Calais School Music Curriculum

Contents

To help you navigate our curriculum, you may click the title headings in our table of contents below, or just go to section I, "Overall Objectives," and click the grade level links for any objective. There are back links to the table of contents at the beginning and end of each section, or simply use your browser's back button.

I. Overall Objectives
II. Scope and Sequence Kindergarten
III. Scope and Sequence Grades 1/2
IV. Scope and Sequence Grades 3/4
V. Scope and Sequence 5/6
VI. Music Classes for the 5/6 Unit
VII. Resources
VIII. Assessments
IX. Sources
X. Future Directions
XI. Philosophy - Postscript

I. Overall Objectives
back to table of contents

1. Beat competence - the student shall demonstrate the ability to feel and express steady beat in a variety of music and movement contexts. K 1/2 3/4 5/6
2. Rhythmic competence - the student shall demonstrate the ability to express basic rhythmic patterns by singing, playing or moving over the foundation of a steady beat. K 1/2 3/4 5/6
3. Singing skills - the student shall: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. Demonstrate proper posture and breathing
   2. Match pitch and sing in tune
   3. Vocalize the notes of the pentatonic and diatonic scales
   4. Use solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs
   5. Sing canons, rounds, 2 part songs and partner songs
   6. Perceive and express feeling and mood in singing
4. Classroom instrument skills - the student shall use pitched percussion (Orff instruments), unpitched percussion and recorders to: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. Demonstrate correct playing technique
   2. Echo and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns
   3. Improvise
   4. Create simple ostinati and song accompaniments
5. Band instrument skills - the student shall develop band instrument skills in grades 4 -6 and will: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. Demonstrate proper posture and breathing
   2. Use correct technique
   3. Perform with good tone quality
   4. Use correct articulation
   5. Demonstrate note-reading skills commensurate with ensemble participation
   6. Perceive and express feeling and mood in playing
6. Notation skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to read standard music notation and will: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. Use solfege syllables (do re mi, etc) in sight singing from notation
   2. Use Kodaly syllables (ta titi, etc) in sight singing rhythms
   3. Use letter names of pitches and standard numerical counting of rhythms for instrumental playing
   4. Interpret dynamic, articulation, tempo and style indications
   5. Read multi-stave systems and choral folios.
7. Creative activities - the student shall demonstrate the ability to improvise and/or compose short musical works from the elements of objectives 1 - 6. K 1/2 3/4 5/6
8. Social skills - the student shall demonstrate: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. a. A repertoire of conventional social behaviors for successful group music making in large ensembles.
   2. b. A repertoire of conventional social behaviors for successful group music making in small ensembles.
   3. c. An understanding that music making is a long-term commitment.
   4. d. A tolerance for occasional frustration and for the mistakes of others.
9. Analysis - the student shall develop a vocabulary for the description,analysis and constructive criticism of music and movement including: K 1/2 3/4 5/6
   1. Simple formal analysis
   2. Description and classification of the tone colors of instruments and voices
   3. Harmony
   4. Personal preferences for styles and genres
   5. His/her own individual and ensemble performance
10. History and culture - the student shall: K: 1/2 3/4 5/6
    1. Form a conceptual framework of music history
    2. Cultivate the ability to discriminate musical styles, genres and culture
    3. Perceive and express connections between the performing arts and other domains of knowledge

