Colorado Academic Standards Online

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Reading and analyzing music increases knowledge and development of musical ideas, as well as musical understanding. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Writing music allows application of knowledge, making informed decisions, and transferring that knowledge to new contexts. (Self-Awareness)
3. Reading and analyzing music are opportunities to look for and value different perspectives expressed by others (Global and Cultural Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How do melody and rhythm make music interesting?
2. Why is it important to keep a steady beat in certain situations?
3. How will identifying notes and rests help me in performing music?

Expand and Connect:

1. The ability to recognize the patterns that occur in music relates to the patterns that can be found in many disciplines and vocations (mathematics, history, visual art and design, architecture, science).
2. Students can make connections between one and two syllable words to one sound that represents a single beat of music and two equal sounds that represent a single beat of music.
3. Music notation is a visual representation of organized sound and silence.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpreting expressive musical elements provides an opportunity to recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Self-Advocacy and Initiative)
2. Using expressive musical elements provides recognition and awareness of the value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)
3. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Adaptability and Flexibility)

Inquiry Questions:

1. What are ways music can be made more interesting?

Expand and Connect:

1. Music from various cultures changes expressive elements to convey a message.
2. Demonstrating opposites kinesthetically builds long-term memory and connections to literary and societal opposites.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognizing musical form and structure provides a format to describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
2. Applying knowledge of musical form and structure allows design parameters to set goals and make informed decisions to learned and new concepts (Self-Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How do voices and instruments sound different?
2. When people listen to a piece of music, what are they listening for?
3. Why do instruments (or voices) belong to certain families/groups?

Expand and Connect:

1. Various musical styles (folk music, classical music, marches, lullabies, holidays) use an AB pattern and/or introduction or phrases.
2. Describing other disciplines that could have an AB pattern provides a connection to what a pattern is, how it is constructed, and where it can be found.
3. Musical themes, patterns, and textures can be compared to the use of these elements in stories, songs, and other art forms.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Reading and analyzing music increases knowledge and development of musical ideas, as well as musical understanding. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Writing music allows application of knowledge, making informed decisions, and transferring that knowledge to new contexts. (Career Awareness)
3. Reading and analyzing music are opportunities to look for and value different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How does melody and rhythm make music interesting?
2. What does harmony add to music?
3. How do patterns in math correlate with patterns in music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Identification of the differences and similarities between the alphabet and the musical alphabet provides insight to the understanding that Western music notation is a distinct language.
2. The ability to recognize the patterns that occur in music relates to the patterns that can be found in many disciplines and vocations (mathematics, history, visual art and design, architecture, science).
3. Mathematical counting equivalents can be applied to sounds and silences that last two and four beats (half notes, half rests, whole notes, and whole rests).

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpreting expressive musical elements provides an opportunity to recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Self-Awareness )
2. Using expressive musical elements provides recognition and awareness of the value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)
3. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Collaboration and Teamwork)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How would changing the tempo affect a song?
2. How can changing dynamics affect a song?

Expand and Connect:

1. Music from various cultures use changes in expressive elements to convey a message.
2. Expressive elements enhance musical performance.
3. Articulation in music mirrors the skill for articulation in speech and theatre productions and requires precise diction and clarity.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognizing musical form and structure provides a format to describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
2. Applying knowledge of musical form and structure allows design parameters to set goals and make informed decisions to learned and new concepts. (Adaptability and Flexibility)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Can the same musical idea be presented in more than one way?
2. When people listen to a piece of music, what are they listening for?

Expand and Connect:

1. Examples of the ABA and verse/refrain patterns can be found in other disciplines (visual art and design, dance, theatre, poetry).
2. Musical themes, patterns, and textures can be compared to the use of these elements in stories, songs, and other art forms.
3. Properties (e.g., size, shape, composition) of an instrument dictate the types and range of sound it can make.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Reading and analyzing music increases knowledge and development of musical ideas, as well as musical understanding. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Writing music allows application of knowledge, making informed decisions, and transferring that knowledge to new contexts. (Career Awareness)
3. Reading and analyzing music are opportunities to look for and value different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How will being able to identify notational elements help in music-making?
2. How does identifying melodic and rhythmic patterns improve performance skills?
3. How can harmony change the way music feels?

Expand and Connect:

1. The ability to recognize the patterns that occur in music relates to the patterns that can be found in many disciplines and vocations (such as mathematics, history, visual art and design, architecture, science).
2. There are definite mathematical components of sixteenth notes and dotted half notes that represent a fundamental understanding of fractions.
3. Music notation is a visual representation of organized sound and silence.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpreting expressive musical elements provides an opportunity to recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Self-Awareness)
2. Using expressive musical elements provides recognition and awareness of the value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)
3. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Adaptability and Flexibility)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How would changing the tempo affect a song?
2. How do changes in tempo, dynamics, and articulation affect the mood of music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Expressive elements enhance musical performance.
2. Articulation in music mirrors the skill for articulation in speech and theatre productions and requires precise diction and clarity.
3. Music from various cultures use changes in expressive elements to convey a message.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Adaptability and Flexibility)
2. Applying knowledge of musical form and structure allows design parameters to set goals and make informed decisions to learned and new concepts. (Self-Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. Can the same musical idea be presented in more than one way?
2. Why do some musical genres favor one meter over another?
3. Why do some musical genres favor certain instruments over others?

