Kansas State University

Full Year Curriculum

Jenna Dominguez

Full Year Curriculum

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Table of Contents

Program Goals…………………………………………………………………………………2

Course Goals ……………………………………………………..……………………………2

Scope and Sequence……………………………………………………………………………3

Course Description…………………………………………..…………………………………8

Course Objectives………………………………………………………………………………8

Performance 1……………………………..……………………………………………………10

Performance 2…………………………..………………………………………………………14

Performance 3………………………..…………………………………………………………18

Performance 4……………………..……………………………………………………………21

Assessment…………………… ……………………………………………………………24
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Program Goals
When my students graduate from my intermediate string program they will demonstrate
executive skills, musicianship, and artistic expression. Their skills and knowledge in these areas
will allow them to participate in musical diagnosis and prescription in an ensemble and
individual playing environment. They will also discuss historical and cultural revelvancies as it
pertains to their performances and connection with their community.

Course Goals
Executive Skills and Knowledge
● Students establish a balanced posture free of tension, and demonstrate ease of motion in a
sitting and standing position.
● Students perform with correct placement and angle of the left arm, wrist, hand, and
fingers to the instrument. Demonstrate position that is balanced and free of tension; play
with independence of fingers; ease of motion; produce characteristic tone; and show
understanding of application of fingerings, finger patterns, shifting, and extensions.
● Students perform with fluent bowing motion, control of variables (weight, angle, speed,
and placement), in a variety of bowing techniques and articulations, with characteristic
tone.
● Students demonstrate aural and kinesthetic awareness of pitch accuracy and intonation,
including and related to improvisation.
● Students perform simple and complex rhythms with steady pulse, and correct sense of
meter.

Musicianship Skills and Knowledge

● Students demonstrate creative musicianship skills at all stages of development including
the ability to improvise rhythmically, melodically, and harmonically; arrange and
compose melodies and harmonies according to specific guidelines.
● Students demonstrate music literacy through decoding and comprehension with audiation
of written material and knowledge of symbols and notation.
● Students perform in an ensemble, demonstrating the ability to adjust and maintain a sense
of rhythm, tempo, articulation, tone, balance, and dynamics as well as understanding
conducting gestures, follow section leader, and ability to synchronize bowings.

Artistic Skills and Knowledge

● Students employ expressive elements of music to communicate abstract thoughts, ideas,
and meaning to share the depth of the human experience; and for self-expression and
understanding.
● Students listen to, respond to, and perform music from a wide range of genres in a
culturally authentic manner, reflecting the diverse nature of people groups and cultures
across the world and United States.
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● Students evaluate and analyze music for executive skill, musicianship, and artistic
considerations; and the individual and group performances based on criteria.
(ASTA Curriculum Pg. 18-19)

Scope and Sequence

From the ASTA (American String Teachers Association) 2011 Edition Curriculum Book, second
year orchestra students fall under the “developing” section in the scope and sequence.
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Course Description

The Peach Middle School Concert Orchestra is a second year ensemble. In this course we will
discover different historical periods, cultures, and styles of music. Be prepared for fun literature
that comes with a challenge to help you grow as a musician.

