K-12 National Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied
repertoire of music.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts,
and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Kindergarten Scope and Sequence
Rhythm
 Keep a steady beat
 Distinguish between steady beat and no beat
 Identify long and short sounds
 Imitate long and short sounds using body percussion and rhythmic instruments
 Read rhythmic patterns using quarter notes, eighth notes, and half notes
Melody
 Develop skill of matching pitch with voice
 Identify upward/downward movement in a melody
 Show upward/downward movement in a melody through body movement
 Hear and identify high and low sounds
Tone Color
 Distinguish between speaking and singing voice
 Aurally identify differences between string instruments, brass instruments, woodwind
instruments, and percussion instruments
Tempo
 Move accordingly to different tempos
 Correctly identifies whether the tempo of a song slows down or speeds up
 Applies different tempos in the singing of various songs
 Understand and use the word tempo
 Identify fast/slow tempos in listening examples
Dynamics
 Uses the terms loud and soft correctly
 Starts to differentiate between loud/soft and high/low
 Responds with dynamics to singing, echoing, and speaking
 Demonstrate different dynamics on classroom instruments
 Correctly identifies whether the dynamics of a song grow louder or softer
Form
 Recognizes repeated sections of songs
 Recognizes AB form
 Begins singing after an instrumental introduction
 Correctly responds to an echo song
 Correctly responds to a call and response song
Harmony/Texture
 Sing melodies with and without accompaniment
 Add rhythm accompaniments to a song
Style
 Sing music with different cultural origins
 Learn singing games from different traditions
 Listen to and respond to classical music
First Grade Scope and Sequence
Rhythm
 Recognizes and responds to music with a beat/no beat through movement and body
percussion
 Can keep a steady beat
 Recognizes sounds that are short/long
 Begins to recognize a quarter note as one beat
 Begins to recognize a half note as two beats
 Recognize a half note, quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest when written
 Sing, listen to, and move to music in a variety of music (2 and 3)
 Read rhythm patterns using quarter note, half note, eighth note, and eighth rest
 Recognize repeated rhythm patterns in songs (ostinatos)
Melody
 Vocally reproduce pitches matching the teacher/piano (C-G)
 Vocally reproduce high/low pitches
 Demonstrate through movement whether pitches are high/low
 Recognize upward/downward movement of pitches
 Demonstrate through movement whether pitches are moving upward/downward
 Echo sing melodic patterns
 Sing isolated phrases of a song
 Sing songs in major/minor tonality
 List the letters in the musical alphabet
 Idendify melodic movement by leaps and repeats
Tone Color
 Distinguish between a man’s, woman’s, and child’s voice
 Identify and demonstrate different vocal abilities (talking, singing, whispering, shouting)
 Begin to aurally and visually identify various individual orchestra instruments
 Create sound effects to accompany stories
 Demonstrate understanding of songs versus chants or rhymes
Tempo
 Identify faster/slower
 Sings faster/slower upon request
 Participates in activities which initiate tempo changes
 Demonstrate tempo changes through movement
 Uses the term ‘tempo’ correctly
Dynamics
 Identify louder/softer in listening examples
 Identify louder/softer using terms ‘forte’ and ‘piano’
 Represent changes in dynamic levels through movement
 Respond to changing dynamics when echoing, singing, and speaking
 Start to use terms ‘crescendo’ and ‘decrescendo’ correctly
Form
 Identify same, different, and similar phrases and sections
 Label same and different phrases or sections using AB
 Identify forms AB, ABA, call response
 Responds appropriately to an echo song
 Recognizes the introduction of a song
Harmony/Texture
 Distinguish between one sound/many sounds in listening examples
 Aurally identify an ostinato in a listening example
 Perform an ostinato vocally or with an instrument or body percussion
 Accompany songs on rhythm instruments and body percussion
 Sing songs with/without accompaniment
Style
 Begin to recognize different styles of songs
 Listen to and sing music from diverse cultures
