thirdgrade

The main goal of this curriculum at the third grade level is to study basic concepts such as reading music, rhythm, melody, harmony, tone color, vocal technique, form and music appreciation. The students will also use these skills in preparation and presentation of two musical programs.

RHYTHM

1. Identify and maintain a steady beat

2. Distinguish between a steady beat and no beat.

3. Discover and identify silent beats.

4. Identify and perform strong and weak beats.

5. Understand meter in 2 and 3

6. Identify and show contrast between long and short sounds

7. Show understanding of duration of various types of notes

8. Distinguish aurally and demonstrate the difference between repeated rhythm patterns, rhythm patterns of long

and short sounds, and even and uneven rhythm patterns.

MELODY

1. Distinguish between high and low registers

2. Distinguish between upward and downward movement

3. Identify melodic shape.

4. Identify intervals that step, skip, or repeat

5. Distinguish between same, different, and similar melody

6. Identify melodic repetition

7. Identify like and unlike phrases

8. Identify melodic phrase lengths

9. Identify repeated phrases

10. Identify major and minor tonalities

HARMONY

1. Identify and distinguish between a accompanied and unaccompanied music.

2. Identify melody and counter-melody

3. Understand chordal harmony.

4. Identify and perform ostinato, partner songs, and rounds.

TONE COLOR

1. Identify individual vocal groups and group vocal sounds.

2. Identify individual vocal sounds (male, female, and child)

3. Identify melodic instruments and non-melodic instruments.

4. Identify sounds of various instruments.

FORM

1. Identify the introduction of a song.

2. Identify the coda in a piece of music.

3. Identify a solo chorus song form.

4. Identify two sections in a piece of music that are different.

5. Identify AB, ABA, and AABA form.

MUSIC APPRECIATION

1. Interpret the expressive qualities of a song in terms of style and mood

2. Determine the difference in style by analyzing the song's rhythm, melody, or tone color.

3. Identify loud/soft, fast/slow, and various changes in dynamics and tempo as a way of defining the expression of

a piece of music.

4. Identify music of Africa, Native America, and Latin America.

5. Discover great composers such as: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart.

READING MUSIC

1. Identify a staff as having 5 lines and 4 spaces.

2. Understand that a staff is a means of notating music.

3. Identify and draw the treble and bass clefs.

4. Identify and draw quarter, eighth, sixteenth, half and whole notes and understand their time values.

5. Recite the musical alphabet - ABCDEFG

6. Recite and draw the notes on the treble clef lines (EGBDF) and spaces (FACE).

VOCAL TECHNIQUE

1. Understand and show good singing posture

2. Understand and show a good light tone as opposed to a throaty chest tone

3. Understand and show breath support as a neccessity to produce a better singing tone.