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Music in Connexions: A User's Guide

Module by: Catherine Schmidt-Jones

Summary: Suggestions for finding what you need among the music offerings in Connexions.

Introduction

The many lessons in the area of music that are available through Connexions are all covered by a Creative Commons License which allows a variety of uses. Those who are simply looking for an answer to a specific question are most likely to find what they are looking for without further help (but see below if you don't). Here are some suggestions for those who are looking for a significant amount of information, including classroom educators, private music teachers, and students who are looking for a significant amount of music education.

Classroom Educators

Modules in Connexions may be information only, or may include worksheets and exercises, or may primarily be a lesson plan. Modules that are lesson plans are usually linked to the information the teacher will need to present the lesson. Some of the lessons can be presented by teachers who do not have a significant amount of expertise in the area of music. If you are looking for lesson plans, or ideas for classroom lessons:

  • To find lesson plans designed to address the National Standards for Music Education, search in Connexions for "national music standard". If you are looking for ideas in specific areas, for example composing or reading music, you can search for "national music standard 4" or "national music standard 5". (Be sure to use the quotation marks in the search, if you want the results to feature a specific standard.)
  • Some lessons cross disciplines. Search results for "national science standard" (see National Science Education Standards, "national English standard" (see National Standards for the English Language Arts), "national social studies standard" (see National Council for the Social Studies), "national math standard" (see National Council of Teachers of Mathematics), "national art standard" or "national dance standard" (see ArtsEdge) will include these cross-disciplinary lessons. Such searches can also be more specific: for example, "national English standard 2", "national social studies standard 1", "national science standard physical science", "national math standard grade 3", "national dance standard 1", or "national art standard 4".
  • As of this writing, a search for more specific subjects, such as "fractions music", "Germany music", or "acoustics" yielded some results that would be useful for planning elementary and secondary classroom activities, but also many university-level results. Most of the music activities available are appropriate or adaptable for a wide range of ages, so a search for "grade 3" is not useful.
  • A search in Connexions for "activity", "music activity", or "lesson plan" will give many results that are useful for elementary and secondary music classrooms. Some of these have already been organized into collections that could serve as teaching units (see the list below).

Students

Many of the music modules have been organized into courses, for those students who wish to use them as an on-line course or textbook. If you Browse by Subject in the Arts on the Connexions Content Page, the beginning of the list will be all of the courses presently organized in Connexions in the arts (followed by all of the individual lessons available). As of this writing, the following general-interest-music courses were available:

  • Professor Brandt's Sound Reasoning course is a good place to start for adults who have little music training and would like to get more out of listening to music.
  • The Basic Elements of Music is an introduction, suitable for non-musicians, to some of the basic concepts and terms used to discuss music.
  • Reading Music is a basic-level course on common music notation.
  • Introduction to Basic Music Theory is a course for those who are already familiar with music notation.
  • Special Subjects in Music Theory is an introduction to some more advanced concepts, including some necessary for exploring Non-western music.
  • Understanding Basic Music Theory is a more complete course, including introductory information on notation, basic and some advanced music theory concepts, and some of the physics underlying the concepts. This course is also available as a printed book that can be ordered through Connexions.
  • Noisy Learning is a collection of lesson plans that encourage active learning about music.
  • Musical Travels for Children is a collection of activities designed to introduce students to the music of many cultures.
  • A Parents' Guide to Band contains information useful to families who have a child in a school band program.

Private Music Teachers

You may use individual lessons, lesson plans, or entire courses as published. Note, however, that you may also design and publish your own course in Connexions, using materials already published, your own materials, or a combination of the two. This allows you to change and arrange the materials to suit your needs as an instructor. Go to the Connexions Home Page to find information on how to create or organize content in Connexions. (This option is also available to classroom educators, of course, but too few have the time and freedom to design and create their own curriculum.)

Missing Information: How You Can Help

Music is a huge subject, and not everything is here that could be here. Connexions is a cooperative project involving any educator who wishes to share knowledge and expertise in this way. If you notice that some of the "missing" information is in an area that you know well, or if you have a lesson plan that you think other educators would find useful, please consider contributing to the Connexions "knowledge commons". Your contribution will be freely available to any educator with internet access, but it will be copyrighted by you so that those who use your materials must attribute them to you. Go to the Connexions Home Page to find information on how to create content in Connexions.

If you wish to link your materials to information in my modules (if, for example, you don't want to have to explain "interval" or "key" in your lesson) and don't know how to do this, or if you think I might want to be aware of your music materials in Connexions and link to them or include them in some of my courses, please contact me.

There are several larger projects (everything from a more complete music curriculum, to translations into other languages, to more video, audio, animations, games, etc.) that could happen in music in Connexions if the funding and/or volunteers were available. Please contact me if you'd like to get involved.

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