphasizes the feeling response to music.
The three domains do not exist in isolation but are related to one another. For example, when children identify the steady beat in a march such as Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever," cognitive learning is implied. And when they march or respond with some other movement to the steady beat of the music, psychomotor learning is specified. Finally, if the children are enjoying and valuing the music, the "feeling" response or affective learning is involved. When a student can verbally identify the steady beats and then move to the music with sensitivity, all three domains are present.
All children should have the opportunity to develop knowledge, skills, and concepts about music. To help states and school districts design school music programs to achieve that goal, national and state standards have been established. With the passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, voluntary national content and achievement standards were defined for music, theatre, dance, and the visual arts, and the music standards spelled out what musical skills and knowledge students should have when they exit grades 4, 8, and 12 (National Standards for Arts Education, 1994). Most states developed and implemented standards similar to the voluntary national ones.
In 2014 a new set of National Core Art Standards were released that describe what students should achieve in music, visual arts, theatre, dance, and the media arts. This update of standards was followed in 2015 with legislation (Every Student Succeeds Act) once again identifying music as one of the subjects required for a well-rounded education. The 2014 standards again incorporate the musical skills and knowledge identified in the 1994 standards, but align directly with the new Common Core Standards developed in other subjects.
The National Core Music Standards are designed to guide teachers as they help their students achieve the goal of independent artistic literacy. Artistic literacy is defined as the "knowledge and understanding required to participate authentically in the arts" (Glossary, National Core Music Standards, 2014). Performance standards are presented in a grade-by-grade sequence from prekindergarten through grade 8, and discrete strands address common high-school music classes, such as Ensembles and Music Composition/Theory. The standards emphasize conceptual understanding in areas that reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage. Therefore, all music performance standards are grouped under the Artistic Processes of Creating, Performing, or Responding (CPR)—leading to music literacy.
This organization of outcomes by Artistic Process helps facilitate sequential instruction and provides a framework for curriculum. Because music connections are an essential part of each Artistic Process, open-ended Connecting outcomes cross-reference users to Creating, Performing, and Responding performance standards.
The music performance standards are organized and coded according to the process components or "steps" of the Artistic Processes. The components for each process are presented in Table 1.1.
Music Performance standards are specified for each model experience in Section II of this textbook. All the music performance standards for prekindergarten through grade 8 can are found at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/ core-music-standards and click on "2014 music standards" (Prek-8 General Music). The National Core Art Standards in music are available online at www.nationalartsstandards.org.
The 2014 standards were written to be measurable and to help teachers assess student progress in valid and reliable ways. Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs) have been developed by the National Association for Music Education to provide methods for assessing each music standard. A list of the model cornerstone assessments may be accessed at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/mcas.
Teachers can review state music standards from their respective state departments of education, where they are available online.
Table 1.1 National Core Music Standards: three artistic processes and process components
| Creating | Performing | Responding |
| Imagine | Select | Select |
| Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts. | Select varied musical works to present based on interest, knowledge, technical skill, and context. | Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context. |
| Analyze | Analyze | |
| Analyze the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance. | Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response. | |
| Plan, Make | ||
| Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts. | ||
| Interpret | Interpret | |
| Develop personal interpretations that consider creators' intent. | Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators'/performers' expressive intent. | |
| Rehearse, Evaluate, Refine | Evaluate | |
| Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others. | Support evaluations of musical works and performances based selected on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria. | |
| Evaluate, Refine | ||
| Evaluate and refine musical ideas to create musical work that meets appropriate criteria. | ||
| Present | Present | |
| Share creative musical work that conveys intent, demonstrates craftsmanship, and exhibits originality. | Perform expressively with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context. | |
| CONNECTING | ||
| Embedded within Creating, Performing, and Responding | ||
© 2015 National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. Rights administered by State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE). All rights reserved. www.nationalartsstandards.org.
To ensure that children can develop their musical skills and knowledge, sufficient time in the school day must be allocated for music instruction. At the prekindergarten level, at least 12 percent of total student contact time should be devoted to experiences in music and music should be integrated throughout the school day. At the elementary school level students should continue to have music on a daily basis. The recommended amount of classroom music instruction per week in grades K through 5 (excluding time devoted to elective instrumental or choral instruction) is not less than 90 minutes. (Review the Opportunity to Learn Standards, 2014 at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/core-music-standards and click on "Opportunity to Learn Standards.")
To offer a viable elementary classroom music program, it is necessary to have basic instructional materials and equipment. It is recommended that every room in which music is taught should have convenient access to a variety of pitched and non-pitched instruments, including electronic ones; include children's books containing songs and other instructional materials in music; sound recordings of a variety of music styles and cultures; and a software library that can either be accessed online or downloaded to the class computer.
Certainly every room where music is taught should have enough uncluttered space to accommodate the largest group of children taught. It should be equipped with current technology, with at least some of the equipment able to be operated by children. Space should be available for one computer with appropriate power and an Internet connection. (For additional information on materials and equipment, review the Opportunity to Learn Standards, 2014 at www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards and click on "Opportunity to Learn Standards.")
Bloom, B.S., ed. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay.
Brand, M., ed. (1992). "Lowell Mason: A Realistic Portrayal." Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning, 3(3): 3-75.
Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. 3rd ed. New York: Basic Books.
National Core Arts Standards. (2014). www.nationalartsstandards.org.
National Core Music Standards. (2014). www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/core-music-standards.
National Standards for Arts Education. (1994). Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference. https://rowman.com.
Opportunity to Learn Standards. (2014). www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/core-music-standards.
Teaching General Music: A Course of Study. (1991). Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.
