Lucas Hobson

Citation: The Music Connection. Book 3. Parsippany, NJ; Needham, MA: Silver Burdett Ginn, 1995.

The Music Connection 3 The Music Connections 3 textbook is not only a textbook but an entire selfcontained curriculum. It can be rather daunting to try to make sense of an entire yearlong curriculum, but hopefully this essay will provide a comprehensive, multifaceted survey. I placed these out of order because I felt that they made more sense in this order. Headings are added simply to help delineate where specific topics can be found; they are not meant to separate the essays, but simply to make it easier to find concepts. Format and Organization: There are several levels on which this textbook is organized, starting with the three separate macro sections, each with their own repertoire: Concepts, Themes, and Reading. Each of these is broken down into multiple units, which consist of several lessons strung together and all focusing on some distinct concept with an assessment at the end. In Concepts, the units and lessons focus on musical concepts, including rhythm (interchangeable with beat in this textbook), melody, harmony, form, and tone color. Themes is grouped by lyrics, with sections titled We all live together, music of our country, just imagine, friends around the world, let freedom ring, and a themebased musical titled This Beautiful Land We Share. There are also units for fall and

winter, though none for spring or summer. Reading provides pedagogic materials for developing musical literacy. It begins with a review unit and moves to focusing on sixteenth notes, recorder skills, letter names, and a summary unit. Each unit utilizes approximately thirty songs, although many of these songs are used for several lessons. There is also a reference section in the back of the textbook. Every lesson throughout the book is organized the same way. There is a song or theory exercise in the student edition, along with some simple text and colorful pictures. Meanwhile, the teacher edition contains several bullet points that show the focus of the lesson, the objective, any extramusical knowledge that may help with teaching the song, inter-curricular connections, and several skills other than singing and theory that can be used in the lesson (dancing, composing, recorder). In addition, a box explains what classroom materials the teacher should have present and vocabulary terms that should be taught in the lesson. At the beginning of each of the three macro sections there is a Planner. This very useful organizer provides a breakdown of that macro section, and shows the units and lessons. Within each lesson it also shows page number and musical title as well as a breakdown of the objective and skills learned in each lesson. It also shows how each lesson can be used in connection with other curricula and in the first two macro sections it shows the theme of the lesson. An appendix in the back of the textbook includes a multitude of information. There is a section on tuning autoharps, an index for teaching recorder from the textbook, dance instructions for the various lessons, a section on curriculum planning which shows what should be taught in k-8 general methods classes based on several musical qualities

and standards, a themes index, and a reference section for teaching students with special needs. The textbook closes with a glossary and indexes organized by song and concept. National Standards Referenced? While this textbook does not explicitly reference the MENC national standards, it does implicitly include all of them. I have included a breakdown of the manifestations of the national standards within Music Connection 3. National Standard 1, singing alone and with others, is addressed in almost every lesson in the textbook, because every lesson other than those focusing on assessment in the first two sections focus on a song. In the Reading section, many lessons still include singing. National Standard 2, performing on instruments alone and with others, is also integrated into the textbook. Part of the suggested curriculum is recorder skills, and the index on page 312 shows dozens of songs with which to develop graduated recorder skills, each with graduated difficulty. Standard 3, improvising melodies variations and accompaniments, is not as heavily apparent within the textbook, but there are some opportunities to enforce this standard. Under Concepts, for instance, lessons 3-3, 5-1, 62, and 10-3 offer opportunities for improvisation built into the lesson plan. Standard 4, composing and arranging, is much more prevalent, however, and opportunities to teach it appear frequently throughout the textbook. Standard 5, reading and notating, is covered extensively in the final section of the textbook. Standards 6 and 7, listening and evaluating, is supported with a number of activities and suggestions in lessons throughout the textbook. In addition, standard 7 is nodded at with several suggestions within lesson plans to have children reflect on the music and on their performances. Often these are found with sections on creating music. Standards 8 and 9,

