Second Grade Music

Course Description

In each unit in second grade, students have the opportunity to create, present, respond to, and connect with a variety of musical forms. They imitate, echo, read, and create music and learn to use musical vocabulary to describe and respond to music. Students will explore with dance, rhythm, vocal music, instrumental music, and music notation. Students will consider what musical forms and dances are appropriate for different occasions and celebrations and develop a personal program of music for a special event.

Grade Level(s): Second Grade

Related Priority Standards (State &/or National):  Missouri Fine Arts Music Standards

Essential Questions

• How can we vary our traditional movements to match different pieces of music?
• How do we practice so that we can improve our performance?       
• What can we change about a piece of music that will change what it expresses?           
• How can we describe what we hear in a piece of music?
• How can we predict how music will sound by reading music notation?       
• How do we decide when our performance sounds the way that it should?
• How do musicians come up with new ideas?                               
• How do musicians decide which choices sound best?

Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas

• Dancers match their movements to each other and to the music.
• Musicians and dancers express emotions in the patterns and the variations in dances.
• Musicians listen and practice sections of a longer piece to improve their performance. 
• Musicians vary elements of their performance to express different ideas and feelings.
• Musicians write in standard notation so they can share their music. 
• Written music helps musicians hear how multiple parts work together.            
• Musicians practice and listen to each other to agree on whether their performance sounds the way they want it to.
• Musicians experiment with patterns and listen for effects that express their musical ideas.
• Musicians develop a performance through repeated practice, trial and error, and refinements. They don't know exactly how they will perform a piece of music until they try new things, make decisions about which choices work, and put it all together for a final performance.

Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

Unit 1 - Circle Folk Dance

• Students will demonstrate locomotor and non-locomotor movements to music alone, with a partner, or as a group by performing circle folk dances.
• Students will experience a movement through varying tempi.
• Students will perform movements from a variety of cultures.

Unit 2 - Two-Part Instrumental Piece

• Students will perform a variety of instrumental music selections with simple melodies and accompaniment (simple and crossover bordun, ostinato) on percussion instruments with proper technique.
• Students will demonstrate high/low, up/down/same by accompanying songs, imitating the teacher, or by selecting instruments to tell a story/ create a soundscape.
• Students will describe and respond to the expressive elements of music.   

Unit 3 - Rhythmic Notation

• Students will identify, read, and perform rhythmic notation in duple (quarter note, paired eighth notes, quarter rest, half note), and triple meter (dotted quarter, dotted quarter rest, 3 eighth notes, quarter eighth).
• Students will experiment with changes in music and describe the effects.

Unit 4 - Unison Singing

• Students will imitate, echo, read and create using the pentatonic scale (do, re, mi, sol, la).
• Students will sing songs in a limited range and experience major and minor tonalities.
• Students will vary elements of performance and describe the effects.

Course Resources & Materials: TBD

Date Last Revised/Approved: 2022