NKSD Elementary Music Power Standards
(1st draft updated 10/28/2010)
1st Grade –
 Beat/Rhythm
o Explores and experiences beat to express fast and slow in song and movement
o Reads and performs quarter notes, quarter note rests and paired eighth notes using a steady
beat.
 Pitch/Melody
o Demonstrates aurally and visually that sounds can move up, down or stay the same.
o Sings intervals using sol-mi-la-do or other melodic systems.
 Form
o Recognizes that music has an overall structure.
o Identifies repetition and contrast in music.
o Demonstrates call & response and echo songs.
 Harmony, Texture, Timbre/Tone Color
o Recognizes a variety of musical timbres.
 Expression (Dynamics, Style, Tempo, Phrasing)
o Understands and uses loud-quiet (dynamics) and fast-slow (tempo) in singing and playing
instruments.
2nd Grade –
 Beat/Rhythm
o Recognizes and demonstrates strong and weak beats.
o Reads and performs half notes and half note rests using a steady beat.
 Pitch/Melody
o Uses steps and leaps to sing all notes in diatonic scale.
o Identifies melody and accompaniment.
o Understands that high and low pitches can be notated using lines and spaces on the staff.
 Form
o Identifies and demonstrates AB and ABA forms.
 Harmony, Texture, Timbre/Tone Color
o Identifies unison, harmony and accompaniment in musical examples.
 Expression (Dynamics, Style, Tempo, Phrasing)
o Understands and uses Forte (f) and piano (p) in singing and playing instruments.
o Understands and uses presto and largo tempos in singing and playing instruments.
3rd Grade –
 Beat/Rhythm
o Performs single eighth notes in basic syncopated rhythms (E Q E)
o Reads and performs whole notes, whole rests and dotted half notes using a steady beat.
 Pitch/Melody
o Differentiates aurally between same and different melodic phrases.
o Reads and performs melodic phrases and notation through singing and/or playing.
 Form
o Recognizes repeat signs and 1st and 2nd ending.
o Performs rounds and partner songs.
 Harmony, Texture, Timbre/Tone Color
o Identifies instruments visually and aurally.
o Understands that sounds are produced by vibrations
 Expression (Dynamics, Style, Tempo, Phrasing)
o Understands and uses crescendo and decrescendo.
4th Grade –
 Beat/Rhythm
o Creates and improvises rhythmic phrases
o Reads and performs dotted quarter and four sixteenth notes using a steady beat.
 Pitch/Melody
o Improvises and performs a melody.
o Identifies and writes notes in the treble clef.
 Form
o Identifies and demonstrates Rondo form (ABACA).
o Identifies and demonstrates theme and variation.
 Harmony, Texture, Timbre/Tone Color
o Demonstrates Unison and Harmony through performance.
o Differentiates Major and Minor sounds in music with voices and instruments.
 Expression (Dynamics, Style, Tempo, Phrasing)
o Understands and uses dynamic symbols, such as pp, p, mp, mf, f and ff.
o Understands and uses Staccato and Legato
5th Grade –
 Beat/Rhythm
o Identifies and describes beat and rhythm in fast, slow and medium compositions with duple
and triple meter.
o Demonstrates sixteenth, eighth, quarter, half and whole notes and corresponding rests.
o Demonstrates single eighth notes and rests in basic syncopated rhythms.
 Pitch/Melody
o Composes and performs basic melodic phrases.
o Uses note names in singing and playing.
 Form
o Identifies, creates and performs various musical forms visually and aurally.
o Examines, identifies and expresses the form of music taught, rehearsed and/or performed.
 Harmony, Texture, Timbre/Tone Color
o Experience, create, perform and respond to music using voice, pitched, non-pitched and world
instruments.
 Expression (Dynamics, Style, Tempo, Phrasing)
o Creates a four measure phrase of music using dynamics and tempo.
o Identifies, understands and uses largo, andante, allegro, moderato and presto tempos within
musical compositions.