which connect music to other subjects, culture, and history, are also extensively covered in the textbook. The middle section Themes allows the teacher to approach music from several different cultural aspects, and both Themes and Concepts have many opportunities that are explicitly marked for connecting music to other subjects. Musical history is also addressed within the textbook. These connections are all laid out for the teacher in the Planners. Cross-curricular lesson material: The 8th and 9th standards are also addressed; the textbook makes broad strides towards being cross-curricular. The Planners show which lessons have cross-curricular connections. For instance, unit 5 of Concepts has connections to literature, language arts, social studies, writing, and science. The lessons themselves have instructions for making the connections in separate, well-marked boxes of text. Approximately 85% of the lessons have cross-curricular connections and there are connections to every primary field of study (language arts, math and science, history, and art, as well as of course physical fitness if you chose to include this). Spotlight on... shows musical history, and Integrating the Curriculum are two captions in the teachers edition that show you how to create a meaningful lesson based in other curricula. Some of the activities include reading stories to students, creating art projects, reading maps, and developing a sense of symbolism. Attention to multicultural education: Concepts allows teachers to implement multicultural education in an additive format, but the other sections also have it integrated into their lessons as well. Concepts includes multiple genres, including classical, rap, polka, pop, folk, patriotic, and many

others. The music is also in multiple languages in some instances, although this generally only extends to Spanish. Page 177 does include Korean, although there is not pronunciation guide. All in all, there are adequate resources within the teacher edition to provide necessary knowledge to teach about other cultures. Furthermore, the student textbook uses graphics and songs fully representative of world cultures. A glance through the student textbook shows backgrounds with images from Southeast Asia, Aftrica, Native American heritage, and several other cultures. The songs are also drawn from multiple cultures as well. Textbook and Supplemental Construction; Technology Items; Presentation of Text: In addition to being colorful, the student textbooks and other supplements are well-built. The 1995 edition, at least, is small enough to fit in third graders hands, but large enough to have easily readable text and font. It is colorful and full of interesting images. The student textbook shies away from using much extraneous text, leaving most definitions to the teacher. The music itself is well engraved, with large and clear staves and lyrics. To 1995 standards, at least, this textbook is current. Unfortunately, because of its age, it does not include much in the way of technological advances, but the CDs seem to have fun and enjoyable arrangements. They also go a long way to reflecting the worlds many cultures, and are very diverse. They use real instrumentalists instead of synthesizers, which certainly makes them more interesting. Child choir modelers on the CD collection are in-tune and have a good timbre for teaching the third grade age level. There is an accompaniment for every piece in the book, and some are included at multiple tempi; a good consideration before the dawn of computer software that easily

adjusts music playback speed. The CDs are well protected in their lunchbox hard/soft case which also keeps them organized.

Supplementary Materials: Another supplementary item accompanying this textbook is the teacher arrangement book. All of the arrangements are actually quite well designed for use in the classroom, and one does not need to be a piano performance major to play them. Having read a few myself, they are simple but still interesting. They stay within three accidentals of C major, and feature extensive homoryhthm and blocked chords. Syncopation and independent hand usage is rare, as are hand placement changes. Even better, the book is spiral bound; it stays open easily on the piano! I did not see any other supplemental items, or references to them in the textbook, other than the compact discs. Ease of use for Teacher: In fact, the entire textbook is very easy for the teacher to use. It offers a complete lesson plan, simple accompaniments, and interesting material. The lesson plan offers a pretty detailed method for teaching each song/lesson. There are tie-ins for many different classroom skills and ways to spice up the lesson. The index in the back of the teachers edition allows you to easily find material from a variety of viewpoints, including use of Orff instruments, listening skills, song themes, and inclusion of dance. An appendix also explains how to play autoharp and gives several suggestions for classroom management. Gifted and talented/ Special Need Learners:

