MASSEY HIGH SCHOOL
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
YEAR TEN (BEGINNERS) MUSIC
(10MUS)
COURSE OUTLINE
For students without much previous musical experience
(2011)
COURSE STRUCTURE
Length of Course:
Eighteen weeks (1 semester), five periods per
week.
Curriculum Strands:
 Developing Practical Knowledge in Music (PK)
 Developing Ideas in Music (DI)
 Communicating and Interpreting Music (CI)
 Understanding Music in Context (US)
Intended Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
 Present pieces of music on guitar. (CI)
 Present pieces of music on keyboard using both hands. (CI)
 Read and write western notation and guitar tab (PK)
 Experiment with different sounds on instruments and develop small
group compositions. (DI)
 Listen to and study a range of musical styles, including western art
music and film music. (UC)
Methods of Assessment:
 At the end of each half semester, students will complete an aural,
theory, and musical styles test, the results of which will appear on their
reports.
 Students will complete practical assessments on keyboard and guitar
at the end of the first half semester. These will be marked out of 5.
 Students will complete a small group composition by the end of the
second half semester. These will be marked not achieved/achieved/
merit/excellence and these marks will appear on their reports.
 Students will present a solo performance on either keyboard or guitar
(or an instrument they are learning through the itinerant scheme) at the
end of the second half semester. These will be marked not
achieved/achieved/ merit/excellence and these marks will appear on
their reports.
Homework Policy:
 Homework will primarily involve theory exercises that reinforce the
concepts presented in class.
 It is expected that students will complete all homework tasks by the
due date. Students will be kept in or called back at interval or lunchtime
to complete unfinished homework. Alternatively, the teacher may
choose to withdraw their practical lessons until homework is finished.
ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES
Level 5
PK
Developing Practical Knowledge in Music
Students will use focused listening to identify, transcribe, and manipulate
musical elements and structural devices and will use instruments and
technologies to transpose and notate music.
Students will build on their listening and theory skills from Year 9. Aural work
will include rhythmic dictation (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8) and chord recognition, as well
as some easy NCEA Level 1 General Perception exercises. Theory
DI
Developing Ideas in Music
Students will use musical elements, instruments, and technologies to create
structured compositions and improvisations.
Students will work in small groups to devise original compositions.
Composition tasks could include body percussion (to reinforce note and rest
values), “scary” music, 12 Bar Blues improvisations, writing simple melodies.
Compositions will be performed for the class and assessed not achieved/
achieved/merit/excellence. More advance students may compose using
Sibelius or Garageband.
CI
Communicating and Interpreting in Music
Students will prepare, rehearse, present, and evaluate a range of musical
pieces for a variety of purposes.
Students will have 2 practical lessons per week where they will develop guitar
and keyboard skills learnt at Year 9. Students will be able to progress at their
own pace, and in the second half semester will have the option of focusing on
either guitar or keyboard. Students will complete a performance assessment
at the end of each half semester.
UC
Understanding Music in Context
Students will compare and contrast the characteristics of music associated
with a range of sound environments, in relation to historical, social, and
cultural contexts.
Students will investigate how music serves a variety of purposes and
functions in their lives and in their communities.
Students will study Film Music at the end of the semester, completing an
assignment based on a film studied in class. They will also briefly study “The
Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel or “Fair Phyllis” by John Farmer, leading into
basic score reading skills.
Students will study Western Art Music history in the second half semester,
looking at Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th
Century periods, and completing a research assignment on a composer of
their choice.
Year 10 Beginner Music Programme
(1 semester/2 term course)
Course Outline for Teachers
Note: Students have TWO practical lessons a week, and at least one theory
lesson. The other 2 periods may consist of listening activities/music studies or
controlled composition activities.
At least 2 weeks of revision of the year 9 course needs to be done. Bear in
mind that there will be students in this course who did not do music at year 9.
THEORY
Revision:
 Elements of music
 Rhythm tree – rhythm values. Reinforce with practical activities.
 Rests
 Dotted notes
 Time signatures and barlines
 Notes in treble clef
 Notes in bass clef
 Beaming and grouping of rhythm values (may need more teaching)
 Instruments of the Orchestra
New Material:
 Ledger lines
 Accidentals
 Tones & Semitones – semitones as characteristic of tension.
