During my tenure with the Stratford Public Schools, I was responsible for teaching grades 4-6 instrumental music at three elementary schools (plus grades K-2 general music at a fourth school). Since there was no instrumental curriculum in place for the district, I created one for my students. My expectations for student learning were based on the national standards, input from other colleagues in the district and the supervisor of fine arts.

I created and implemented goals for my students that included the following:

• Melodic competency: Playing songs and scales on their instruments in the concert pitch keys of Eb Major, F Major, Bb Major, G minor, C minor, and F minor through note-reading and playing songs by ear
• Rhythmic competency: Note-reading and echo-response patterns in duple and triple meters including 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8 with quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes
• Solo, small ensemble and large ensemble performances with note-reading and memorized literature
• Aural identification, with musical terminology, for tonic and dominant chord functions plus an introduction to sub-dominant chord functions. Students should be able to state tonic and dominant qualities and both major and minor tonalities. Students should also be able to sing and play by ear those chord functions
• Improvisation through singing and with instruments using tonic and dominant chord functions in both major and minor tonalities
• Student compositions of at least 8 measures in length using tonic and dominant functions in major and minor in at least two key signatures.
• Complete self-assessment rating scales accurately portraying their own performance, thereby displaying critical thinking skills in music.
• Identify and describe basic form structures including a round, ABA, and Rondo.
• Discuss artistic and historical concepts for the pieces studied; understand and describe the differences between folk songs and other composed pieces of literature

Given the goals I established for my students as described above, I also mapped out how I would accomplish those goals over my 3-years of instructional time with each instrumental student. The chart below is a brief outline of the instructional content chosen to complete those goals. Artistic and historical context were discussed throughout the year. Musical forms were discussed as they were learned corresponding to that form, and then knowledge was built upon thereafter. Songs and repertoire can vary as long as they retain similar chord functions, rhythmic content and form. Any songs referenced in this chart were played by ear; songs by notation were from our method books and not listed on this chart.