1. Beat competence - the student will:
   • Express his/her own steady beat
2. Rhythmic competence - the student will:
   • Follow non-locomotor movement directions
   • describe simple non-locomotor movements
   • move expressively in songs and games
   • perform simple rhythmic patterns
3. Singing skills - the student will:
   1. not applicable
   2. match pitch and sing in tune
      • demonstrate the difference between the speaking voice, the singing voice, and the yelling voice
      • participate in both group and solo singing
      • demonstrate high and low pitch
      • sing in a range from D above middle C to third line B
   3. vocalize the notes of the pentatonic and diatonic scales
      • sing and solfege sol mi songs
      • sing la sol mi songs
   4. use solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs - demonstrate sol and mi hand signs while singing
4. Classroom instrument skills - the student will:
   1. demonstrate correct playing technique
      • show respect for instruments
      • play using appropriate mallets
   2. echo and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns
      • play echo games with sol mi and/or simple rhythmic patterns
      • explore glissandi
   3. improvise
      • improvise pitch over rhythms derived from poetry
      • use non-pitched percussion to create soundscapes
5. Band instrument skills: not applicable
6. Notation skills - the student will:
   1. use solfege syllables
      • sing and solfege sol mi songs from a two line staff
7. Creative activities - the student will:
   • create and explore movements to illustrate songs and poems
8. Social skills - the student will:
   • respect self and others
   • respect self space
   • take turns
   • play and sing with the group
9. Analysis - the student will:
   1. analyze form
      • perform ternary forms with a contrasting "B" section
   2. describe and classify tone colors
      • know the names of the 3 families of Orff instruments
10. History and culture - the student will:
    1. not applicable
    2. cultivate the ability to discriminate musical cultures
       • perform music of cultures studied in the general classroom
    3. connections to other domains of knowledge
       • know the continent of origin of one of the 3 families of Orff instruments

1. Beat competence - the student will:
   • express a steady non-locomotor beat while playing or singing individually
   • express a steady non-locomotor beat while playing or singing with a group
2. Rhythmic competence - the student will:
   • follow locomotor movement directions
   • describe simple locomotor movements
   • use movement expressively in songs and games
   • perform simple rhythmic patterns during songs and games
3. Singing skills - the student will:
   1. not applicable
   2. match pitch and sing in tune
      • solo sing sol-mi and la sol mi phrases with accurate pitch
      • sing in a range from middle C to third space C
   3. vocalize the notes of the pentatonic and diatonic scales
      • sing and solfege folkloric (mi re do) songs
      • sing and solfege tritonic (sol mi do) songs
      • sing and solfege sol mi re do songs
      • sing songs with all five pentatonic pitches (2nd grade)
   4. use solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs
      • use hand signs while singing the above (except pentatonic)
   5. sing canons, rounds etc.
      • perform speech canons
      • sing simple 2 part canons
      • recite poems over spoken ostinati
4. Classroom instrument skills - the student will:
   • demonstrate correct playing technique
     • use correct mallet grip
     • use two hands
     • bounce heads of mallets
     • remove and replace keys of pitched percussion instruments correctly
   • echo and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns
     • - play echo games with folkloric and tritonic songs
     • - play familiar songs
   • improvise - improvise in call and response
   • create simple accompaniments
   • perform a pulse ostinato while singing
   • perform a simple bordun while others sing
   • play at key words in a song or poem
5. Band instrument skills: not applicable
6. Notation skills - the student will:
   1. use solfege syllables
      • sing la sol mi and folkloric songs from a two line staff
   2. Kodaly rhythm syllables
      • perform and ta, titi and rest from stick notation
      • write simple rhythmic patterns using rhythm dictation sticks.
   3. standard numerical counting
      • group beats into measures by using accents
      • identify the number of beats in these groups (time signatures)
7. Creative activities - the student will:
   • make purposeful choices of rhythms, movements and pitches
   • participate in class song writing projects
8. Social skills - the student will:
   1. in large ensembles:
      • work in a group in which students play a variety of roles
   2. in small ensembles
      • work with a partner
   3. not applicable
   4. develop tolerance for occasional frustration
      • accept suggestions from the teacher
9. Analysis - the student will:
   1. analyze form
      • perform and describe ternary form with a contrasting "B" section
      • perform and describe binary form
      • improvise/perform movements that change with the contrasting sections of a form.
   2. describe and classify tone colors
      • explore how different ways of producing sound (blowing, scraping, hitting, etc.) result in different tone colors
   3. not applicable
   4. performance criticism
      • use music vocabulary to describe his/her own performance
10. History and culture - the student will:
    1. study history
       • explore the life of one major musical figure each year
    2. cultivate the ability to discriminate musical cultures, styles and genres
       • work in a variety of styles and genres
       • know the continents of origin of the 3 families of Orff instruments

