Course Description • The purpose of the general music course at Cliffside Park Middle School is to develop comprehensive musicianship with a focus of musical literacy. As a music educator, I believe all students are musical by nature, and have tremendous potential to learn and enjoy music. While research shows that music helps students develop higher-order skills and increase desire to learn, our driving goal is to help students become more enlightened and truly alive through a balanced, comprehensive, and sequential program of study.

Course Objectives NATIONAL AND STATE STANDARDS:

• Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

• Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

• Reading and notating music.

• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

• Evaluating music and music performances.

• Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

• Understanding music in relation to history and culture.