Course Objectives

Executive Skills and Knowledge

● Students perform unilateral movement with fluid shift of weight.
● Students perform bilateral movement with fluid shift of weight.
● Students perform introductory positions with a good hand position, flexible fingers, and
quality intonation.
● Students perform first through third position shifting with fluid arm movement, correct
left hand formation, and good intonation.
● Students perform simple double stops with a clear tone, good intonation, and a good left
hand position.
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● Students perform all baseline right hand skills with accuracy such as: pizzicato, short
slurs, string crossings, basic bow direction, basic detache bowing, and introduction of
weight, angle, speed, and placement.
● Students perform martele bowing with an accurate accent and release.
● Students perform slurred staccato with relaxed bow arm and controlled bow speed.
● Students perform hooked bow with relaxed bow arm and controlled bow speed.
● Students perform longer slurs (3 or more) with an appropriate amount of bow used for
each note, and accurate distribution of weight.
● Students perform brush stroke with a relaxed bow arm and controlled bow speed.
● Students will discover extended techniques on weight, angle, speed, placement.
(ASTA Curriculum Pg. 52-110)
Musicianship Skills and Knowledge
● Students perform by ear melodic tonal patterns within a one octave range in major and
minor tonalities.
● Students manipulate and identify single pitches to adjust intonation while listening for
“ringing tones”.
● Students improvise by ear melodic tonal patterns within a one octave range in major and
minor tonalities.
● Students improvise by ear harmonic tonal patterns within a one octave range in major and
minor tonalities.
● Students alter melodies and harmonies (major to minor, modal) with fluency and
confidence.
● Students use fine tuners to adjust strings to match an external tonal reference with
accuracy.
● Students perform rhythmic patterns containing subdivisions with a steady pulse and with
a sense of meter.
● Students perform rhythmic patterns containing elongations (syncopation, dotted rhythms)
with a steady pulse and with a sense of meter.
● Students perform rhythmic patterns containing rests with a steady pulse and with a sense
of meter.
● Students improvise rhythmic patterns containing subdivisions, elongations, and rests with
a steady pulse and with a sense of meter.
● Students use the root, third, and fifth of a chord to solo over student-generated
accompanists in a variety of styles.
● Students correctly identify tonality (including key signature) and perform repertoire
through three sharps and three flats.
● Students correctly identify interval labels through aural and visual recognition.
● Students correctly identify musical forms: theme and variations, rondo, minuet and trio.
● Students perform various tempos with a steady pulse in a group/ ensemble setting.
● Students adjust pitch within a section and ensemble.
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● Students demonstrate appropriate balance of the melody and accompaniment lines in an

ensemble.
● Students imitate rhythm patterns at various tempos following a conductor’s beat pattern
and cues.
● Students match bow usage to the section and the ensemble.
(ASTA Curriculum Pg. 121-219)
Artistic Skills and Knowledge
● Students evaluate and demonstrate multiple ways of performing a single melody.
● Students apply knowledge of performance practice to selected repertoire.
● Students perform with articulations corresponding to developing right hand technical
skills.
● Students listen to selected music from diverse cultures and musical eras
● Students identify, describe, and compare distinguishing characteristics of composers and
styles from selected pieces
● Students perform music from and expanding repertoire of diverse styles.
● Students describe personal preference in music listening and group performance.
(ASTA Curriculum Pg. 225-254)

Performance 1 “A Renaissance Journey”

For the first concert of the year, this second year orchestra will perform (in this order)
Dragonhunter (Gr.1) by Richard Meyer, Sword Dance (Gr.1) by Thoinot Arbeau arranged by
Bob Phillips, and String Explosion (Gr. 1) by Frank Rodgers. The theme of the concert is “A
Renaissance Journey” which means all the pieces have something to do with medieval fantasy.
The pieces are all contemporary themselves with a feeling of old folk music and “chant” with a
hint of pop in “String Explosion”. I chose these pieces as an ease back into playing from the
potential lack of practicing over the summer. Even though they are grade one pieces in a second
year ensemble, they all have elements that can be challenging as well as great reminders of
technique from the previous semester. All three pieces mostly stay within the octave of the D
major scale and have pizzicato sections. Dragonhunter does not have any explicit articulations or
dynamics written which would make for a great conversation with the students to have them
determine where the highs and lows of the pieces should be. It does however require the use of a
martele bow stroke along with the regular detache and legato bowing. Sword Dance does have
written dynamics and teaches hooked bow, staccato, accents, and simple double stops, making it
the most challenging piece in the concert. The texture of this piece lends well to a conversation
about melodic balance with other sections playing accompaniment underneath. The most
challenging aspect of String Explosion is the use of the low two fingering on the d and a strings.
It also has an extension of our dynamics lessons with the use of crescendos and decrescendos.
This is the most unique piece of the set because of it’s pop like sound that can be very engaging
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and interesting for the students. Because of the style, marcato and accent bows are utilized which
is an extension of our different bowing styles lessons.