Expand and Connect:

1. Various musical styles easily recognizable in society (such as marches, lullabies, holiday music) use simple notational elements and form.
2. Music from various cultures share notational elements so that music can be shared and understood by others.
3. Similarities and differences can be identified between the use of color in visual arts and music.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Reading and analyzing music increases knowledge and development of musical ideas, as well as musical understanding. (Creativity and Innovation)
2. Writing music provides opportunities for knowledge application, informed decision-making, and knowledge transference to new contexts. (Data Literacy)
3. Reading and analyzing music are opportunities to look for and value different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How will identifying melodic and rhythmic patterns improve individual and ensemble performance?
2. How does tonality affect the feeling of a piece of music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Four-beat musical patterns give insight to poetry patterns in literature, simple contemporary songs, and nursery rhymes.
2. Music from various cultures, historical periods, genres, and styles can be compared based on the use of the diatonic scale and four-beat rhythmic patterns.
3. Mass media predominantly employ diatonic scales and four-beat rhythmic and melodic components because they are easily recognizable.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpreting expressive musical elements provides an opportunity to recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Self-Awareness
2. Using expressive musical elements provides recognition and awareness of the value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Adaptability and Flexibility)
3. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Creativity and Innovation)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How would changing the tempo affect a song?
2. Why do composers use a combination of dynamics in a piece of music instead of using just one?
3. How can articulation and/or instrumentation be used to communicate a musical idea?

Expand and Connect:

1. Identification and analyzation of musical similarities and differences allows for the building of musical literacy.
2. Articulation in music mirrors the skill for articulation in speech and theatre productions and requires precise diction and clarity.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognizing musical form and structure provides a format to describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns. (Data Literacy)
2. Applying knowledge of musical form and structure allows design parameters to set goals and make informed decisions to learned and new concepts. (Data Literacy)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How does a theme unify sections of a piece of music?
2. How do different cultures use different forms/structures, meters/beat groupings, and timbre elements to communicate musical ideas?
3. Why do some musical styles favor specific instruments?

Expand and Connect:

1. Musical vocabulary has a strong correlation to adverbs in literature.
2. Theme and variation are used throughout the arts and among many disciplines and vocations (such as visual art, dance, literature, interior design).
3. Choices made in instrumentation and expressive elements reflect the composer’s emotions, ideas, imagination, and cultural context.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Reading and analyzing music increases knowledge and development of musical ideas, as well as musical understanding. (Data Literacy)
2. Writing music allows application of knowledge, making informed decisions, and transferring that knowledge to new contexts. (Creativity and Innovation)
3. Reading and analyzing music are opportunities to look for and value different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How does the ability to identify notes improve musical ability?
2. What makes a particular composition more complex than another?
3. How does syncopation affect the feel of music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Notation is the language of music.
2. Music notation is a visual representation of organized sound and silence occurring in discernable patterns.
3. Recognizing the patterns that occur in music provides discernment skills that can be applied to other disciplines.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpreting expressive musical elements provides an opportunity to recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Self-Awareness)
2. Using expressive musical elements provides recognition and awareness of the value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Social Awareness)
3. Using a variety of expressive elements in music demonstrates a willingness to try new things. (Creativity and Innovation)

Inquiry Questions:

1. How would changing the tempo affect a song?
2. Why do composers use a combination of dynamics in a piece of music instead of using just one?
3. How can articulation/instrumentation be used to communicate?
4. How can musicians manipulate musical elements to create different performances of the same piece of music?

Expand and Connect:

1. Identification of similarities and differences allows a listener to build musical literacy.
2. The ability to interpret tempo markings in music can be compared to the use of adverbs in literature.
3. Ways instruments produce changes in dynamics can be explained through the physics of sound production.
4. Understand that dynamics exist beyond music.

Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognizing musical form and structure provides a format to describe cause and effect relationships and patterns. (Data Literacy)
2. Applying knowledge of musical form and structure allows design parameters to set goals and make informed decisions to learned and new concepts. (Self-Management)

Inquiry Questions:

1. What is the purpose of a theme?
2. Why do some cultural music examples favor one meter over another?
3. Why do certain cultures favor specific instruments or rhythm patterns?

Expand and Connect:

1. Music vocabulary has a strong correlation to written and spoken language.
2. The flow of music in time relies on meter and tempo.
3. Unique tone qualities are found in varying styles and genres of music.