 Introduction to modes as determined by placement of tones and
semitones: eg: whole tone scale, pentatonic, diatonic modes (major,
dorian d-d, Phrygian e-e, mixolydian g-g), minor.
 Degrees of the major scale
 Key signatures to 2 sharps & flats
 Rhythms: dividing the beat into 2, 3, 4.
 Compound time signatures
 Intervals – consonant (unison, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8ve) and dissonant (2nd, 7th,
tritone) – Naming major, minor, perfect intervals.
 Basic score reading skills
First term could be whole class theory work. Second term could be in ability
groups, working at their own level at their own pace. Theory and
compositional tasks can be linked – eg: melody writing coinciding with modes
and scales. Harmonic writing corresponding with intervals. Chords and
progressions coinciding with keys and so forth.
AURAL
 Simple rhythmic dictation
 Simple melodic dictation (stepwise). Towards the end of the course try
students on easier NCEA level 1 aural.
 Identifying texture (mono/homo/poly)
 Identifying timbre
 Identifying form (binary, ternary, rondo, theme & variations, song)
COMPOSITION
Lots of room for teacher creativity
 Body percussion
 Pre-tasks – excercises in melody writing, writing a simple second part
handling consonant intervals (unison, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8ve). Use of passing
notes, neighbour notes, suspensions.
 Soundscapes (scary music) in groups.
PRACTICAL
 First term – 1 period of keyboard, 1 period of guitar. Revise year 9
material then continue with own pieces or keyboard/guitar book.
 Second term – students are encouraged to focus on one instrument.
They will work at their own pace.
MUSICAL STYLES
 Periods of Music – Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical,
Romantic, 20th Century. The course for this part is the same as for the
Advanced music course for year 10.
 Use a combination of reading/writing and listening activities.
 Film Music – ET or Fellowship of the Ring. Last two weeks of the
semester. Also some film music content possible during Amadeus at
the end of term one.
ASSESSMENTS
TESTS
Written test at end of first term, assessing aural, theory, instruments of
the orchestra, world instruments.
Written exam at end of semester, assessing aural, theory, period of
music.
Assignment on film music completed in class.
PERFORMANCES
End of first term: keyboard /5, guitar /5. Informal “performances” for
teacher.
End of semester: solo performance, marked not achieved / achieved /
merit / excellence. Perform in front of whole class.
COMPOSITION
End of semester: assess composition not achieved / achieved / merit /
excellence. Use teacher discretion – you may want students to submit
written compositions, or perform their compositions for the class, or
both.
MUSIC WORKS:
Study of Music Western Art Music Tradiation from Medieval to Modern
Set work study – “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel or “Fair Phyllis” by John
Farmer. Focus on score reading.
Film Music – “Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring”
Assessed on in-class assignment and end of term test.
The survey of music history will include:
Year 10 Advanced Music
(1 semester / 18 week course)
Course Outline for Teachers
Students have TWO practical lessons a week, one for performance and one for composition,
and at least one theory lesson. The other 2 periods should consist of listening activities/music
studies.
Performance
Performance 1 – end of the first term of the course–Group or Solo
Performance 2 – end of semester – Solo
Performances will be assessed in class, in front of an audience, and may be videoed.
Assessed as per NCEA Level 1 (see Departmental marking schedule).
Composition
Composition pretasks: incuding: melody writing in the dorian, mixolydian, phrygian modes.
Introduction to 2 part counterpoint, and consonance and dissonance management through
species counterpoint: 1st species (note against note, consonant), 2 nd Species (2 notes against
1 with passing notes allowed); 3rd Species: (4 notes against 1 with neighbour notes allowed)
and 4th Species (using prepared and resolving on beat suspensions), leading to a florid
counterpoint composition based on an original melody.
Assessed as per NCEA Level 1 (see Departmental marking schedule)
Aural
Diatonic intervals in major keys
Rhythmic and Melodic dictation
Listening for timbre, texture, form.
General Perception (NCEA Level 1 practice exercises)
Assessed in Term 1 test and end of course exam.