Performance 1 Outline

Dragonhunter:Quarter note
hooked bow, eighth notes
Sword Dance: eighth notes,
Rhythm
eighth note hooked bow
String Explosion: eighth
notes

Dragonhunter: High strings

with some lows here and
there.
Melody Sword Dance: mostly in high
strings with some lows
String Explosion: Passes
between sections

Dragonhunter: low string

support.
Sword Dance: longer notes
Harmony support. Sections of eighth
Musical Elements notes under the melody
String Explosion: quarter
notes

Dragonhunter: Call and

response sections
Sword Dance: Lots of unisons
with some deviation. Pizz
Texture section
String Explosion: unison
sections with “snake
charmer” in violins for a few
bars

Dragonhunter: journey
Timbre Sword Dance: dancing
String Explosion:

Dragonhunter: Intro, ABA

Form Coda
Sword Dance:ABABA
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String Explosion: Intro, main

theme, sampling, main theme,
conclusion

Dragonhunter: Medieval
sounding makes it fun and the
kids feel like a dragon hunter.
Musical Expression
Sword Dance: Legato
String Explosion: snake
charmer

Styles/Genres Medieval
Rock/Pop

Musical Topics Historical Periods Contemporary

Cultures English

National Standards

● Two note slurs

Activities/Sample Lesson ● Hooked bow
Lesson Plans
Plans

Assessments Tools
(Minimum of 1 per objective)

Sample Lesson Plan of Performance 1

Grade: Second Year Orch. Teacher: Ms. Dominguez Date:

Standards:
MU:Cr3.2.E.8a Share personally developed melodies and rhythmic passages – individually or
as an ensemble – that demonstrate understanding of characteristics of music or texts studied in
rehearsal.
MU:Pr5.3.E.8a Develop strategies to address technical challenges in a varied repertoire of
music and evaluate their success using feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to
refine performances.
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Materials:
Sheet Music (including remixes)
Pencil, stand, chair
Instrument

Lesson Sequence:
Time/ Objectives Lesson

Entry Activity

Activity 1 Objectives: Students will improvise WASP (Weight, Angle, Speed, Placement)
different WASP combinations within the If we are playing a super fast section what
parameters of a line of music. might our WASP be? (answer light, angled,
fast, lane 2)
If we are playing a forte slow section what
might our WASP be? (answer: heavy, more
flat, slow, closer to bridge)
What if we played the opposite of what we
are supposed to?
Lets try it.
Now we are going to take turns choosing the
WASP for this line of music and see how it
sounds different.

Activity 2 Students will perform with the El Toro

correct WASP in El Toro. ● Slow and deep section
● What WASP are we going to use here?
● How might our WASP be different at
the very beginning?

Assessment/ Closure

Rubric
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Performance 2 “Winter Fiesta”

The second half of this semester is devoted to learning about different hispanic cultures
and the music that comes from those countries and peoples. The pieces we will play for our
concert in December are El Toro by Don brubaker (Gr.2), Moonlight Tango by Richard Meyer
(Gr. 2), Caribbean Cruise by David Bobrowitz arranged by J. Cameron Law, and Fum, Fum,
Fum (Gr. 1.5) arranged by Micheal Story. Throughout the semester, special consideration will be
taken to inform my students that while all these pieces were composed to sound like they are
from hispanic cultures, none of them were written by someone from that group of people.
Therefore, as a class we will be listening to and discussing works that are culturally authentic;
we will also have a project where students will research a country from Central America about
their culture and [Link] our repertoire for this block we explore the sounds of Argentina,
Spanish, and Caribbean music. Most of the pieces that are programmed for this block build upon
the skills learned in the previous block as well as teach new concepts. El Toro brings back the
low two fingering with the key signature being in e minor. The first violins play all the way to a
high b on the e string, but they don’t have to shift. Other concepts in this piece are the crescendo,
accelerando, fermata, D.C. al Coda, and playing on the offbeat. The offbeat work is to get us
ready for the syncopation in Caribbean Cruise. This is the most challenging piece of the concert
with the rhythms being the hardest element. In this piece there is a rapid up-down-down bowing
which will be new for everyone. Another right hand skill is switching between arco and pizzicato
quickly; there was preparation for this movement in the first concert, but now it is a much
quicker transition. This is also the only piece that has pizzicato in it, so we will have to include
pizzicato in our warmups to get more time practicing that skill. The fun thing about Caribbean
Cruise is that there is a percussion part that you only need three players for; you can have your
ensemble members volunteer, ask the band director if you can borrow some of their students, or
get the other music teachers involved! The percussion instruments used are bongos, shaker,
cowbell, and clave. The clave and bongos have the most important and isolated sections. Lastly,
the basses do not get any time on the melody like previous pieces played; however, they do get to
play a traditional bass line. Moonlight Tango is in A minor primarily with a few sections in C
major, which builds on the low two fingering. There are dotted rhythms in this piece which will
be new to the students and will be a great introduction into the 6/8 piece they will play next
semester. The character of this piece has two distinct sections with a legato character and a
mysterious rhythmic accompaniment. Students will be able to discuss the contrast of these
characters which will get them listening across the ensemble. We will close our concert with
Fum, Fum, Fum, a traditional Spanish Carole. This piece comes from the Catalonian region of
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Northern Spain. With this we are able to talk about the differences between styles of the pieces in
the concert while staying on theme!