 Listen to and respond to classical music
 Responds to different moods in listening examples appropriately
 Recognizes difference between songs, chants, and rhymes
Second Grade Scope and Sequence
Rhythm
 Hear and identify strong beat, steady beat, and melodic rhythm
 Demonstrate strong beat, steady beat, and melodic rhythm through movement
 Read and perform rhythm patterns using whole, half, quarter and eighth notes, and quarter
rests
 Recognize repeated rhythm patterns in a listening selection
 Begin to recognize rhythmic symbols: ties, barlines, repeat signs, accents, fermata
 Identify lengths of the following notes and rests: whole, half, quarter, eighth
 Identify legato and staccato in a listening example
Melody
 Hear and sing songs in major/minor tonalities
 Use movement to indicate high and low pitches
 Exploration of melodic direction by recognizing steps, skips, leaps, and repeated tones
 Practice ‘inner hearing’ by rejoining a song at a specific time (i.e. think this phrase but sing the
next phrase)
 Echo sing a melodic pattern
 Recognize short and long phrases
 Sing songs involving sequences
 Recognize sequencing of phrases
 Name the letters of the musical alphabet
Tone Color
 Differentiate between and demonstrate talking, singing, shouting, and whispering
 Define and correctly use the word “timbre”
 Identify and explore environmental sounds to create sound effects
 Recognize classroom band instruments
 Use classroom instruments in accompaniments
 Identify orchestral instruments aurally and visually
 Understand there are different instrument families
Tempo
 Identify faster/slower
 Begin to use the terms “accelerando” and ritardando”
 Demonstrate faster/slower through body movement, singing, and playing various instruments
 Respond to tempo changes through body movement, singing, and playing various instruments
 Continue to define and use the term “tempo”
Dynamics
 Identify louder/softer through singing and listening examples
 Write and recognize the symbols for “crescendo” and “decrescendo”
 Use the terms “crescendo” and “decrescendo” appropriately
 Perform pieces with accents vocally and on instruments
 Identify accent symbols and their effect in music
 Create accompaniment with dynamics for a reading of a poem or story using body percussion
or rhythm instruments
Form
 Recognize the introduction and coda of a song
 Identify same and different sections in music by labeling using letters A, B, C, etc.
 Continue to sing and play various forms: AB, ABA, call-response, rondo, suite
 Use the term “form” as the organization of music
 Identify symbols that contribute to form: repeat, 1st and 2nd endings, fine, DC Al fine
 Recognize long and short phrases
Harmony/Texture
 Distinguish between listening examples with accompaniment and no accompaniment
 Create simple accompaniments/ostinati using body percussion and various instruments
 Play ostinati using pitched/unpitched instruments
 Perform songs solo and in unison
 Perform songs in simple rounds
 Recognize harmony (2 or more pitches) versus unison
 Recognize chord changes
Style
 Notice through tempo, rhythm, melody, and tone color, similarities and differences in various
styles of music from diverse cultures
 Listen to and sing songs from a variety of cultures
 Listen to and respond to classical music
Third Grade Scope and Sequence
Rhythm
 Independently maintain a steady beat
 Distinguish between beat and rhythm
 Identify 2/4, ¾, and 4/4 meters
 Identify quarter, half, whole, eighth, and sixteenth notes and rests and their relative values
 Create and play rhythmic ostinati on rhythm instruments
 Compose ostinato on rhythm ostinato
 Review rhythm symbols: ties, barlines, repeat signs, accents, fermata
Melody
 Accurately match pitch with teacher/piano
 Recognize melody shape
 Listen to and identify steps, leaps, and repeats
 Begin to recognize and understand sharp, flat, and natural
 Identify same, different, and similar melodic patterns
 Sing songs with wider vocal range
 Sing songs involving sequences and recognize sequencing (i.e. repeats, DS al coda, DC al code)
 Match notes with letter names on the treble staff
 Explore simple melodies on classroom instruments using the pentatonic scale
Tone Color
 Identify a variety of instruments through recorded and live selections
 Explore tone color of non-pitched instruments by creating accompaniments for songs, stories,
and poems