1. Beat competence - the student will:
   • perform locomotor movements to the beat while singing individually
   • perform locomotor movements to the beat while playing or singing with a group
2. Rhythmic competence - the student will:
   • walk the beat to recorded music
   • perform contrasting rhythmic patterns during songs and games
   • explain the difference between the rhythm and the beat
3. Singing skills - the student will:
   1. demonstrate proper posture and breathing
      • balance the body when sitting
      • take cold breaths
   2. match pitch and sing in tune
      • solo sing pentatonic phrases with accurate pitch
      • sing across the vocal break (use both falsetto and chest voice)
      • sing in a range from B below middle C to fourth space E
   3. vocalize the notes of the pentatonic and diatonic scales
      • sing and solfege do centered pentatonic songs
      • sing and solfege la centered pentatonic (minor) songs
      • sing and solfege diatonic songs
   4. use solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs
      • use hand signs while singing the above
   5. sing canons, rounds etc.
      • sing four part canons
      • sing over sung ostinati
      • sing part songs and exercises
   6. perceive and express feeling and mood in singing
      • contrast the expressive qualities of the major and minor modes
      • use tempo and dynamics to help express the meaning of a song
      • show excitement and enthusiasm for vocal music
4. Classroom instrument skills - the student will:
   1. demonstrate correct playing technique
      • play recorder with left hand on top and pleasant tone quality (3rd)
      • use good posture
      • alternate hands for broken or rapid patterns on percussion
      • use tremolos
      • perform crossover borduns on pitched percussion
   2. echo and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns
      • play echo games on pentatonic patterns
      • play songs and descants
   3. improvise
      • improvise short phrases
      • know when and how to start and end an improvisation
   4. create simple accompaniments
      • perform simple unpitched percussion patterns while singing
      • perform broken borduns, and pulse borduns while singing
      • perform level borduns while others sing
      • integrate recorders, percussion, movements and singing in complex performances
5. Band or orchestra instrument skills -see below or click on menu links to the left.
6. Notation skills - the student will:
   1. use solfege syllables
      • sight sing from a five line staff using relative solfege for all diatonic pitches
   2. use Kodaly rhythm syllables
      • sight sing whole notes, dotted half notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and their corresponding rests
   3. know letter names of pitches and standard numerical counting of rhythms
      • for recorder: read simple songs and exercises from a standard recorder method
      • for recorder: identify, finger and perform diatonic notes from D above middle C to fourth line D
      • for band instruments: as in 5e above
      • for band instruments: demonstrate numerical counting by clapping and counting the rhythm out loud, then playing the same rhythm on the instrument
      • for singing: identify absolute pitch names (i.e. "do is G" or "mi is E")
   4. dynamic, articulation, tempo and style indications
      • identify and respond to forte and piano (loud and soft, respectively)
      • identify and respond to allegro, andante and moderato tempi.
   5. multistave systems and choral folios.
      • perform duets and 2 part exercises from bracketed staves
7. Creative activities - the student will:
   1. Composing
      • write and perform a consequent phrase to complete a given antecedent phrase.
      • compose a melody displaying a definite tonality, and a clear beginning, middle, and end.
   2. Improvising
      • improvise simple accompaniments to familiar melodies.
      • retain the pitches of a song while altering the rhythm.
      • retain the rhythm of a song while altering the pitch.
8. Social skills - the students will:
   1. in large ensembles:
      • value the group by demonstrating appropriate behavior.
      • socialize one another into the values of the group.
      • respect the roles of the teacher and fellow students.
   2. in small ensembles
      • demonstrate cooperation in groups of 2-8 students
   3. make a long-term commitment
      • commit to elective courses a year at a time
   4. develop tolerance for occasional frustration
      • come to see mistakes as learning opportunities
      • treat others with courtesy and respect
      • share successes and challenges with parents through weekly conversations
9. Analysis - the student will:
   1. analyze form
      • perform and describe strophic form
      • perform and describe rondo
      • perform theme and variation (preparation)
      • create distinct movements to illustrate each distinct section of a form.
   2. describe and classify tone colors
      • identify the instruments of the orchestra by sight and sound
   3. describe harmony
      • identify which voice in a duet is the melody and which is the harmony
   4. analyze personal preferences
      • use music vocabulary to explain stylistic preferences
   5. performance criticism
      • use music vocabulary to evaluate individual and group performance
10. History and culture - the student will:
    1. study history
       • relate historic figures to one another to create an historical framework for future learning
    2. cultivate the ability to discriminate musical cultures, styles and genres
       • identify the origin and/or style of short musical excerpts
    3. make connections
       • connect music history knowledge to general history knowledge
       • experience musical instruments as a specialized type of technology
       • experience music as a hands-on science and math laboratory