The appendix also has a section focused on classroom management, and this includes a one page article on dealing with gifted and talented students. It designates some ways to identify gifted students, as well, as a few enrichment suggestions. The textbook includes very few in-lesson suggestions on teaching gifted and talented students. The textbook also makes no suggestions on how to deal with teaching GT students at the same time as average students. I personally think that it would be very difficult to create meaningful lessons for both regular and gifted or special needs students at the same time, but this textbook does not include information about dealing with these students in the classroom. In fact, the textbook makes no mention of special needs or learning disabilities, anywhere. Age/grade level appropriateness of content and activities: While The Music Connection does not take much notice of special needs learners, it is very well designed for the average third grader. The musical range stays well within the third graders range of Bb-Eb, reaching the outer extremes only rarely and never going over. The music uses simple rhythms, but does introduce syncopation. Sixteenth notes are used only with simple patterns, although our Music in Childhood textbook says that sixteenths are a fourth grade level concept. Of course, this is the same textbook that suggests that fourth graders are capable of guitar chording (page 193), which does not seem likely from my experience in Mrs. Bades classroom. In addition, we have seen plenty of sixteenth note patterns in class; I suspect it is not a problem. Meter does fall within the guidelines listed in Music in Childhood, however. The textbook uses basic simple and compound meters, and stays away from asymmetrical meters. 11. Music selections current? Variety?

This textbook contains a variety of songs, in a variety of styles. There are pieces of virtually every simple form (its missing sonata-allegro), many genres, including patriotic, traditional, world, classic and classical, and even rap!

Recordings and listening selections quality and selection The song arrangements are not the only recordings on the CDs. Several pieces of classical music are also included with the textbook. Each of these eight pieces, which include Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and contemporary composers, also comes with a lesson plan and listening guide. These are included as transparencies with listening guides. The instructions describe the listening guide transparencies as visualizations of the music; they do this with abstract symbols and lines that may be a bit abstract for third graders. Musical Elements/Concepts addressed: This textbook addresses all concepts of music, duration, pitch, timbre, form, and expressive elements separately, by chapter. These concepts form the organizational principles for the first unit, fittingly titled Concepts, and are found and addressed in each subsequent unit. Within these concepts, musical skills are addressed as well, including singing, playing, creating, and listening. The Unit Planners show which skills are addressed in each lesson. A more detailed analysis of this portion of the textbook can be found in my discussion of the implicit implementation of the national standards. Musical Skills and Experiences utilized: The textbook also includes work on learning recorder and keyboard, and has substantial resources and time within the textbook devoted to learning these two instruments. Movement and dance falls in line with what Music in Childhood: Music

Connection suggests, with relatively simple dances. The Music Connection also offers suggestions for dealing with the potential for awkwardness that child might face in dancing at this age. The authors show a high level of understanding of third graders, in the content of the songs as well. The lyrics appear suited to third grade maturity level. Activities include simple writing assignments that are well suited to teaching students at this grade level. Methods for teaching references to Orff, Kodaly: The textbook makes several references to Orff and Kodaly. Orff has particular impact on Concepts, and this is reflected in the planner; it lists which lessons have Orff components, and what they are. Themes has a similar Orff column in the planner, but Orff influences are more sparse. In addition, Orff instruments are heavily featured in lesson plan add-ons. Kodaly is the basis for the third unit, Reading, as specified on page 239 in the teacher edition. Of particular note is the focus on the pentatonic scale, similar to Kodalys own focus. In addition, the textbook uses la-minor, and hand signs. Assessments Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes: Competent teaching requires constant assessment, and the textbook both formal and informal opportunities. Within each lesson plan there are opportunities to assess the music and themselves. There are also multiple opportunities each lesson for the teacher to assess the students. The appendix offers some suggestions for assessing students for new teachers. It also states ideas to make assessment easier, such as methods for calling on students and for dealing with situations where students do poorly in the assessment. Each chapter ends with a formal assessment. These assessments generally are aurally

based, and require the students to work both in groups and individually. Reading assessments are much more often set up like theory drill sheets. While the textbook does a great job of assessing the students knowledge and skills, it does not spend much time assessing their attitudes. I think that this is probably something better done by the teacher, anyways. The classroom management section of this text does include suggestions for keeping attitudes positive, although it does not make suggestions for identifying classroom problems.