MUSIC

EIGHTH GRADE

VALERIE LEONHART SMALKIN

Textbbook:     Bond, Davidson, Goetze, Lawrence and Snyder. Share the Music, Grade 8, Units 1 and 2 New York, NY: MacMillan McdGraw-Hill, 1995. 

                        The Hymnal 1982 New York, NY: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1982. 

                        Henderson. Thirty Days to Theory Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2001. 

Course description/overall objective:

Students listen to music from different cultures; learn to identify major and minor scales, dynamic markings, tone color, compound meter, poly-rhythms, and a variety of musical forms; read and perform melodies and ostinatos; explore the role of rhythm and melody in creating and performing music while listening to jazz, salsa, and Broadway musical styles; review the major scale and complex notation; explore the twelve-tone row, and techniques for organizing and developing musical patterns. Singing is emphasized, and hymns are prepared for chapel services.

Students compose their Eighth Grade Farewell Poem and prepare class songs for Grandparent’s Day, Christmas, Celebrate Arts Night and the Class Tributes Assembly. Students’ original compositions are often included in drama and language programs.

Concepts covered:

                        Dynamics, tone color, note duration, meter, melodic patterns, harmonic accompaniments, form, melodic rhythm, rhythmic patterns, interval identification, key and time signatures, major and minor scales, cultural periods of western music, international musical styles, 12 bar blues, I-IV-V chord structure, consonance and dissonance  texture, vocal technique, Episcopal hymnody, and performance preparation. 

Grading policy: Effort and participation 

Homework policy: None 

How best to contact the teacher: email at vsmalkin@comcast.net