Performance 2 Outline

El Toro: Eighth notes in a fast

¾, quarter notes.
Moonlight Tango: Dotted
Rhythm rhythms in 4/4,
Caribbean Cruise: Ties
Fum, Fum, Fum: Eighth
notes.

El Toro: mostly in the violins,

but some alternating sections
Moonlight Tango: Passed
between 1st and 2nd violin
Melody mostly
Caribbean Cruise: High
strings throughout
Fum, Fum, Fum: Mostly in
the highs

El Toro: Accompaniment
mostly; with some second
Musical Elements violin harmony in places
Moonlight Tango: Arpeggios
in low basses
Harmony Caribbean Cruise: Low
strings have an awesome call
and response to the high
strings.
Fum, Fum, Fum: Low strings
provide steady bass harmony

El Toro: Melody with

“um-pah”s
Moonlight Tango: Lots of
different things going on that
make it really interesting for
Texture each section.
Caribbean Cruise: Percussion
really adds a lot to the piece.
Melody on top.
Fum, Fum, Fum: Very basic
texture
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El Toro: Passionate
Moonlight Tango: Dancing in
the rain
Timbre
Caribbean Cruise: Cruisin’ on
the Seas
Fum, Fum, Fum: Holiday fun

El Toro: Intro, Main Theme,

Cadenza, D.C al coda, coda
Moonlight Tango: Intro
Form
ABCA Coda
Caribbean Cruise:
Fum, Fum, Fum:

El Toro: Solo section for one

student in violin and cello
section. Slow section gives
everyone a chance to be
expressive with legato.
Moonlight Tango: lyrical high
Musical Expression parts with emotional low
parts. Ritardando creates a
tension which releases with a
recap of the beginning.
Caribbean Cruise: Very fun
Fum, Fum, Fum: Holiday
time

Styles/Genres Spanish/ Hispanic

Tangos- 1920s
Historical Periods
[Link],Fum- 16th century

Musical Topics Argentinian

Cultures Caribbean
Spanish
Catalonian Spanish

National Standards

● Dotted Rhythms
Lesson Plans Activities/Sample Lesson ● Ties
Plans ● Arpeggios
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● Pizz to arco quick

Assessments Tools

Sample Lesson Plan of Performance 2

Grade: Second Year Orch. Teacher: Ms. Dominguez Date:

Standards:
MU:Re8.1.E.8a Identify and support interpretations of the expressive intent and meaning of
musical works, citing as evidence the treatment of the elements of music, contexts, and (when
appropriate) the setting of the text.

Materials:
Sheet Music (including remixes)
Pencil, stand, chair
Instrument

Lesson Sequence:
Time/ Objectives Lesson

Entry Activity Warmup

● Tuning sequence
● Scales in G major and C major

Activity 1 Play very short excerpts from each piece

(segway into talking about why they sound
the way they do)
Can we identify what makes these pieces
sound “hispanic”?
Do you know anything about the composers
that wrote these pieces?
None of them grew up or studied the cultures
they wrote about.
Etc.

Activity 2 Presentation about authentic pieces of music

that were written by peoples of that culture.
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Assessment/ Closure

Exit Ticket (written assessment)

Performance 3 “Classy Classicals”

We start our spring semester out with some classical pieces that are essential to play at
some point in the beginning/ intermediate orchestra. The pieces we have for this program are
Toccatina by William Hofeldt (Gr. 2), “Can Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques
Offenbach, arranged by Richard Meyer, and “Badinerie” from Orchestral Suite No. 2 by J.S.
Bach, arranged by Jeremy Woolstenhulme. All three of these pieces cover different time periods
in the western style of music including baroque, romanic, and classical. Toccatina introduces
several new concepts like shifting to second position for cellos, and often use of accidentals. The
difficulty of this piece is evenly spread between sections especially with the consistent driving
motion of the eighths throughout the piece. There will have to be pre teaching lessons planned to
practice second position in the cellos and getting the students comfortable with accidentals at a
fast tempo. We will have a unit about operas which will pair with our performance of “Can
Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld originally composed by Offenbach. In the students first
method book, there is an iteration of “Can Can” that is a benchmark for playing, so bringing this
back will be a good throwback and it will be harder than last time. This piece is in g major and
employs the use of many dynamics, and quick pizzicato. The last piece in the concert is
“Badinerie” from J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2. This is the most challenging piece due to its
cut time, several different slurring patterns, baroque style bowing, and flats in certain parts of the
piece. Luckily though, everyone stays in first position (except basses, but they got it). The
melody of “Badinerie” gets passed around to all sections so everyone (even the violas) get the
melody at some point. There are some extensions in the upper strings that we can teach the
whole orchestra because on the next concert there will be extensions that the cellos will be doing.

