The Gateway Middle School Bands base their curriculum on the Massachusetts Curriculm Framework for the Arts.

These are the standards provided by the
Fine Arts Curriculum Guide for the
Gateway Regional School District.

The curriculum was designed to list the achievements of students once they finished Eighth Grade. The break down is listed below:

 

By the end of Eighth Grade:

Categories include: Reading and Notation, Playing Instruments, Improvisation and Composition, and Critical Response.

Reading and Notation:
Students will read music written in standard notation.

Learning Standards
Students will:
2.5 Read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/8, 9/8, and alla breve meter signatures.

2.6 Read and sing at sight simple melodies and intervals in both the treble and bass clefs.

2.7 Identify, define, and use standard notation symbols for pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression.

2.8 Use standard notation to record their own musical ideas and those of others.

2.9 In a choral/instumental ensemble or class: Sight-read, accurately and expressively, music with a difficulty level of 2 on a scale of 1 to 6.

 

Playing Instruments:
Students will play instruments, alone and with others, to perform a varied repertoire of music.

Learning Standards
Students will:

3.7 Perform on at least one instrument accurately and independently, alone and in a small and large ensembles, with appropriate posture, playing position, and technique.

3.8 Perform with expression and technical accuracy on at least one string, wind, percussion, or classroom instrument, a repertoire of instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 2, on a scale or 1 to 6 (level 3 for instrumental ensemble).

3.9 Perform music representing diverse historical periods, genres, and cultures, with expression appropriate for the work being performed.

3.10 Play by ear simple melodies on a melodic instrument and simple accompaniments on a harmonic instrument.

Improvisation and Composition:
Students will improvise, compose, and arrange music.

Learning Standards
Students will:

4.6 Improvise and compose simple harmonic accompaniments.

4.7 Improvise melodic embellishments and simple rhythmic and melodic variations on given pentatonic melodies and melodies in major keys.

4.8 Improvise short melodies, unaccompanied and over given rhythmic accompaniments, each in a consistent style, meter, and tonality.

4.9 Compose and arrange short pieces for voices or instruments within teacher-specified guidelines, using the elements of music to achieve unity and variety, tension and release, and balance.

4.10 Use a variety of traditional and nontraditional sound sources and electronic media when composing and arranging.

Critical Response:
Students will describe and analyze their own music and the music of others using appropriate music vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

Learning Standards
Students will:

5.7 Analyze the uses of elements in aural examples representing diverse genres and cultures.

5.8 Describe specific music occurrences in a given aural example, using appropriate terminology.

5.9 Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions in an analysis of music.

5.10 Interpret more complex music through movement.

5.11 Listen to formal and informal performances with attention, showing understanding of the protocols of audience behavior appropriate to the style of performance.

 

Gateway Regional Middle School
12 Littleville Road
Huntington, MA 01050

bguertin@grsd.org