Chapter 4
Guidance
for Visual and
Performing Arts
Programs
Music
Music is an integral part of human experience. Used in celebra-
tions, rituals, and everyday life, it expresses the heights and depths of human
feelings and emotions, the joys and the sorrows encountered by all. Signifi-
cantly, the study of music combines human emotional experience and intellec-
tual cognition.
One of the greatest values of a comprehensive music education program is
that it allows all students to develop fully those qualities that will help themAfter silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the
inexpressible is music.understand and enjoy life. It
provides a means for creativity
and self-expression. Through
music they learn that their
—Aldous Huxley thoughts and feelings can be
communicated nonverbally by
composing and improvising
original music involving higher-order thinking processes, such as those involved
in skill mastery, analysis, and synthesis.Standards-Based Curriculum for Music
The curriculum for a standards-based music program should be well planned
and articulated from kindergarten through grade twelve. In addition to musical
performance, the curriculum provides opportunities for students to learn musical
notation and compose music. By studying the history and cultural context of
works of music, students can understand aesthetic concepts as they gain a foun-
dation for aesthetic valuing and criticism. At all levels they learn how music con-
nects to the world around them, to other curriculum areas, and to careers. An
effective music curriculum at each grade level incorporates all five component
strands in the content standards: artistic perception, creative expression, histori-1
cal and cultural context, aesthetic valuing, and connections, relationships, and
applications (see Chapter 3).Artistic Perception
Artistic perception includes listening to, reading, and composing and per-
forming music of various cultures and time periods. The perception of sound
and sound patterns is the first step in this process. Then the learner develops
concepts and understanding about music based on active listening experiences.
As students study the musical elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, form,
tempo, dynamics, and timbre, they use critical listening skills and appropriate
music vocabulary. They are able to use traditional, nontraditional, and created
symbols to read and write rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and
expression.