BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Curriculum Map
August/September
Content
Chapter 1:
Introduction to Notation: Notes on the Staff and
Rhythmic Symbols
Chapter 2: The Elements of Music
Skills and
Processes
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
Concepts regarding pitch and rhythm:
Define pitch and the musical alphabet
Identify pitches on the staff in treble and bass clef
Define, identify beat, measure, bar line, meter
signature
Read, interpret rhythmic symbols and relationships
The Elements of Music
Define, identify concepts relating to melody:
countermelody, range, conjunct/disjunct movement,
phrase, cadence
Define, identify concepts relating to rhythm: meter
(duple, triple, quadruple,nonmetric), divisions
(simple, compound)
Define, identify concepts relating to texture:
monophonic, polyphonic, homophonic,
homorhythmic, heterophonic
Define, identify concepts relating to musical
expression: tempo, dynamics
Define, identify concepts relating to form:
binary, ternary
Aural Skills:
Listen to musical excerpts and identify, discuss
concepts relating to melody, rhythm, texture,
tempo, dynamics, form
FEB 2010
October
November
Chapter 3: Middle Ages

Culture of the Middle Ages

Sacred Music genres

Secular Music Genres

Medieval composers

Instrumental music

Analysis of medieval music
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
Chapter 4: The Renaissance

Culture of the Renaissance

Sacred Music genres

Secular Music Genres

Instrumental music

Renaissance composers

Analysis of Renaissance music
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
Discuss the culture of the Middle Ages in terms of
Discuss the new attitudes and shift in thinking in
the Renaissance in terms of dates, centers of power,
dates, centers of power, medieval society, role of the
musician/composer, status of written music and
literacy
Sacred Music Genres
Gregorian chant defined in terms of:
Texture, meter, language, chant classification
(neumatic, syllabic, melismatic), melodic style
(conjunct, disjunct), medieval modes, early notation
(neumes)
The Mass defined in terms of parts of the Mass
(Proper and Ordinary), role in sacred music
Organum defined in terms of: role in development
of polyphony, role of chant, texture, language,
rhythm (development of rhythmic modes), role of
the Cathedral of Notre Dame, advances in rhythm
and pitch as a result of organum
The motet defined in terms of:
Language, texture, sacred/secular text, themes, role
in the transition into Renaissance era
changes in society, role of the musician/composer,
status of written music and literacy
Terms include: humanism, Reformation, CounterReformation, Council of Trent, invention of
printing press and development of literacy
Characteristics of Renaissance Music in terms of:
Role of vocal and instrumental music
Melody, texture, meter, harmony, dynamics, scales
(medieval modes)
Define, describe the following terms:
A cappella, polyphonic imitation, word painting
Sacred Music Genres: Define, analyze –
Status of vocal and instrumental music
Motet
Cantus firmus Mass
Late Renaissance Mass and Council of Trent
Secular Music Genres: Define, analyze
Secular Music
Discuss the status of instrumental and vocal music
Define and discuss the role of troubadors, trouveres,
minnesingers, jongleurs
Discuss secular musical themes
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
Status of vocal and instrumental music
Use of word painting
Chanson
Madrigal – Italian and English
Instrumental Music
1/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Curriculum Map
Discuss the role of instrumental music in terms of:
comparison to vocal music, improvisation vs.
notation, instrumental ensembles (bas and haut)
Status in relation to vocal
Role of dance music; stylized dances defined
Families, types of instruments, and tone quality
Instruments of the Medieval Era
Composers
Discuss role of instruments in relation to vocal,
written music vs. improvisation, instrumental
families, types of instruments, and tone quality
Josquin des Prez
Guillaume DuFay
Palestrina
Thomas Weelkes
Claudio Monteverdi
John Farmer
Susato
Transition into Renaissance era
Discuss ars nova and ars antiqua in terms of
sacred/secular and rhythm/meter and the role of
these concepts in transition into Renaissance
Listening and Analysis
Composers:
Hildegard of Bingen – discuss her role and analyze
her music
Leonin and Perotin – discuss their roles in late
medieval organum and analyze their music
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras - discuss his role as a
troubadour and analyze his music
Guillaume de Machaut – discuss his role in ars nova
and analyze his music
Assessments
FEB 2010
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Compare excerpts from Medieval and Renaissance
to identify characteristics of each
Josquin: motet - Ave Maria… virgo serena
Josquin: cantus firmus mass - Kyrie, from the Pange
Lingua Mass
Dufay: Kyrie, from L’homme arme
Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass
Weelkes: madrigal - As Vesta Was from Latmos
Hill Descending
Josquin: chanson Mille regretz (A Thousand
Aural Skills and Analysis
Hildegard: Alleluia, O virga mediatrix
Leonin: early organum: Alleluia pascha nostrum
Perotin: later organum: Sederunt
Raimbaut : kalenda maya
Machaut: puis qu'en oubli
Regrets)
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
Monteverdi: Italian madrigal- Ecco mormorar
l’onde
Farmer: English madrial Fair Phyllis
Susato: Three Renaissance Dances
2/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Essential
Questions
Why, How
Which
Elaborate
Clarify
Hypothetical
Deep thought
Evaluation
Informationgathering
Original
answer/idea
Critical
thinking, not
just memorize
FEB 2010
Curriculum Map
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
What does it mean to be an intelligent
listener?
How is each element of music and related
concepts/terms essential to intelligent
listening?
How are the elements of music used to
establish the mood of the music?
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
3/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Curriculum Map
December
January
February
Content
Skills and
Processes
The Baroque era