Theory
Chords based on Jazz and Roman notation
Transposition (at the 8ve and between clefs)
Simple, Compound, and Irregular time signatures.
C clefs
Major & minor keys to 3 #s & bs
Analysis of texture and form (Bennett Score Reading book)
Assessed in Term 1 test and end of course exam.
Music Works
Set work study – “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel or “Fair Phyllis” by John Farmer. Focus on
score reading.
Film Music – “Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring”
Assessed on in-class assignment and end of semester test.
The survey of music history will include:
Medieval:
Context:
After the fall of the Roman empire around 400AD and the invasions from the north, civilisation
was gradually rebuilt from the monasteries – which became the centres of theology,
philosophy, art and eventually science. The bishops became the focal point for unity across
Europe and communities emerged around monasteries and principalities. The society of the
Middle Ages was divided into three groups: the nobles (who were the landowners and
provided defence and protection to the serfs), the serfs, who committed themselves in a
permanent contract to a landowner and who worked the land in return for a share of the
produce and a guarantee of defence; and the monks, who came from any class but who
dedicated themselves to God as single people in community, in a life of prayer, work and
study. This class of people had more authentic ‘leisure’ time – time to devote themselves to
the search for the truth in the spiritual and temporal spheres. They became the educated and
the educators, starting schools and hospitals. They assimilated the ancient philosophical
traditions, used them in developing a new theological tradition, which overflowed into the
artistic heritage of Medieval Europe in painting, illustrated manuscripts, sculpture, architecture
and music. The main need for music was for the daily liturgy of the monks – chanting psalms
seven times a day and singing Mass every day of the year. After a time, there were so many
chants to be learned and transmitted by word of mouth, changing daily in a cycle of seasons
and feasts, that the need developed for musical notation. There was also an overflow from
the liturgy to festival for big feasts such as Easter and Christmas and for important centres of
pilgrimage.
Sacred Music: LITURGICAL: Gregorian chant – melismatic (eg Alleluia) and syllabic (eg
Gospel tones). Context: music arising from a rhythm of prayer in a monastery – the Mass with
Ordinary (unchanging daily texts eg Kyrie) and Propers (texts changing for the seasons of the
year) and the Office of Hours (7 times a day of chanting psalms and antiphons) providing the
main forms. Gregorian chant noted for its fluidity of rhythm (lack of regular meter), reflecting
goal of imitating breath/ incense/ prayer rising upward. Monophonic music only. Music
transmitted by oral tradition for a thousand years and then written down in the earliest forms
of notation. Mood: reverence, dignity, solemnity, sacredness, contemplation, peace. The
scales are diatonic modes that are determined by the placement of semitones.
SECULAR MUSIC: Folk music – dance (instrumental) and vocal. Music can be dance (more
rhythmic) or trance (lilting). Still keeps a modal feel. Generally a sense of pulse in the music.
FESTIVAL MUSIC– Religious words and themes but more of a folk style of musical setting –
with regular pulse, for processions and plays, or for unwinding in the evenings on pilgrimage.
The music is closer in style to folk music but with religious texts. It is really part of the secular
music of the middle ages even in that it was not music for worship, but more for fun.
Renaissance:
CONTEXT: An age of optimism, ‘superiority’, humanism – seeking new possibilities in art,
science. The invention of printing. Expansion of colonies. The return of slavery, which was
abolished in the middle ages. Protestant reformation – brought new forms: the vernacular
hymn in 4 parts. Anglicans continued Catholic tradition in English.
Sacred Music: Motets – polyphonic music, unaccompanied, often with imitation and
dovetailed entries. Music often through-composed, with each line of text giving rise to a new
section. Not so much specific word painting but mood painting: the mood of reverence,
dignity, solemnity, prayer (as for the chant). The motet can sound like the interweaving of
chant lines. The first motets were elaborations over slowed down chant (cantis firmus).
Secular Music: Madrigals – ‘fun music’. Vocal. Also generally unaccompanied with imitation
and dovetailed entries. The music has a close connection to the poetry, employing word
painting. The texts are often light-hearted and the musical setting can add to the humour. The
texts are not religious.