1. Beat competence - the student will:
   • maintain a steady beat when performing in all contexts
   • find the group's beat by listening
   • find the group's beat by watching the conductor
   • perform in a rubato style (speeding up and slowing down smoothly)
2. Rhythmic competence - the student will:
   • reliably perform rhythmically independent parts in all contexts and time changes in choreographed movements to events in the music (C)
3. Singing skills - the student will:
   1. demonstrate proper posture and breathing
      • breathe together with the group to start phrases
   2. match pitch and sing in tune
      • solo sing diatonic phrases with accurate pitch
      • sing in a range from A below middle C to fifth line F (C)
      • identify and demonstrate steps, leaps and skips
   3. vocalize the notes of the pentatonic and diatonic scales
      • sing and solfege instrumental selections (WE)(JB)
      • sing chromatic notes in simple modulations and mode mixtures (C)
      • sing chromatic notes characteristic of certain styles (i.e. blues)(C)
   4. use solfege syllables and Kodaly hand signs
      • sing and solfege accurately when directed by hand signs
      • use hand signs to aid in silent audiation
   5. sing canons, rounds etc.
      • sing partner songs (C)
      • sing descants and harmonies (C)
   6. perceive and express feeling and mood in singing
      • enunciate clearly
      • use dynamics and articulations as appropriate (C)
4. Classroom instrument skills - the student will:
   1. demonstrate correct playing technique
      • play recorder in a variety of activities (G)
   2. echo and explore rhythmic and melodic patterns
      • lead call and response games (G)
   3. improvise
      • improvise short pieces (G)
   4. create simple accompaniments
      • perform moving borduns and chord changes on pitched percussion (G)
5. Band instrument skills (all WE except as noted)- the student will:
   1. use proper posture and breathing
      • use breathing to relax the throat and facial muscles
      • breathe together with the group to start phrases
   2. demonstrate correct technique
      • play the chromatic scale form memory and identify the pitches
      • memorize the blues scale and know its uses (JB)
   3. demonstrate good tone quality
      • use the mouth muscles to vary dynamics while maintaining intonation
   4. d. use correct articulation
      • perform legato and staccato as required
      • explore jazz articulations (JB)
   5. demonstrate note-reading skills commensurate with ensemble participation
      • read a fingering chart
      • read and play dotted quarter notes, triplets, sixteenth notes, and syncopations (including counting out loud and clapping)
      • identify key signatures, read and play in the key of concert B flat, E flat and F
      • respond to D.C., D.S., Fine and Coda
      • identify and explain time signatures
      • perform crescendos and decrescendos
      • perform double stroke rolls, press rolls, and five stroke rolls if he/she is a percussionist
      • complete the first volume of a standard band method
   6. express feeling and mood in playing
      • demonstrate teamwork in ensemble responding to what he/she hears
      • bring out the melody, play transparently when accompanying
      • make purposeful choices in response to the music being performed
      • perform in a swing style (JB)
6. Notation skills - the student will:
   1. a. use solfege syllables
      • sight sing 2 part diatonic exercises involving steps, skips and leaps(C)
      • demonstrate movable do by sight singing in a variety of keys (C)
   2. use Kodaly rhythm syllables
      • sight sing dotted quarter notes, and syncopations (C)
   3. know letter names of pitches and standard numerical counting of rhythms
      • for recorder: identify, finger and perform diatonic notes including those from middle C to G above the staff (G)
      • for band instruments: as in 5e above (WE)
   4. dynamic, articulation, tempo and style indications
      • perform crescendos and decrescendos, mf, mp, pp, ff (WE)(C)(JB)
      • articulate according to notation or style
      • demonstrate the spectrum of tempi from lento to presto (WE)(C)(JB)
   5. multi-stave systems and choral folios.
      • perform from choral folios that include piano accompaniments (C)
7. Creative activities - the student will:
   1. Composing
      • Compose a correctly notated melody consisting of antecedent and consequent phrases.
      • Construct a block chord accompaniment for the same.
      • Use notation software to create a MIDI file for uploading to the Millenium Arts Project website.
      • contribute suggestions for the improvement of musical works from downloaded from that site.
      • Compose variations to familiar melodies and/or to their own compositions.
   2. Improvising
      • lead call and response activities
      • write and/or improvise jazz solos (JB)
      • develop skills in vocal improvisation.
8. Social skills - the student will:
   1. in large ensembles:
      • demonstrate the conventions of rehearsal and performance
   2. in small ensembles
      • demonstrate the conventions of rehearsal and performance
      • take responsibility for a unique role
   3. make a long term commitment and
   4. develop tolerance for occasional frustration
      • understand that performance preparation is a process with many stages
      • demonstrate a positive regard for the process through constructive action
      • appropriately communicate concerns and challenges to parents and teachers
9. Analysis - the student will:
   1. analyze form
      • perform and describe overture form (WE)
   2. describe and classify tone colors
      • distinguish between electric and acoustic instruments
   3. describe harmony
      • demonstrate an awareness of chord changes
   4. analyze personal preferences
      • show interest in securing extra music to play or sing for personal enjoyment
      • broaden his/her preferences
   5. performance criticism
      • give and receive criticism in a genuinely helpful way
10. History and culture - the student will:
    1. study history
       • perform in a music-theatre production dealing with music history (C)
       • identify the approximate date of works performed
       • know the identity of the composer of these works
    2. cultivate the ability to discriminate musical cultures, styles and genres
       • identify the cultural origin and style of works performed
       • exhibit curiosity and open mindedness about unfamiliar cultures, styles and genres
    3. make connections
       • seek extra information about music through books, magazines and recordings
       • use music as an alternative way to communicate about wider cultural issues
       • describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music
    back to table of contents