Culture of the Baroque

Characteristics of Baroque music

Baroque instrumental genres

Composers

Analysis of opera and instrumental genres
The Baroque era:

Baroque Vocal Genres

The fugue

Composers

Listening and Analysis of vocal genres and the
fugue
The Classical era

Culture of the Classical era

Characteristics of Classical music

Classical Forms

Classical Genres

Composers

Listening and Analysis
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
Discuss the new attitudes and shift in thinking in
the Baroque in terms of:
Vocal Music Genres and related terms:
Discuss the culture of the Classical era in terms of:
Opera (recitative, aria, overture, libretto, ensemble)
Cantata (chorale)
Oratorio
Famous names, occurrences in Europe and America,
changes in political systems and social order,
inventions and scientific advances, role of the
musician/composer
Terms: The Enlightenment, American Revolution,
French Revolution, Industrial Revolution,
dates, centers of power, changes in society, role of
the musician/composer, status of instrumental and
vocal music
The fugue and contrapuntal devices
Characteristics of Baroque Music in terms of:
Texture, harmony, rhythm, melody, scales
(major/minor scales), dynamics, mood (doctrine of
the affections); major/minor tutorial
New terms: figured bass, basso continuo, The
Camerata, terraced dynamics, virtuoso,
internationalism and exoticism
Listening and Analysis
 Claudio Monteverdi Recitative: Tu Se' Morta
(“You are Dead) from Orfeo
 Purcell: recitative and aria: Act III Dido’s
Lament from Dido and Aeneas
 Bach: Cantata No. 80: A Mighty Fortress Is Our
God
Instrumental Music:
Characteristics of instrumental music in terms of:
Status compared to vocal music, tone color,
development of the orchestra, instrumental families
Instrumental genres and related terms:
Sonata (trio sonata, solo sonata)
Concerto (solo concerto)
Concerto grosso (ritornello form)
The Baroque suite
The canon (ground bass)
FEB 2010
 Handel – Oratorio: Messiah overture, recitative,
aria, chorus, Hallelujah
Characteristics of Classical Music in terms of:
Mood, rhythm, dynamics, melody, harmony,
texture, genres, form, the orchestra
Terms: crescendo, decrescendo
Classical Forms defined and analyzed:
Ternary, binary, rondo form, theme & variations,
minuet & trio, scherzo & trio, sonata-allegro form
(exposition, development, recapitulation)
 Bach: Organ Fugue in g Minor (“Little” Fugue)
Classical genres
The Symphony (movements, innovations, the
classical orchestra and instrumental families;
Chamber music (string quartet)
Classical concerto
Classical sonata
Classical opera (opera seria, opera buffa)
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
4/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Curriculum Map
Composers
Composers
Johann Pachelbel
Georg Frideric Handel
Johann Sebastian Bach
Antonio Vivaldi
Archangelo Corelli
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Franz Joseph Haydn
Listening and Analysis
 Mozart: rondo form – “Romanza” from Eine
Listening and Analysis
kleine Nachtmusik
 Claudio Monteverdi Recitative: Tu Se' Morta
(“You are Dead) from Orfeo
 Purcell: recitative and aria: Act III Dido’s
Lament from Dido and Aeneas
 Pachelbel: Canon in D
 Corelli: Trio Sonata, Op. 3, No. 1, in F major
 Vivaldi: concerto -(Spring, from The Four
 Mozart: theme & variations -Ah, vous dirai-je
Maman
 Mozart : Minute and Trio - 3rd movement, Eine
kleine Nachtmusik,
 Beethoven: scherzo & trio - Piano Sonata in C
sharp minor, Op. 27, No 2, second movement,
Allegretto
 Beethoven: sonata-allegro form - Symphony No.
5 in C minor, Op. 67
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in
Seasons)
 Bach: concerto grosso - Brandenburg Concerto
No. 2 in F major
 Handel: Orchestral SuiteWater Music
A, first movement
 Mozart: opera buffo The Marriage of Figaro
 Overture and Act I, Scenes 6 and 7
 Mozart OPERA BUFFO/SERIADonGiovanni,
final scene
 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# minor,
Op. 27, no. 2 (Moonlight)
 Mozart: String quartet - Eine kleine Nachtmusik
(A Little Night Music), K. 525
 Haydn: Symphony - No.94 (Surprise), 2nd mvt
 Haydn: Symphony No. 95 in c minor , 3rd mvt
 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
FEB 2010
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
5/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Assessments
Curriculum Map
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Essential
Questions
FEB 2010
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
6/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Curriculum Map
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
March
April
May/June
Content
The Romantic era
 Culture of the Romantic era
 Characteristics of Romantic music
 Early Romantic composers, forms, genres
 Late Romantic composers, forms, genres
 Listening and Analysis
Skills and
Processes
Early 20th Century
 The Post-Romantic era
 Early Twentieth Century Music
 Listening and Analysis
Late Twentieth Century
The student will learn about, discuss/reflect upon,
analyze, and gain reinforcement from the basic
skills, concepts, and application of:
The Post-Romantic Era
The culture of the Romantic era in terms of:

