StandardsBased Music Education

1
Standards-Based Music Education

• Introduction to Music Education
• Dr. Miksza
• Fall 2008

2
MENC National Standards

• Why do we need them?
• The student musician who can play one particular
  part to a major symphony or a Sousa march does
  not necessarily know anything else about the
  music, and has not developed much musical
  independence by adding that part to the ensemble,
  as might be done in a chamber ensemble. The
  activity may be extremely gratifying to the
  student, especially if the ensemble plays for an
  appreciative audience or receives a high festival
  rating. The individual students are happy, proud,
  satisfied and have derived fun and pleasure from
  the experience. But they have not necessarily
  learned much about music as an art (Mark, p.11).
• too frequently music programs have been based
  exclusively on performance, have included only a
  narrow range of Western music, have reached only
  a small number of students, and have consisted of
  activities often lacking rigor, lacking clear
  goals based on skills and knowledge, and lacking
  systematic assessment.

3
MENC National Standards

• What are they?
• a national consensus concerning the highest
  priority skills and knowledge young people should
  have acquired upon exiting grades 4, 8, and 12.
  Should apply to every student in grade 8 and to
  every student enrolled in music beyond grade 8.
• primary purpose is to improve the quality of
  life for all students by developing their
  capacities to participate fully in their musical
  culture.

4
MENC National Standards

• Voluntary Content Standards
• Singing alone and with others, a varied
  repertoire of music
• Performing on instruments alone and with others,
  a varied repertoire of music
• Improvising melodies, variations, and
  accompaniments
• Composing and arranging music within specified
  guidelines
• Reading and notating music
• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
• Evaluating music and music performance
• Understanding relationships between music, the
  other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
• Understanding music in relation to history and
  culture
• Voluntary Achievement Standards
• Proficient and Advanced Assessment Guidelines

5
MENC National Standards

• When were they developed and where did they come
  from?
• Following A Nation at Risk
• Revived interest in assessment and accountability
  in public education
• Response to Goals 2000 Educate America Act
• Grant received 1992-1994
• MENC received a 1 million from the U.S.
  Department of Education, the National Endowment
  for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the
  Humanities to develop voluntary national
  standards for each of the four arts
  disciplines-music, visual arts, theatre, and
  dance--in grades K-12. These voluntary standards
  describe the knowledge, skills, and understanding
  that all students should acquire in the arts,
  providing a basis for developing curricula.

6
MENC National Standards

• Whos using them?
• Standards for Music Education How Far Have We
  Come?
• From the reading, it seems all over the nation
  and more often than not
• All states but one have either adopted the MENC
  standards or come up with their own
• Colorado has come up with their own

7
MENC National Standards

• How should you use them?
• As Guidelines
• The determination of curriculum and
  instructional activities/materials designed to
  achieve the standards are the responsibility of
  the states, local school districts, and
  individual teachers. This publication does not
  constitute a curriculum, but provides the
  foundation for one.

8
Colorado Model Content Standards

• Also not a curriculum but another set of
  guidelines
• Based on assumption that students must develop an
  understanding of the following issues
• Why is music important to individuals and
  society?
• How does music relate to other art disciplines
  dance, theatre and visual arts?
• How do traditional, popular, and classical music
  forms influence one another?
• How do musicians work and what tools do they use?

9
Colorado Model Content Standards

• Students sing or play on instruments a varied
  repertoire of music, alone or with others.
• Students will read and notate music.
• Students will create music.
• Students will listen to, analyze, evaluate, and
  describe music.
• Students will relate music to various historical
  and cultural traditions.

10
Colorado Model Content Standards
What National Standards are subsumed by the
Colorado standards?

• Singing alone and with others, a varied
  repertoire of music
• Performing on instruments alone and with others,
  a varied repertoire of music
• Improvising melodies, variations, and
  accompaniments
• Composing and arranging music within specified
  guidelines
• Reading and notating music
• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
• Evaluating music and music performance
• Understanding relationships between music, the
  other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
• Understanding music in relation to history and
  culture

• Students sing or play on instruments a varied
  repertoire of music, alone or with others.
• Students will read and notate music.
• Students will create music.
• Students will listen to, analyze, evaluate, and
  describe music.
• Students will relate music to various historical
  and cultural traditions.

11
Colorado Model Content Standards

• Why use them?
• CO Music standards can make a difference
  because they speak powerfully to two fundamental
  issues that pervade all of education quality and
  accountability.
• Improving the quality of the music program and
  improving public awareness of the program will
  reduce in likelihood of program cutbacks in the
  future.
• Lehman Making Standards Work for You Ten
  Reasons
• They provide a framework for determining the
  scope and developmental sequence of an excellent
  music program.

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Standards

• How do you use them?
• Content standards (breadth, scope)
• Achievement standard (measurable outcome)
• Instructional objectives based on your materials,
  reflecting your teaching strategies (strongest
  role for teachers professional decision)
• Assessment (determine if achievement has
  occurred)
• Consider proficient and advanced guidelines
  (quality)