7th Grade General Music
Course Description
7th Grade General Music is designed for students who enjoy music and all that it encompasses. It is a course that develops an appreciation and awareness of music as an art form. This class’s music curriculum is based off of The National Music Standards that all music teachers around the country follow. The national music standards are listed under the course objectives, and each unit and its activities fits under different sections of the standards. This is an educational and beneficial way for students to organize music in their minds.
Course Objectives
1. To acquire the skills and knowledge to become a more knowledgeable musician.
2. To gain familiarity with and appreciation/understanding of music from diverse styles, cultures, and historical periods.
3. To build a basic understanding of the fundamental aspects of music’s structure
4. To develop aesthetic awareness
5. To recognize the connections between music and non-musical disciplines
6. To experience and appreciate the unique joy and satisfaction that comes from creating music with other people
National Standards of Music
1. Students will sing alone and with others; a varied repertoire of music
2. Students will improvise music
3. Students will compose and arrange music
4. Students will read and notate music
5. Students will analyze and describe music
6. Students will evaluate music and music performances
7. Students will understand relationships between music, the arts, and other disciplines
8. Students will understand music in relation to history and culture
General Music / Hum, Strum and Drum
1. I Follow My Own Beat!
2. Hum, Strum an Drum Music Unit
3. Sight reading and Sight Singing on guitar
7. What America Can Do For You!?
8. Did You See That?!
Grading Scale
1 - Student demonstrates little or no understanding
2 - Student demonstrates partial understanding and application
3 - Student demonstrates full understanding and application
4 - Student demonstrates in-depth understanding and application
7th Grade General Music is designed for students who enjoy music and all that it encompasses. It is a course that develops an appreciation and awareness of music as an art form. This class’s music curriculum is based off of The National Music Standards that all music teachers around the country follow. The national music standards are listed under the course objectives, and each unit and its activities fits under different sections of the standards. This is an educational and beneficial way for students to organize music in their minds.
Course Objectives
1. To acquire the skills and knowledge to become a more knowledgeable musician.
2. To gain familiarity with and appreciation/understanding of music from diverse styles, cultures, and historical periods.
3. To build a basic understanding of the fundamental aspects of music’s structure
4. To develop aesthetic awareness
5. To recognize the connections between music and non-musical disciplines
6. To experience and appreciate the unique joy and satisfaction that comes from creating music with other people
National Standards of Music
1. Students will sing alone and with others; a varied repertoire of music
2. Students will improvise music
3. Students will compose and arrange music
4. Students will read and notate music
5. Students will analyze and describe music
6. Students will evaluate music and music performances
7. Students will understand relationships between music, the arts, and other disciplines
8. Students will understand music in relation to history and culture
General Music / Hum, Strum and Drum
1. I Follow My Own Beat!
- Music and definition and the central concepts
2. Hum, Strum an Drum Music Unit
- African Drumming
- Nonwestern music (Native American, Indian, African)
- Introduction to guitar
3. Sight reading and Sight Singing on guitar
- pentatonic scale/ improvisation
- Solfege by rote
- Sight-reading notaton
7. What America Can Do For You!?
- American Musical
- Accapella music – the civil rights movement
- American Folk Music on guitar
- Jazz Origins (spirituals, gospel) (different types of jazz-swing, Dixieland…)
- Pop music
8. Did You See That?!
- Evaluating performance of clips
Grading Scale
1 - Student demonstrates little or no understanding
2 - Student demonstrates partial understanding and application
3 - Student demonstrates full understanding and application
4 - Student demonstrates in-depth understanding and application