Changes in political systems, social order, and
thought; Romantic writers, role of the
musician/composer, concert life
Terms and concepts: Romanticism, French
Revolution, Cult of Individual Feeling, Music and
the supernatural

Early Romantic genres
The lied
The song cycle
Character piece for piano
Early Program music

The concert overture

The program symphony
FEB 2010
Two movements: Post-Romanticism and
Impressionism
Impressionism in music – chord structure,
orchestral color, rhythm
Modernism in music, including new sound
materials, electronic music, chance music
Post-war Avante-garde including George Crumb
and John Cage
Early Twentieth Century Music
American Musical Traditions



Characteristics of Romantic Music in terms of:
Mood, rhythm, dynamics, melody, harmony,
texture, genres, form, the orchestra, the expansion
of tone color
Terms: rubato, chromaticism, program music,
miniature compositions, grandiose compositions,
thematic unity, orchestration, exoticism
Late Twentieth Century
 American Musical Traditions/popular
styles
 Musical theater
 Rock and the global scene
 Music for films
 Listening and Analysis


Reaction against Romanticism (expressionism,
neoclassicism
Musical style: Rhythm (changing meter,
polyrhythm), melody, harmony (polychords,
polyharmony), tonality (atonality, serialism,
tone row), dissonance, orchestration, form
Stravinsky and revitalization of rhythm
Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School


Popular Styles

Twentieth Century Nationalism
The National Schools (Russian, English, German)
Popular music in late 19th century (shape note
notation)
Stephen Foster, John Philip Sousa, Charles Ives,
Aaron Copland
African American music, including minstrel
show, call and response, spiritual


Composers:
Characteristics of early jazz, including breaks
and syncopation
Ragtime and Scott Joplin
Blues (blue note) including melody, harmony,
form
New Orleans jazz and Louis Armstrong (scat
singing, chorus)
Swing era/big band (Duke Ellington)
Later jazz styles: bebop, cool jazz, west coast
jazz, Latin influence
Merger of Classical and Jazz styles – Gershwin
Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky
Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg
Charles Ives, Bela Bartok, George Crumb
John Cage, Aaron Copland

Listening and Analysis

DEBUSSY: Three Nocturnes (1899)
DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Musical Theater
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE



