BAND - Eighth Grade
Course Overview:
Eighth Grade Band is designed to reinforce and develop students’ skills on their instruments. Eighth Grade Band is based upon the five Missoula
County Curriculum Consortium overarching fine arts standards.
Standard #1: Students will sing alone and with others a varied repertoire of music.
Competency 1: Students will sing note names and words to reinforce pitch, rhythm, and literature.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Strategies
singing note names while fingering
singing note figures with solfeggio or
other reading tool
count singing
singing simple harmonies to enhance
intonation
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Resources
Essential Elements 2000: books one
and two
First Impressions Solo Book
assorted handouts
concert literature
rhythm cards/overheads
1
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Assessment
playing tests
practice slips
peer/self evaluations
performance participation
daily rehearsal evaluations
clapping tests
Standard #2: Students will perform on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
Competency 1: Students will demonstrate correct assembly, care and maintenance of their instruments.
Competency 2: Students will continue to demonstrate good playing position and posture and distinguish between
appropriate and inappropriate sound.
Competency 3: Students will continue to demonstrate proper embouchure for producing quality sound and articulation.
Competency 4: Students will demonstrate correct fingerings and alternate fingerings, or stick/mallet techniques for
producing full range of notes on his or her instrument.
Competency 5: Students will demonstrate age-appropriate practice habits.
Competency 6: Students will play in an expressive manner, utilizing varied instrumental literature, emphasizing balance
and blend, and variations in tempo, dynamics, and articulations.
Strategies
a. presenting advanced maintenance
techniques
b. teacher modeling and demonstration
c. student modeling and demonstration
d. buzzing techniques (brass)
e. focus on facial muscles
f. stick techniques presented
g. recite note names while fingering
h. teacher reintroduces fingering chart
i. teacher demonstrates alternate
fingerings and stickings
j. solo days participation
k. introduce full chromatic scale
l. reiterate practice techniques
m. time management, including space
issues
n. parent education
o. listening exercises
p. live performances/guest artists
Band - Eighth Grade
Resources
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
teacher
handouts
audio materials
recordings
video materials
visuals
visiting repair technician
flashcards
fingering charts
sticking charts
concert literature
method books
solo books
practice slips
breath control exercises
visiting artists
festivals
2
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Assessment
student demonstrations
playing tests
peer assessments
performance critiques
adjudication at solo days
video reviews
Standard #3: Students will improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniment.
Competency 1: Students will experiment with basic age-appropriate improvisational techniques.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Strategies
completing melodies
playing by ear
performing variations on a simple
melody
modeling
a.
b.
c.
d.
Resources
recordings
method books
audio materials
computer technology
a.
b.
c.
d.
Assessment
rehearsal critiques
performance critiques
written examples
playing tests
Standard #4: Students will compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
Competency 1: Students will be encouraged to explore arranging and composition techniques.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Strategies
after-school assistance
computer-assisted instruction
transposition guides
tutorial programs
note writing
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
Resources
computer technology
video resources
manuscript paper
local composers
3
a.
b.
c.
Assessment
completed compositions/arrangement
critiques
written examples
performance critiques
Standard #5: Students will read and notate music.
Competency 1: Students will demonstrate the ability to maintain a steady beat, incorporating simple, compound, and
mixed meters.
Competency 2: Students will augment their understanding of note values to understand the concepts of subdivision and
syncopation using sixteenth through whole notes/rests in various rhythmic patterns.
Competency 3: Students will augment their understanding of basic music terminology, tempos, dynamics, and style.
Competency 4: Students will identify and utilize treble and bass clef note names, placement on staff, including sharps,
flats, naturals and key signatures. Students will also demonstrate an understanding of transpositional
relationships between instruments.
Competency 5: Students will demonstrate high and low, steps and skips, scales, arpeggios, and basic melodic intervals.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
r.
s.
