Students exercise creative thinking skills including, but not limited to, identifying and testing solutions, developing multiple solutions to problems, and participating in an interactive design process through the use of music applications. Students will create and explore interactive experiences designed to facilitate learning in a game-like environment.

Students will use multimedia tools to conduct data analysis related to school performances. Students develop data collection tools such as surveys to collect relevant data based on goals such as increasing the number of patrons who attend a performance. Then students can synthesize information to create a project or presentation about goals, data collection, analysis, and suggested changes to the music program to meet stated goals and objectives.

Students will practice sight-reading individually or in groups using sight-reading software. Students can be placed into groups based on sight-reading skill, and instructors can quickly change the rigor of examples. Sight-reading guidelines from different adjudicated events can be entered into the program so the examples align to these standards. Students can easily receive feedback, and track progress towards sight-reading goals.

Teachers encourage student leadership and ownership of learning by training students rehearsing in sectionals. Student leaders use mobile applications to establish the tempo with a metronome and establish pitch with a tuning or pitch pipe app.

Students will demonstrate their musical interests by creating a playlist using a platform of their choice. Students should analyze and evaluate music choices. Students will then share across an in-house, local, or global digital musical community to share and discuss their musical interests. Students will participate in analytical and evaluative discussions with the musical community.

Students will use a recording platform to layer tracks and produce a small ensemble piece as the only performer. This process encourages individual accountability and emphasizes the importance of ensemble performance skills.

Students will learn and perform a backing track as an ensemble, then improvise over that ensemble-recorded backing track. 

One of the key elements of any video is the sound that we hear along with it. In this lesson, students will use video editing software and/or a digital audio workstation (DAW) to record a soundtrack to a film.

Students will collaborate to produce a music video of an assigned piece. Using a digital audio workstation (DAW), students record themself on their individual part. Students create individual visual storyboards for the music video then collaborate as an ensemble to make a master storyboard. Using the student storyboard ideas, the teacher and students film and edit the video to align with the audio and create a final music video.

Students use electronic effects using digital audio to manipulate their voice or instrument’s sound. Students research and explore various recording effects on sound. Students then record student performances or compositions, and use a digital audio workstation to apply effects and manipulate the sound. Using the creative process, students research, generate ideas, test, refine, and reflect on their original composition. Students develop confidence to use their instrument as a voice of creativity within both acoustic and digital spaces. For a more detailed instructional plan, visit GoOpenVA: Using Effects in the Creative Process.

Students will learn and practice skills to adjust intonation and pitch. Students will use a short music example to practice the skills learned for adjusting unison notes in real time.

This instructional plan will introduce the foundational skills required for shifting and vibrato, including left-hand independence, proper instrument support, fingerboard navigation, and pre-vibrato motions.  It will offer the teacher step-by-step exercises to teach these skills in a heterogeneous orchestra setting.

This instructional plan serves as a resource to provide the instructor with a plan to instruct beginning string players of violin, viola, cello, and double bass (hereafter referred to as “bass”) in proper instrument posture and left-hand position. 

Students will compare music from current repertoire to an arrangement or piece of a similar historical genre. Students will view music through a historical lens by understanding the cultural influences of the original piece.

This instructional plan will provide the teacher with the outline and resources needed to instruct beginning string players of violin, viola, cello, and double bass (hereafter referred to as “bass”) in proper bow hold development.

This instructional plan will help teachers guide students’ composition of rhythmic variations. In this lesson, students will listen to musical examples of variations, discuss the aesthetic and artistic value of musical arrangements, and write their own rhythmic variations on scales and melodies.

This instructional plan will provide the instructor with the outline and resources to guide students in the composition of original music. Composition incorporates different aspects of music education including creativity, critical thinking, and the application of musical techniques. 

This instructional plan will take an instrumental ensemble through the process of learning or improving their ability to follow the conductor. This process will include demonstrating different conducting patterns and playing as an ensemble in response to the conductor’s gestures.

Students will explore copyright and intellectual property standards as they relate to music, music technology, and digital citizenship. Students will identify and apply their knowledge of copyright law and licensure to select appropriate licenses for an original work. Students will then analyze copyrighted material and understand how to obtain appropriate permission to use the material.

Students will investigate ways that choral music can influence the community. Using project-based learning, students will research organizations in their community to be the beneficiary of a benefit-type concert. Students will select level-appropriate repertoire and create advertising. This project is imagined to be used for collaborative small groups, but could be adapted to work as an individual project.