Standard 4: The teacher of PK-12 music has skills in listening to, analyzing, describing, and performing

music.

The skills of listening to, analyzing, describing, and performing music are skills that take music
from one level to another. These are skills that begin to lead to comprehension and application of skills
in an ensemble setting. As the music teacher it is important to not only obtain these skills, but to guide
students to the point of independent musicianship.

I have been very fortunate in my time as a student to have teachers who have guided my
musical thinking skills and expand my knowledge. In my music education classes we were challenged to
listen to music and develop ideas of what skills we could teach our future ensemble. In aural skills
classes I learned how to analyze a piece of music based on the chordal structure I heard as well as the
melody. I had the opportunity in conducting class and university band to analyze a score in order to
grasp a deeper understanding of the music. It is crucial for a music educator to obtain skills in analyzing
so that they can provide students with guided questions and enhance their musicianship. All of these
skills also affect live performance. I believe that is why this is the last step in this standard. In order to
perform a musician must put in the work of listening, analyzing, and describing. I have been so lucky to
experience many different styles of live performance such as Concert band, Marching Band, and small
ensembles. As a music educator I will strive to provide these same opportunities for my students.

Students in my classroom will be exposed to skills in listening and analyzing before they even
understand what the importance of these skills is. From a young age students are listening to music
either on the radio or in class. Elementary music is taught through listening skills and matching pitch. As
they learn more about music I will slowly introduce them to the concept of listening to music in order to
analyze and describe it. An activity for this standard in the music classroom is showing two movie
trailers with the same concept, but different background music. I will ask students what the difference
between the two trailers was and this will assess their skills in describing music.

In order for students to grow as musicians it is important to listen to, analyze, describe, and
perform music on a daily basis. My students will use these skills to develop a deeper understanding of
the pieces we are playing as well as a deeper understanding of styles.