Strategies
rhythm games
tapping toes
counting out loud
conducting
meter signature games
writing note names in book or handouts
counting exercises
incorporating terminology in teaching
vocabulary
contrasting and comparing
Every Good Boy Does Fine
FACE
modeling and identifying
singing
chromatic exercises
interval exercises
scale studies to include Bb, Eb, F(2
octaves), Ab, C, Db, G, Gb, A
demonstration
rote learning
playing scale in different styles and
with different articulations
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Resources
method books
handouts
worksheets
flashcards
sheet music
concert literature
guest artists
4
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Assessment
playing tests
written exams
worksheets
peer evaluations
performance critiques
adjudication at solo days
Standard #6: Students will listen to, analyze, and describe music.
Competency 1: Students will use appropriate terminology to identify meter, mood, style, tempo, and dynamics of the
music they perform.
Competency 2: Students will be exposed to and develop an appreciation of music through listening to a variety of
recordings, live concerts, and recitals and being exposed to a variety of musical styles such as Classical,
Baroque, Romantic, folk, jazz, rock and contemporary.
Competency 3: Students will recognize form and musical repetition in music using sequence, repeating patterns, and 1 st
and 2nd endings, da capo and del segno markings, AB, ABA, rondo, theme and variations, and imitation
to improve their ability to understand musical form, learn their performance music, and better appreciate
the music to which they listen.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
Strategies
playing listening games
attending student concert
participating in group discussion
attending theme concerts
earning extra credit for recitals and
concerts
using concert critique development
guide
balancing and blending etudes
playing different forms of music
listening to different forms of music
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Resources
audio/video materials
community performances
concert critique forms
guest artists
concert participation
concert attendance
concert literature
5
a.
b.
c.
Assessment
written/oral exams
concert critiques
adjudication at solo day
Standard #7: Students will evaluate music and music performances.
Competency 1: Students will identify criteria by which musical performance can be critiqued and use recordings of their
performances for self-assessment.
Competency 2: Through instrumental performance and the evaluation thereof, students will learn the benefits of
participating in the band program by watching music and conductor in a rehearsal or concert situation
including following cues, adjusting volume, changing tempos, responding to conducting style, and
recognizing beat patterns; respecting musical instruments and materials; understanding and
demonstrating the importance of building a sense of community within the ensemble through large and
small group activities; recognizing the importance of developing self-responsibility; evincing selfcontrol during rehearsals and performances.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Strategies
listening critique
student performance critique
rehearsal
response to conductor
response to fellow performers
playing scale in different styles:
rock, swing, differing articulations
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Resources
method book
rote learning
concert literature
video materials
community resources
video/audio technology
guest conductors
6
a.
b.
c.
d.
Assessment
rehearsals
performance critiques
playing tests
adjudication at solo day
Standard #8: Students will understand relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside
the arts.
Competency 1: Students will understand through comparisons among the art forms (visual art, drama, and dance) the
common elements that bring more meaning to their appreciation of music.
Competency 2: Students will participate in projects that identify music as an important strand in the whole tapestry of
learning (interdisciplinary units).
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Strategies
discussions
examples from the various
disciplines
announcements and information
sharing of middle school units
team planning
team teaching
school-wide theme concerts/events
a.
b.
c.
d.
Resources
books and videos
guest artists
computer technology
audio/video technology
a.
b.
Assessment
rehearsal critiques
performance critiques
Standard #9: Students will understand music in relationship to history and culture.
Competency 1: Students will identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and
cultures such as Native American, Latin American, African, European, and other world music.
Competency 2: Students will compare in several cultures of the world, functions that music serves roles of musicians,
and conditions under which music are typically performed.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Strategies
comparing and contrasting
reading history excerpts from method
book
discussing
participating in field trips
attending guest presentation
Band - Eighth Grade
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Resources
method books
videos
community resources
guest artists/speakers
computer technology
stories of and from local musicians
7
a.
b.
c.
Assessment
rehearsal critiques
performance critiques
essays
Band - Eighth Grade
8