The Visual and Performing Arts Departments throughout Ridgefield Public Schools aim to create inspiring experiences that are common to all the arts: exploring, creating, performing, presenting, interpreting, connecting, and reflecting. We believe the arts promote awareness of the world and provide an opportunity to seek meaning through a creative process.

Music at Ridgefield Public Schools and in the State of Connecticut is based on the National Core Art Standards/Connecticut Arts Standards. These standards are based on the artistic processes of Creating, Performing, Responding and Connecting. The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards defines these processes as:

Creating : Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work. Improvising and composing.

Performing: Realizing and presenting artistic ideas and work.

Responding: Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning. Critical listening with intent.

Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.

Based on the interests and need of the students in a particular class, specific projects and pieces are selected by the music teacher.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Process Component

• Imagine - Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.

Enduring Understanding

• The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work emerge from a variety of sources.

Essential Question

• How do musicians generate creative ideas?

Standards

• Cr1.1.6
  • Generate simple rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic phrases within AB and ABA forms that convey expressive intent.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Process Component

• Plan and Make - Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts.

Enduring Understanding

• Musicians’ creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.

Essential Question

• How do musicians make creative decisions?

Standards

• Cr2.1.6
  • Select, organize, construct, and document personal musical ideas for arrangements and compositions within AB or ABA form that demonstrate an effective beginning, middle, and ending, and convey expressive intent.
  • Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or audio/ video recording to document personal simple rhythmic phrases, melodic phrases, and two-chord harmonic musical ideas.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Refine and complete artistic work.

Process Component

• Evaluate and Refine - Evaluate and refine selected musical ideas to create musical work that meets appropriate criteria.

Enduring Understanding

• Musicians evaluate, and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.

Essential Question

• How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?

Standards

• Cr3.1.6
  • Evaluate their own work, applying teacher-provided criteria such as application of selected elements of music, and use of sound sources.
  • Describe the rationale for making revisions to the music based on evaluation criteria and feedback from their teacher.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Refine and complete artistic work.

Process Component

• Present - Share creative musical work that conveys intent, demonstrates craftsmanship, and exhibits originality.

Enduring Understanding

• Musicians’ presentation of creative work is the culmination of a process of creation and communication.

Essential Question

• When is creative work ready to share?

Standards

• Cr3.2.6
  • Present the final version of their documented personal composition or arrangement, using craftsmanship and originality to demonstrate an effective beginning, middle, and ending, and convey expressive intent.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Process Component

• Select - Select varied musical works to present based on interest, knowledge, technical skill, and context.

Enduring Understanding

• Performers’ interest in and knowledge of musical works, understanding of their own technical skill, and the context for a performance influence the selection of repertoire.

Essential Question

• How do performers select repertoire?

Standards

• Pr4.1.6
  • Apply teacher-provided criteria for selecting music to perform for a specific purpose and/or context, and explain why each was chosen

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Process Component

• Analyze - Analyze the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance

Enduring Understanding

• Analyzing creators’ context and how they manipulate elements of music provides insight into their intent and informs performance.

Essential Question

• How does understanding the structure and context of musical works inform performance?

Standards

• Pr4.2.6
  • Explain how understanding the structure and the elements of music are used in music selected for performance.
  • When analyzing selected music, read and identify by name or function standard symbols for rhythm, pitch, articulation, and dynamics.
  • Identify how cultural and historical context inform performances.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Process Component

• Interpret - Develop personal interpretations that consider creators’ intent.

Enduring Understanding

• Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of context and expressive intent.

Essential Question

• How do performers interpret musical works?

Standards

• Pr4.3.6
  • Perform a selected piece of music demonstrating how their interpretations of the elements of music and the expressive qualities (such as dynamics, tempo, timbre, articulation/style, and phrasing) convey intent.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Process Component

• Rehearse, Evaluate and Refine - Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others.

Enduring Understanding

• To express their musical ideas, musicians analyze, evaluate, and refine their performance over time through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.

Essential Question

• How do musicians improve the quality of their performance?

Standards

• Pr5.1.6
  • Identify and apply teacher-provided criteria (such as correct interpretation of notation, technical accuracy, originality, and interest) to rehearse, refine, and determine when a piece is ready to perform.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

Process Component

• Present - Perform expressively, with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context.

Enduring Understanding

• Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time, place, and cultures. The context and how a work is presented influence the audience response.

Essential Question

• When is a performance judged ready to present? How do context and the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience response?

Standards

• Pr6.1.6
  • Perform the music with technical accuracy to convey the creator’s intent.
  • Demonstrate performance decorum (such as stage presence, attire, and behavior) and audience etiquette appropriate for venue and purpose.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Process Component

• Select - Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context.

Enduring Understanding

• Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.

Essential Question

• How do individuals choose music to experience?

Standards

• Re7.1.6
  • Select or choose music to listen to and explain the connections to specific interests or experiences for a specific purpose.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Process Component

• Analyze - Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response.

Enduring Understanding

• Response to music is informed by analyzing context(social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.

Essential Question

• How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Standards

• Re7.2.6
  • Describe how the elements of music and expressive qualities relate to the structure of the pieces.
  • Identify the context of music from a variety of genres, cultures, and historical periods.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Process Component

• Interpret - Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’/performers’ expressive intent.

Enduring Understanding

• Through their use of elements and structures of music, creators and performers provide clues to their expressive intent.

Essential Question

• How do we discern the musical creators’ and performers’ expressive intent?

Standards

• Re8.1.6
  • Describe a personal interpretation of how creators’ and performers’ application of the elements of music and expressive qualities, within genres and cultural and historical context, convey expressive intent.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

Process Component

• Evaluate - Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.

Enduring Understanding

• The personal evaluation of musical work(s) and performance(s) is informed by analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.

Essential Question

• How do we judge the quality of musical work(s) and performance(s)?

Standards

• Re9.1.6
  • Apply teacher-provided criteria to evaluate musical works or performances.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Process Component

• Connect - Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make music.

Enduring Understanding

• Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.

Essential Question

• How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?

Standards

• Cn10.0.6
  • Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.

ANCHOR STANDARD

• Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

Process Component

• Connect - Relate musical ideas and works with varied context to deepen understanding.

Enduring Understanding

• Understanding connections to varied contexts and daily life enhances musicians’ creating, performing, and responding.

Essential Question

• How do the other arts, other disciplines, contexts, and daily life inform creating, performing, and responding to music?

Standards

• Cn11.0.6
  • Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.