Baroque:
CONTEXT:
The age of the Counter-Reformation. Trying to impress, showing ‘truth’ through ‘beauty’ and
grandeur. An age of majesty, of expansion and perfection of forms. The rise of the orchestra.
The rise of major and minor keys replacing church modes. The rise of opera and oratorio as
new forms. The tuning of keyboards for equal temperament allowing extended modulation.
Sacred Music: Oratorio (eg Handel’s Messiah). Oratorio has the same features of opera,
which is also a Baroque invention, ie: Aria (dwelling on the emotional elaboration of short
texts revealing the characters’ inner world), Recitative (advancing the action, telling the story,
getting through dialogue, without much orchestration), Chorus (employing SATB in
polyphonic setting, sometimes to comment on the action, sometimes to illustrate a group
dramatically). Unlike the opera, the oratorio lacks scenery, acting, costumes, staging etc. It is
like a concert rather than a play. It has a religious rather than secular theme. Word painting is
prevalent from the Baroque period onwards. Eg: Every valley shall be exalted, every
mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain. (Handel’s
Messiah).
Secular Music: Instrumental (eg Four Seasons of Vivaldi). Rise of instruments and
instrumental music. The concerto with concertino solo group contrasting ripieno. 48 Preludes
and Fugues of Bach and equal tuning (equal temperament); and Vocal (eg Opera) – like
oratorio but with secular story (often noble), staging, acting, costumes. Musical features: Aria,
Recitative, Chorus, SATB solo, ensemble.
The main keyboard instruments at the time are harpsichord and organ (not piano).
Composers: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi
Classical:
CONTEXT:
A period that valued form, clarity, elegance, refinement, balance, proportion, manners, noble
simplicity.
Development of the piano. Regular phrasing, Alberti bass, homophonic textures. Toward the
end – a move toward drama and romanticism. The expansion of the orchestra in size and
scope. The development of Sonata form: used in sonatas, symphonies and concerti.
Students should have a sense of sonata form for the 1st movements of sonatas, symphonies
and concerti:
Exposition
1st Subject
2nd Subject
group
group
Home key
Related key
(tonic)
(dominant in
major key
sonatas,
relative
major in
minor key
sonatas)
Eg: C
G
Am
C
Development
Free treament
of material in
various keys
Composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Opera: of Mozart – the Marriage of Figaro.
Romantic:
CONTEXT:
1st Subject
group
Home key
(tonic)
C
Am
Recapitulation
2nd Subject
group
Home key
(tonic) and
can be tonic
major in
minor key
sonatas
C
Am or A
Coda
Home key
(tonic) and
can be tonic
major in
minor key
sonatas
C
Am or A
A period that valued the raw forces of nature in suspicion of the encroaching industrialisation
of cities and workplaces. A period of political upheaval, prepared by the French revolution. A
period of nationalism, establishing Germany and Italy as countries rather than as a collection
of states. A period of the eradication of monarchy and aristocratic privilege in favour of the
rise of a middle class of merchants, bankers, white collar workers, ‘intellectuals’. Music for the
concert hall. The new class wanted to be entertained, excited, impressed – how fast, how
high, how loud, etc. The retreat by some artists to the salon – intimate and poetic music also
flourishes among like-minded artists. The ideal that music expression dominates – more than
its formal organisation. Freedom of shorter forms. Exploration of more radical key changes
and colours. Expansion of forces.
Piano music – eg: the grand concert works of Chopin and Liszt but also their poetic intimate
works.
Symphonic poems – an extramusical story influences the organisation and unfolding of the
music.
Lieder – the piano is an equal partner with the voice in painting the poem. Schubert is a
bridge composer between Classical and Romantic – his songs are more an expressive short
genre typical of Romantic music.
Opera – grand nationalistic operas – tragedies, political overtones.
Composers: Chopin, Liszt, Bizet, Verdi, Wagner
Modern:
CONTEXT:
An age of experimentation, challenging past definitions, pushing boundaries – 12 tone music,
looking for new organisational principles, rather than harmony of the major/minor system.
Sometimes a borrowing from the medieval heritage, especially folk music and altenative
modes. An age of relativism, democracy, social revolution. A cynical period with two world
wars, regimes, totalitarian governments. A period of scientific optimism with advances in
technology, communications, globalisation. Research into musicology and ethnomusicology.