 Review the meaning of “timbre”
Tempo
 Gain understanding of “ritardando” and “accelerando”
 Identify “ritardando” and “accelerando” when listening to a piece
 Demonstrate “ritardando” and “accelerando” through movement
 Describe how the tempo in a piece can portray a mood
Dynamics
 Define and correctly use the term “dynamics”
 Recognize and define the following abbreviations: p, pp, mp, f, ff, mf
 Recognize and define “crescendo” and “decrescendo”
 Identify dynamic changes in music
 Make appropriate dynamic changes while singing
Form
 Identify phrases in a written score as long/short, same/different
 Recognize introduction/coda in a song or listening example
 Identify the following forms: AB, ABA, AABA
 Identify road map markings in music, markings that give direction (DC al fine, first/second
endings, repeat, fine)
 Recognize theme, variation, round, and rondo in a listening example
Harmony/Texture
 Sing rounds, countermelodies, and descants
 Play rhythmic and melodic ostinati on a variety of classroom instruments
 Perform a brief program of songs by the same composer for an audience
Style
 Listen to music from various cultures and various styles
 Perform a brief program of songs or dances from a selected culture or tradition for an audience
 Describe differences/similarities in rhythm, melody and tone color
 Listen to an dmake identifications of music of great composers
 Describe and give a personal opinion of the recording or performance as part of a class
discussion
 Support the above personal opinion by providing a rationale for the opinion
Fourth Grade Scope and Sequence
Rhythm
 Recognnize changes in meter in a listening example
 Listen and identify the meter as being in 2s, 3s, or 4s
 Read and explain the symbols of the following time signatures: 2/4, ¾, 4/4, common time, cut
time
 Identify the note which receives the beat in a time signature
 Identify duration of the following notes and rests: whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth
 Accurately perform a variety of rhythmic patterns
 Recognize notes and rests when looking at a score
 Begin to listen to and recognize syncopation
 Listen to and conduct pieces
 Distinguish between upbeat and downbeat
 Read and perform rhythms using triplets, ties, and slurs
Melody
 Identify a listening example as being in a major or minor key
 Experiment with the pentatonic scale on bells
 Recognize and sing imitative phrases
 Draw the melodic shape of a phrase
 Define and use the following terms: octave, phrase, and melodic shape
 Name notes on the treble and bass clef
 Practice playing melodies on the recorder from a score
 Begin to distinguish between major and minor chords
 Review accidentals: sharp, flat, natural
Tone Color
 Recognize various ensembles from live performances and listening examples (band/orchestra)
 Identify the five families of instruments: strings, percussion, brass, woodwinds, and keyboard
 Explore a variety of sounds through classroom instruments to create an original composition
Tempo
 Review the meaning of “tempo”
 Recognize the appropriateness of the tempo in listening examples
 Use a variety of tempos while performing
 Decide an appropriate tempo for a performance and give an explanation for the choice
 Respond to tempo markings when singing, “ritardando” and “accelerando”
Dynamics
 Review the meaning of “dynamics”
 Recognize the reason for dynamic choices
 Read and respond to dynamic markings in music: p, pp, mp, f, ff, mf, crescendo, decrescendo
Form
 Identify phrases as same/different both visually and aurally
 Begin to understand and follow the marking “D.S. al fine”
 Pause for the interlude of a song
 Recognize the theme in a listening example
 Identify the return of a theme in a piece of music
Harmony/Texture
 Sing counter-melodies, ostinati, descants, and partner songs
 Recognize chord changes in a song
 Experiment with I-V and I-IV-V chord progressions to develop simple accompaniments
 Discuss the texture of a listening example
 Recognize textures as thick/thin
 Define and use the term “accompaniment”
 Create rhythmic accompaniments and harmonic accompaniments (chord progressions)
Style
 Describe the style of music from a variety of cultures
 Recognize that rhythm, melody, and tone color determine style
 Listen to a variety of music in the same style and describe the rhythm, melody, and tone color
 Identify the music of great composers