Early musicals
7/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Early Romantic Composers
Franz Schubert
Robert Schumann
Clara Schumann
Frederic Chopin
Franz Liszt
Felix Mendelssohn
Hector Berlioz
SCHUBERT: LIED "Erlkönig" ("The Erlking")
ROBERT SCHUMANN, song cycle, Dichterliebe ("A
Poet's Love") (1840)
CLARA SCHUMANN: song cycle, “Der Mond
kommt still gegangen“ (“The moon has risen softly“)
(1843)
FRANZ SCHUBERT: character piece for piano:
Moment Musical No. 2 in A-flat (1827?)
ROBERT SCHUMANN: CHARACTER PIECE FOR PIANO
Carnaval
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: CHARACTER PIECE FOR PIANO
Nocturne in F-Sharp, Op. 15, No. 2 (1831)
HECTOR BERLIOZ: Fantastic Symphony: Episodes
in the Life of an Artist (1830)
Curriculum Map
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring (1913): Part I,
excerpts
SCHOENBERG: Song cycle - Pierrot lunaire (1912)
BARTOK : Interrupted Intermezzo, from Concerto

for Orchestra
Rock and the Global Scene
BÉLA BARTÓK: Music for Strings, Percussion, and
Celesta (1936) BÉLA BARTÓK: Music for Strings,
Percussion, and Celesta (1936)
CRUMB: Ancient Voices of Children
CAGE: Sonata V from Sonatas and Interludes





CAGE: 4’33”
COPLAND: Orchestral suite from ballet - Billy the
Kid


Rise of rock and roll, including rhythm and
blues, back beat, rockability
The 1960’s, including Motown, soul, funk, the
Beatles, the Beach Boys, Acid Rock, Woodstock
The 1970’s, including art rock, latin rock,
heavy metal, glam rock, punk rock, new wave
The 1980’s and beyond, including music video,
Michael Jackson, rap, hip hop, women in rock,
revivals
Country-Western Music, including hillbilly
music, classic country, mainstream country,
country rock
Music for Films



Later Romantic Genres








Names: Rodgers and Hammerstein; Stephen
Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Film-based musicals
Recent musicals

Later program music
Symphonic poem
Nationalism and exoticism
The Romantic symphony form
The Romantic concerto
Romantic opera
Romantic nostalgia
Ballet

Role of music in film, including setting the
mood, running counter to the action,
establishing character, place and time,
underscoring, source music
Music in the silent era, including Joseph Carl
Breil
Music in the sound era, including Max Steiner
and Dmitri Shostakovich
The Postwar Years, including Bernard
Herrman, Miklos Rozsa, Aaron Copland,
Leonard Bernstein, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry
Goldsmith
Beyond Star Wars and John Williams,
including James Horner, Danny Elfman, Hans
Zimmer
Composers
Later Romantic Composers
Scott Joplin
Billie Holiday
Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker
Duke Ellington
Richard Wagner
Bedrich Smetana
Antonin Dvorak
FEB 2010
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
8/9
BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Subject: Music Listening and Literature
Grade: 9-12
Curriculum Map
Richard Wagner
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Modest Musorgsky
Johannes Brahms
Gustav Mahler
Miles Davis
George Gershwin
Leonard Bernstein
John Williams
Listening and Analysis
Listening and Analysis
SMETANA: The Moldau
DVORAK: New World Symphony
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 3 in F major
MENDELSOHHN: Violin Concerto in e minor
RICHARD WAGNER: The Nibelung's Ring (18481874)
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: OvertureFantasy, Romeo and Juliet (1869, revised 1880)
TCHAIKOVSKY: ballet – The Nutcracker, March
MODEST MUSORGSKY: nationalism/piano
miniatures: Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77
(1878)
GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 (1888)
Assessments
JOPLIN: Maple Leaf Rag
SIPPIE WALLACE: "If You Ever Been Down" Blues
(1927) (Composed by G. W. Thomas)
DUKE ELLINGTON: "Conga Brava" (1940)
HOLIDAY: Billie’s Blues
GILLESPIE/PARKER; A Night in Tunisia
CHARLIE PARKER and MILES DAVIS: "Out of
Nowhere" (1948)
MILES DAVIS: Bitches Brew (1969)
GEORGE GERSHWIN: Prelude No. 1 (1926)
BERNSTEIN: West Side Story, excerpts
WILIAMS: Raiders March, from Raiders of the Lost
Ark
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Teacher observation during class:

Questioning

Discussion

Guided listening and analysis
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Analysis of excerpts from music literature
Written evaluations
Individual research assignments
Essential
Questions
FEB 2010
MUSIC LISTENING AND LITERATURE
9/9