Explore and build foundational musical skills with Spotlight on Music from McGraw-Hill. This course offers a variety of learning activities that include singing, dancing, virtual instruments, listening maps, and authentic sound recordings. Six units in the course are organized into four sections: Spotlight on Concepts, Spotlight on Music Reading, Spotlight on Performance, and Spotlight on Celebrations. Students learn about these musical elements: duration, pitch, design, tone color, expressive qualities and cultural context. Students explore beat, meter, rhythm, melody, harmony, tonality, vocal/instrumental tone color, texture, dynamics, tempo, articulation, style, and music background.

Coures Outline

Unit 1

Section 1 Spotlight on Concepts

· Beat/Meter

· Rhythm – rhythm of the words, quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rest

· Melody – melodic movement, mi, re, and do

· Harmony

· Tonality – pentatonic

· Texture – combine instrumental sounds

· Form/Structure – verse/refrain

· Tone Color – vocal tone color, instrumental tone color

· Dynamics – f, p

· Tempo – steady tempo

· Articulation - accents

· Style/Background – swing, Singaporean, Newfoundland, Louisiana, Hungarian, Andean, South African

Section 2 Spotlight on Music Reading

· Mi, re, do

· Quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth note pairs

· Steps, skips, repeated notes

Section 4 Spotlight on Celebrations

· Hispanic Heritage Month

Unit 2

Section 1 Spotlight on Concepts

· Beat/Meter – 2/4, 4/4

· Rhythm – quarter notes and eighth notes, half note

· Melody – so and la

· Harmony - countermelody

· Tonality - pentatonic

· Texture – “found sounds”

· Form/Structure – ABA, ABC, AABA

· Tone Color – vocal tone color

· Dynamics – p, f, pp, ff, crescendo, decrescendo

· Tempo – tempo changes

· Articulation

· Style/Background – Mexican, Native American, African American, Nigerian, Japanese, Israeli

Section 2 Spotlight on Music Reading

· Quarter notes, eighth note pairs

· Do, re, mi, so

· Do, re, mi, so, la

Section 4 Spotlight on Celebrations

· Sukkot

· Halloween

Unit 3

Section 1 Spotlight on Concepts

· Beat/Meter – 2/4, 6/8

· Rhythm – quarter notes, eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, quarter and eighth note pairs

· Melody – low la and low so

· Harmony - instrumental harmony

· Tonality - pentatonic

· Texture – instrumental ensemble

· Form/Structure – verse, refrain, phrases

· Tone Color - violin

· Dynamics

· Tempo - rubato

· Articulation

· Style/Background – Ghanaian, African American

Section 2 Spotlight on Music Reading

· Low la

· Low so in unison and in cannon

· Conduct in 2/4

Section 4 Spotlight on Celebrations

· Thanksgiving

· Seasonal Songs

· Hanukkah

· Christmas

· Las Posadas

· Kwanzaa

Unit 4

Section 1 Spotlight on Concepts

· Beat/Meter - 2/2

· Rhythm – sixteenth notes

· Melody – high do, skips, leaps, steps

· Harmony - melodic accompaniment, ostinato, canon, round

· Tonality - pentatonic

· Texture – percussion ensemble

· Form/Structure – identical and similar phrases, A and B sections, rondo

· Tone Color – erhu, banjo

· Dynamics

· Tempo – steady tempo

· Articulation

· Style/Background – Caribbean, French Canadian, Israeli, Norwegian, Chinese

Section 2 Spotlight on Music Reading

· Sixteenth notes

· High do

Section 4 Spotlight on Celebrations

· Martin Luther King Jr. Day

· Chinese New Year

· Valentine’s Day

· President’s Day

Unit 5

Section 1 Spotlight on Concepts

· Beat/Meter – 3/4, downbeat, upbeat

· Rhythm – dotted half note, whole note, whole rest, eighth notes, sixteenth notes

· Melody – G, A, and B

· Harmony – chordal accompaniment, rhythmic accompaniment

· Tonality – minor/major

· Texture - chords

· Form/Structure – introduction, coda, verse, and refrain

· Tone Color - cello

· Dynamics

· Tempo – varying tempo

· Articulation – staccato, legato

· Style/Background – eighteenth century minuet

Section 2 Spotlight on Music Reading

· 6/8 with upbeats

· Whole note

· Ostinato with whole note

· Dotted half and whole notes in 4/4 meter

· Ostinato with an upbeat

Section 4 Spotlight on Celebrations

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