Teaching General Music Through Ukulele Curriculum Outline for Middle School (One Semester) Semester Objectives (as

applied to National Standards for Music Education) 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 1. Students will learn and perform a traditional Hawaiian chant (matching pitch, memorization, Hawaiian language) 2. Students will learn and perform five pieces (performing) 2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 1. Students will play the ukulele with proper technique 2. Students will play Hawaiian percussion instruments ipu (gourd), pahu (drum), kalaau (sticks), iliili (stones), uliuli (feathered shakers) (cultural context) 3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. 1. Students will use percussion instruments to improvise rhythmic accompaniments to songs using traditional and invented rhythms 2. Students will improvise melodies using the pentatonic scale 4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. 1. Students will compose an original piece 2. Students will arrange an existing piece to be played on ukulele (or other instruments at their disposal) 5. Reading and notating music. 1. Students will dictate rhythms using stick notation and transfer that to Western notation 2. Students will transcribe a portion of a melody using Western notation (in preparation for performance) 6. Listening to, analyzing and describing music 1. Students will analyze and compare the form of different songs 2. Students will listen to different performers on the ukulele and distinguish between the different styles 7. Evaluating music and music performances 1. Students will listen to various pop songs and, using a rubric that they create, determine whether they would be suitable for performance with ukulele accompaniment 2. Students will watch and evaluate a video of their rehearsals and their performance 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts and disciplines outside the arts 1. Students will perform a hula and explain the meaning of the various motions 2. Students will explain how the ukulele works from a physical and acoustic perspective 3. Extension: Students will create and use their own percussion instruments modeled after the traditional Hawaiian instruments 9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture 1. Students will track the development of the ukulele and its context in the history of Hawaii 2. Students will demonstrate the spoken Hawaiian language through speaking, chanting and singing. 3. Students will translate the songs and chants they will perform from Hawaiian to English

Semester Goals Perform a concert with repertoire learned and created over the course of the semester o One Hawaiian chant o One student-arranged song with lyrics o One student-composed song (with or without lyrics) (will include improvisation on pentatonic scale) o Two teacher-provided songs (with or without lyrics) Perform a simple hula o All students will learn the dance, volunteers will perform Perform on Hawaiian percussion (or simulated Hawaiian percussion) Explain the development of the ukulele and its role in the history of Hawaii Identify and distinguish between different styles of playing 20-Week Flexible General Semester Plan 1. Unit 1: Introduction to Music/Review (2 weeks) a. Week 1 Syllabus and introduction to course, diagnostic test for new students, basic music theory and ear training b. Week 2 Continuation of basic music theory and ear training 2. Unit 2: History of Hawaii and the Ukulele (3 weeks) a. Week 3 Preliminary discussions on Hawaiian history, Hawaiian language, continuation of music theory and ear training b. Week 4 Brief history of Hawaii, Skype date with someone from the Lyman or Bishop Museum c. Week 5 History of the Ukulele to today, famous performers (with listening exercises), continuation of music theory and ear training 3. Unit 3: Singing and Chant (Ukulele Fundamentals, Improvisation) (5 weeks) a. Week 6 Introducing Hawaiian chant (compare and contrast to other known kinds of chant [purpose, context, idiosyncrasies]), introducing ukulele fundamentals and application of music theory b. Week 7 Continuing with ukulele fundamentals and singing, music theory and ear training, introducing improvisation and the pentatonic scale c. Week 8/9/10 Continuing with ukulele fundamentals and singing, music theory and ear training, continuing with improvisation, visiting some potential repertoire 4. Unit 4: History Revisited Hula and Percussion (Ukulele Repertoire, Composition) (3 weeks) a. Week 11 The Merrie Monarch Festival, what hula means and how it fits into Hawaiian history, continuation of fundamentals, etc. b. Week 12 Skype date with a kumu hula (hula teacher) [comparing hula to ASL and other forms of nonverbal communication], introducing percussion instruments c. Week 13 Choosing repertoire, short melodic dictation exercises, live Garage Band lab with Hawaiian percussion instruments 5. Unit 5: Preparing for Performance (Rehearsals, Composition, Improvisation) (5 weeks)

a. Week 14 Back to ukulele fundamentals, short in-class composition/improvisation exercises b. Week 15/16 Rehearsing, ukulele fundamentals, improvisation, singing, learning hula c. Week 17/18 Finalizing repertoire and personnel, presenting projects on various topics in Hawaiian history, making connections 6. Unit 6: Semester Review, Performance and Debriefing (2 weeks) a. Week 19 Preparation for performance, performance etiquette, staging b. Week 20 Performance, evaluation of performance