back to table of contents

The following classes in music are available to students in the 5/6 unit:

General Music

two half hour classes each week. This class will focus on improvisation, composition, notation and form, plus integrate prior learning into complex performances. 

Elective Classes:

Band/group instrument lesson

a half-hour group lesson (4-6 students) and a half-hour Band rehearsal every week for students with 1-2 years experience on an instrument. See the curriculum by clicking on "Band" in the menu to the left.

Chorus

A thirty minute class each week, emphasizing part singing and good vocal technique. Chorus is open to any student with a love of singing and a desire to improve. 

Orchestra

a half-hour group lesson (4-6 students) and half-hour Orchestra rehearsal every week for students beginning a new instrument.

Procedures:

Joining an ensemble

a student may join a new ensemble during September.

Resigning from an ensemble

Music education is also about keeping commitments, teamwork, and good citizenship. Resignations from ensembles are allowed in writing during the one week following winter concert or during the one week following Spring Concert/Musical (except Jazz Band - see above). Resignations must include a written explanation by the student, the student's signature, and a parent signature. Written resignations provide me with useful feedback for program improvement and encourage reflective decision making by students. Verbal messages and messages sent through other students will not be accepted.

Practice/homework

In order to have a successful experience in instrumental music, students need enough muscle strength and coordination to keep up with the level of their ensemble. A minimum of 60 minutes per week is recommended.  Assignments will be written in the student's lesson book at the end of class. Practice is to be logged on the sheets provided. These logs are to be turned in each week with both parent and student signatures - this way the teacher knows that families have had a conversation about music once a week and that parents are "in the loop".

back to the top

VII. Resources

back to the top

Facilities:

• a space provided for music classes which allows students to visually and aurally focus on instruction (approximately 1800 SF 3x/week = 5.5% of available instructional space.)
• ample room for body movement
• storage provided for equipment, materials and music *
• a dry erase board

Equipment and Materials:

• an in-tune piano
• a good quality stereo with turntable, dual cassette deck, and CD player
• un-pitched percussion instruments such as bongos, claves, maracas, hand drums, finger cymbals, triangles and tambourines
• an Orff instrumentarium including xylophones, metalophones, glockenspiels and timpani
• recorders for in-school use by students
• foundation band instruments such as bass drum, suspended cymbals, hi-hat, french horn, trombone.
• abundant source materials for the teacher, including works on Orff and Kodaly. A growing library of tapes and CDs*
• a growing library of charts for band, orchestra, jazz band, and chorus *
• music notation, sequencing and theory drill software installed on the school's laptop lab.*  Headphones for the laptops. 
• classroom internet access
• two MIDI keyboards *
• a PA system with six channels, equalizer, mikes speakers and stands.
• an computer projector with and SmartBoard

(* denotes area of need)

back to table of contents

VIII. Assessments

back to table of contentsAssessment of products Videotapes of performances Audiotapes of performances and classroom work back to table of contents

IX. Sources

back to table of contents

The School Music Program - A New Vision The K-12 National Standards, PreK Standards, and What They Mean to Music Educators, published by Music Educator's National Conference, Reston VA. Developed by the MENC Committee on Performance Standards.

Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities, published by the Vermont Dept. of Education, Spring 1996. Please note that the Standards are very incomplete for the arts. See section 5.3

Washington Central Supervisory Union Elementary Music Curriculum 1984, by Tom Cate, Dan Boomhower, Pam Somers, Liz Thorne

Music Education Curriculum, Washington West Supervisory Union, Instrumental Music Grades 4-6

Berkshire Country Day School Music Curriculum by Vivian Murray, published in course notes to MUS 556, Level I Orff Schulwerk Teacher Training Course, Central Connecticutt State University, 1996

Suggested Curriculum Grades K-6 by Susan Engle, published in course notes to MUS 553, Kodaly Pedagogy, Central Connecticutt State University, 1995. Sue teaches in the West Hartfordford CT public schools.

Music Matters, by David J. Elliott, Oxford, 1995 esp. Chapter 10: "Music Education and Curriculum." - explains praxial music education and curriculum building

Teaching Movement and Dance, 3rd edition, by Phyllis S. Weikart, The High Scope Press, Ypsilanti MI 1989 - a sequential approach to rhythmic movement

back to table of contents

X. Future Directions

back to table of contents

This curriculum is designed to be a living document. It will undergo revision as new training and opportunities emerge. What are some of the possibilities for future growth? 

1. Defining responsibilities of music and physical education teachers with regard to movement and dance. We may need an entirely separate sequential curriculum. One step in this direction would be to in-service school staff with a High Scope certified trainer. We have some significant holes in movement education.
2. Work with the U-32 music department to establish standards for entry into the 7th grade chorus and guitar programs that are analogous to the standards we have for entry into the 7th grade band. These are:
   • Ability to keep a steady beat
   • Ability to count and clap rhythms
   • Memorization of a one octave chromatic scale on a band instrument
   • Ability to read and understand a fingering chart
   • A fifth we should add is:
     Substantial completion of the first volume of a standard band method
3. Establish string programs in all 6 WCSU schools, led by certified music teachers. Efforts in this area are fragmented at best, but Calais is in good shape.
4. Devote focused attention to piano keyboard skills. It's hard to do this in class because we don't have keyboards to share. There may be some innovative way of achieving this that I am not yet aware of.

back to table of contents

XI. Philosophy - Postscript

For the professional

back to table of contents

This curriculum is a plan that answers two questions with respect to music education at the Calais School: what are we going to do, and how are we going to know that we did it? Beneath the arcane lists of technical terms that follow lie some radical postulates that are worth examining.

