1. SCHOOL MUSIC EDUCATION
CURRICULA: THE ISSUE OF
THE SELECTION AND
ARTICULATION OF CONTENT
May Kokkidou
University of Western Macedonia, Greece

2. Curriculum designers have
thought that it was necessary ...
• to begin with the examination of music as an
acoustic phenomenon
• to give emphasis to the factors of personal
expression and creativity
• to get out the socio-cultural context
• to find ways to ensure plenty of actual musical
activity

3. School Music aims at the
acquisition of knowledge and the
development of skills
• about music
• for music
• through music

4. The content of a curriculum
refer to…
• Academic knowledge
• Skills
• Attitudes
• Learning activities

5. Criteria for the selection of content
• are influenced by the general
orientations of the curriculum
• should not be set out in advance
• should be shaped in accordance with
particular educational conditions

6. Aesthetic Education
“Traditional” ways of structuring
content have been:
• By theme
• Chronologically
• Shared Concepts

7. The Content of School Music Curricula
Inadequate and ineffective because
• It cannot offer learners the chance to
promote their own skills
• it lacks that flexibility that would enable the
teacher to adapt the material to the
particular needs of each class

8. In order to
maximize the knowledge
we have to
minimize the content

9. Current tendencies
in the formation of curriculum content
• Conscious listening is the crucial sector of the curricula
• Most curricula stress the importance of activities that link
music with the kinetic
• Few curriculum focus emphatically on the acquisition of
theoretical knowledge
• Traditional music, whether as singing or as playing an
instrument, does not find a place among the priorities of the
curricula
• There is a moderate to high emphasis on the cross-
curricular element
• The adoption of new technologies in the music lesson is
limited

10. -What should be included in the content and
for what reasons might something be
excluded?
-Does there need to be a hierarchical
arrangement of content?
-Are we more interested in the process or in
the outcome?
- If outcomes matter, then why should we
not “teach to the test” that we intend to set?
-If the process is more important, then why
should we set a test at all?

11. Content forms a
framework for teachers
within which they may
work discriminatingly,
bearing creativity in mind,
attempting to gain the
assent of their learners.

12. Organizing the curriculum content
• A progression from simple to complex
• Rules for combination and logical relation
• Pedagogically-oriented way of organizing
material
• Cross-curricular links
• An organized structured built on the needs
of learners with differing interests
• Rejection of the strict following of a rigid
institutionalized structure

13. Open-content movement
The position of the Standards
• A series of selected and “weighted”
variables
• A framework of basic concepts,
knowledge and skills for the learners

14. 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied
repertoire of music
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
4. Composing and arranging music within specific guidelines
5. Reading and notating music
6. Listening to, analysing, and describing music
7. Evaluating music and music performances
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts,
and disciplines outside the arts
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture

15. Singing
• Control of breathing
• Articulation
• Expressiveness
• Singing from memory
• Singing notated musical phrases
• Technical accuracy (rhythm, pitch, tempo, intensity)
• Singing alone
• Singing with others, responding to the cues of a conductor
(tutti, two-part & four-part harmonization)
• Singing á cappella
• Vocal imitation

16. Improvising
• Instrumental and vocal improvisations
Rhythmic question and answer phrases
Melodic question and answer phrases
Rhythmic / melodic accompaniments
Rhythmic / melodic variations on a well-known melody
Independent improvised rhythmic / melodic compositions
• Improvisations with body percussion
• Improvising using a variety of sound sources

17. …Coda
The music lesson must not be
confined to the transmission of
information; rather, it must promote
the construction of knowledge, the
understanding of concepts and the
development of skills.

18. Thank you
May Kokkidou
ugenius@otenet.gr