Avant-garde: Cage.
Folk composers: Bartok, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov
Atonal music
Electronic music
NZ composers
Assessed in end of term test.
Western Art Music History – Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical,
Romantic, and Modern periods.
Assessed in end of course exam in both aural recognition and written form.
POSSIBLE LISTENING LOG:
MEDIEVAL:
SACRED:
For Liturgy:
Gregorian Alleluia (melismatic writing)
Gregorian Gospel tone (syllabic writing)
Gregorian Hymn “Tantum Ergo” – modal writing in Phrygian mode. Filling in of
melodic leaps, free phrase length.
SECULAR:
Medieval Folk Songs from Trio Medaevale, (Norwegian)
Medieval Dance music
FESTIVAL MUSIC (religious) – Festival of Elx,
Songs of St Francis
Maria Matrem (codex of Montserrat)
RENAISSANCE:
SACRED:
Motet: Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium
Palestrina: Sicut Cervus
Tallis: If ye love me
Byrd: Ave Verum Corpus, Mass for 4 voices (Kyrie or Agnus Dei)
SECULAR:
Fair Phyllis (John Farmer)
Others from King’s Singers – assorted languages
Eg: Now is the month of Maying
Philip my Sparrow
BAROQUE:
Instrumental: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons. Bach: The Italian Concerto
BWV971 (harpsichord piece) Preludes and fugues, Organ Toccata and
Fugue. Handel: Water Music – the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Vocal: Sacred: Oratorio. Handel: Messiah: - Every Valley (aria), There were
shepherd’s (recit), Hallelujah Chorus. Bach: Excerpts from St Matthew
Passion
CLASSICAL:
Instrumental: Mozart: Piano Concerti (eg: No.20, 21, 23, 24), Sonatas (eg
Sonata #7), Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Piano Concerti (eg 3,5)
Vocal: Opera: Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
ROMANTIC:
Instrumental: Chopin: Nocturnes (for the salon), Etudes (for the concert hall).
Liszt: Symphonic Poems. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 2.
Vocal: Opera: Bizet, Verdi: Il Trovatore, Akt II-Zigeunerchor,
Schubert songs
MODERN:
Instrumental: Debussy: Impressionist music – (late Romantic cross over)
Bartok – Concerto for Orchestra (2nd movt)
Stravinsky – Rite of Spring
Cage –Sonatas and interludes for Prepared Piano (1st interlude)
- 4’33’’
Farr (Landscape Prelude: Horizon from Owhiro Bay.) (piano work)
Vocal: Philip Norman: Plumsong (NZ) (choral)
MUSIC HISTORY OUTLINE / TIMINGS
Wk
1
2
3
Medieval
Renaissance
4
5
6
Baroque
7
8
9
10
MUSIC HISTORY OUTLINE
Gregorian chant – melismatic and syllabic
Folk Music
Motets
Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium or “If Ye Love Me” Thomas Tallis
Madrigals
Case study – Fair Phyllis by John Farmer
Madrigals
Oratorio
Hallelujah Chorus - Handel
Opera
Instrumental
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
18
19
Testing
Amadeus (watch whole film, emphasising elements of Classical period – intro to
opera, concerto, requiem, composers working for bishop or emperor, Mozart is first to
attempt free-lancing – a society where music is commissioned by church or court,
and enjoyed by upper classes in the court, or by everyone in the cathedrals. Sense of
Mozart’s output: eg 41 symphonies, 27 piano concerti, serious and comic operas in
Italian and German, sonatas for fortepiano, chamber works.Period of elegance,
refinement, formal beauty, simplicity in the music compared with Baroque.
Classical
Sonata / Symphony/ Concerto
Beethoven 5, various sonatas
Opera
The marriage of Figaro
Romantic
Instrumental
Chopin
Instrumental
COMPOSER ASSIGNMENT BEGUN
Opera
Verdi, Bizet
Modern
Folk
Bartok, Stravinsky
Avantegarde
Cage
COMPOSER ASSIGNMENT DUE
Testing
Film Music
Fellowship of the Rings – create own play with leitmotif.
20
Film Music
12
13
14
15
16
17