First of all, this is a brain-based curriculum. This means that new advances in neurobiology and connectionist artificial intelligence have formed the epistemology that supports this document. Traditional views of the way we think presume that the "currency" of the "cognitive economy" is language, "sentences in the head" which are strung together in a linear fashion by deductive logic. Much of traditional psychology and educational theory is built on the assumption that we think principally in words. Chomsky's idea that we have a language organ that makes us uniquely human is an assumption so deeply embedded in the educational establishment that it has become invisible.

Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory viewed in this light is far less radical than its proponent's claim. Gardner, rather than limit himself to just a language organ, finds seven of what I call neo-Chomskyan modules: one for language, one for math, one for music, etc. Many arts educators have seized upon Gardner's thesis, as it would to seem legitimize the "language" of each module, and hold out the promise that each in some way represents our humanity and is therefore worthy of study in school. The dark side of this idea is that it raises the possibility of a society choosing to favor one module over another, which is of course what has happened in American education. The fine and performing arts are very nice, say many educators, but they are the icing on the cake. Literacy and numeracy are the real business of schools.

Recent advances in neurobiology and artificial intelligence have rendered such notions obsolete. When we use research at the microscopic level as a reality check on the ideas and theories of the traditional "words in the head" crowd, we begin to see just how separated from reality the dominant paradigms of the educational establishment have become.

The human brain is massively parallel and massively distributed. In a parallel processor, a problem is solved by having many small units work simultaneously on small pieces of the problem. The problem is distributed across many physical locations; the units converge on an answer. This is called parallel-distributed processing (PDP). Efficient networks have been simulated on computers. They typically contain 2-4 layers of neuron-like units. These units are each connected (they "talk") to the units on neighboring layers. Connections (synapses) are weighted, meaning they increase or decrease the strength of the signal passing through. The unit (neuron) adds together all of the signals reaching it from a lower level (information passes only in one direction in these connections). If the sum of the signals exceeds a certain threshold, the unit fires a signal to the next level, and the process begins anew. The simple network just described is said to have a feedforward architecture. Even simple networks display remarkable properties with important implications for education. The question is, are these simulated networks biologically realistic?

Research in neurobiology has revealed that much of the human brain is arranged in different types of network architecture. For example, the neocortex, the seat of our higher level thinking processes, is arranged as a six-layer network. The architecture of neural networks in the human brain is enormously complex. Research on real biological networks allows computer modelers to achieve greater realism in their simulations; increasingly realistic simulations suggest to biologists productive paths to explore. This coevolution of theories has yielded a basic sketch of cognition.

Specifically, the brain thinks by pushing information encoded in high dimensional vectors (ordered sets of numbers) through a matrix of weighted connections (synapses), thereby transforming them into new vectors. Vectors can code for such things as face recognition or the position of a limb in space. Vector to vector transformation, by linking disparate cognitive events, is the engine that drives processes as diverse as perceptual categorization and scientific theorizing. Recurrent networks, by means of reciprocal connections from upper layer (output) units back to previous layers, acquire dynamic properties, since the network now has information available about its recent past. Dynamic networks can coordinate and smooth actions, and adjust to conditions unfolding in real time.

An example of the action of a recurrent network is the grammatical categorization a word in an unfolding sentence from contextual clues provided by the words preceding it. Grammatical understanding can be elegantly explained in terms of the properties of recurrent networks. It has been shown that grammatically similar sentences trace similar trajectories through a high dimensional grammar state space in artificial networks trained to parse sentences. This is a probability driven process; linear, deductive logic plays no role.

The true currency of the cognitive economy is coarse vector coding; our thoughts and actions are encoded in patterns of activation (vectors) in populations of neurons. The profile of these patterns is transmitted via pulse frequency modulation, which explains how a digital (on or off) neuron acquires some flexibility in expressing information through the frequency of its firing. A neuron acts as a summing junction; it has a probability of firing which is a function of the sum of the excitatory and inhibitory signals reaching it through its dendrites. The weights of its synaptic connections amplify or reduce the signals reaching the soma (cell body), thereby affecting the probability of firing.

Learning, at the cellular level, consists of the adjustment of synaptic weights. There are many different ways of attaining an adaptive adjustment, one that is beneficial to the organism. These are beyond the scope of this exposition. An examination of these methods would reveal congruence between the adjustment of synaptic weights at the microscopic level and the adaptive matching of behavior to environment at the macroscopic level.

The ability to perform vector completion is an important property of neural networks. Vector completion is the capacity to make valid categorizations and explanations on the basis of incomplete or degraded input, for example our ability to recognize a familiar face even when it is partially occluded or to make out objects in a grainy photograph. Vector completion is possible because vectors are coded across a large population of neurons. Even if a good chunk of the vector is missing, enough of its basic profile may be present to incite a useful categorization or explanation at the next level.

One can see here a path to a new multiple intelligence theory: an intelligence is a low dimensional projective field of a very high dimensional mental activation space. It is a dynamic property resulting from the interaction of a brain, a set of evolved sensory organs and pathways, and the environment. One person reduces a state space of, say a million dimensions, and projects an 8-10 dimensional product to another person who takes that product and, through a process incorporating vector completion, blows it up into a million or so more or less similar dimensions in her own mental activation space.

Each projective field varies in the number and nature of its dimensions and is mediated by differing pathways and networks. Seeing intelligences in this way humbles us. Since it is impossible at this time to make any sweeping generalizations about the contribution of any one projective field to an individual's cognitive development or wellbeing, it becomes irresponsible to arrogate a privileged role for linguistic or mathematical abilities. All projective fields (i.e. intelligences) are information rich and therefore within the responsibility of schools to teach in the very best possible way. And this returns us to the subject at hand.

The dominant paradigm in music education since the 1950's is known as aesthetic education. This is a tracking system in which the "talented" are spirited into performance based programs, while the majority languish in general music classes, to be taught verbal concepts about music, concepts designed to refine their aesthetic sensibilities and turn them into good consumers of the music product. As such it is the music education version of "words in the head." It is also an untenable position, as silly as attempting to refine linguistic sensibilities by listening to music or doing math.

David J. Elliot of the University of Toronto has coined the term "praxial music education" to describe a philosophy of music education rooted in developing musical thinking through the actual practice of music. Elliot says, "The best education for all students is the way we would choose to educate the best students." I find this view to be unusually biologically realistic: when developing our musical abilities, we must manipulate tonal and rhythmic patterns in our minds and project them to others in musical communication. Words can be used to activate explicitly musical modes of understanding, but can never replace music when learning music is the object. Music education consists of cultivating one's facility in communicating through the musical projective field.

The Calais music curriculum is therefore a Praxial curriculum. For each planning decision the teacher asks, "Into what actual musical practice will I be inducting these students?" This question is the heart of the matter. It is not teaching about music; it is teaching music that counts.

The Calais music curriculum is also eclectic in the sense that it freely borrows from any methodology that will help us to attain the goal of musical thinking-in-action for the greatest number of students. The heart of the curriculum is the Orff approach. Vivian Murray writes, "The emphasis is on making music and the students are actively involved in the learning process." This approach uses song, speech, movement and instrumental playing to help students experience a wide array of musical practices. The Kodaly method, with its emphasis on solfege and its ideal of high musical achievement by every student, informs our approach to singing. Phyllis Weikart's sequential approach to movement helps in the development of rhythmic competence.

Music is an informationally rich method of thought and communication with a sophisticated, internationally used written symbol system. As such, it belongs in the school curriculum. Furthermore a conservative interpretation of, recent scientific research suggests that it should be on an equal footing with other domains of knowledge, at least until we know more relative contributions of each domain to one's cognitive development. Presently, the most biologically realistic philosophy of music education is Elliot's praxial philosophy, which insists on inducting students into the actual practice of music. A praxial curriculum can be constructed using elements from well-established methodologies such as Orff, Kodaly, and Weikart. This is how the Calais Music curriculum is constructed: to do the most good for the most students.

back to table of contents