Performance 3 Outline

Toccatina: Moving eighth

notes
Rhythm “Can Can”:
“Badinerie”: Cut time,
slurring patterns,
Musical Elements Toccatina: Viola melody.
Passes throughout sections
“Can Can”: All join in during
Melody
the main motif.
“Badinerie”: Passes between
sections
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Toccatina: harmony often in

thrids
“Can Can”: Imitates the
Harmony rhythm of the theme
“Badinerie”: harmonic
statement modulations under
the melody

Toccatina: layering of sound.

Marcato vs legato sections
“Can Can”: light on top,
Texture
support on bottom
“Badinerie”: Busy and much
modulation

Toccatina: Piano like

Timbre “Can Can”: Classic
“Badinerie”: lively energy

Toccatina
“Can Can”: Intro, theme 1,
theme 2, transition, theme 3,
Form
closing theme
“Badinerie”: ABCA
A’C’B’DBA

Toccatina: Driving
momentum
Musical Expression “Can Can”: Lots of dynamic
shifts
“Badinerie”: Fast and furious

Tocata
Styles/Genres Opera
Orchestral Suite

Classical/ Romantic 12th Cen

Musical Topics Historical Periods Eighteenth Cen.
Baroque

Cultures English
German

National Standards
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● Complex slurring
Activities/Sample Lesson passages
Plans ● Cut time
Lesson Plans
● Bb Major (scary)
● Baroque performance
style

Assessments Tools
(Minimum of 1 per objective)

Sample Lesson Plan of Performance 3

Grade: Second Year Orch. Teacher: Ms. Dominguez Date:

Standards:
MU:Pr5.3.E.8a Develop strategies to address technical challenges in a varied repertoire of
music and evaluate their success using feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to
refine performances.

Materials:
Sheet Music (including remixes)
Pencil, stand, chair
Instrument

Lesson Sequence:
Time/ Objectives Lesson

Entry Activity Warmups:

● Tuning Sequence
● Bb Major Scale
Eighth Note Pre teaching
● Slur patterns in eighth notes and in
different keys

Activity 1 Objective: Students will slur eighth Badinerie

notes in Badinerie with 80% accuracy. ● Beginning section working on slurred
eighth notes.
● Start with hooked bow on each section
● More fluid hooked bow
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● Slur bow

Activity 2 Objective: Students will play Can Can

staccato bow in Can Can with 80% accuracy. ● Total shift to staccato bow

Assessment/ Closure

Rubric

Performance 4 “A Peachy Concert!”

A “Peachy Concert” refers to our school mascot/ town we live in: Peach. We are
encompassing all we have learned this year and all the new techniques we have learned for this
last concert of the year. We will have started some of these pieces before the performance of the
previous concert due to the skills we have to learn! Most of the pieces have extensions in them
which are vital for techniques needed for the following year of orchestra. We are also starting to
learn about shifting and vibrato which they all have one of those elements. The pieces on the
program are: Summer Stomp by Dorothy Straub, Night Shift by Richard Meyer, Orange Jam by
Jeffery S. Bishop, and Journey by Karel Butz. Starting with Summer Stomp, this one is going to
be the “easy” piece on the concert as it has the least new concepts and stays consistent
throughout. The unique aspect is the jazzy sound with the addition of several “blues” notes and
some simple slides that give it a bluegrass vibe. Because of these, students will use extensions,
and will need to use varying bow speeds. Since Summer Stomp is less challenging, the students
will have the option to swing the piece/ vary the eighth notes to dotted rhythms. Night Shift and
Orange Jam are the two push pieces that will take the most time and pre teaching with the
students. The main aspect is shifting. In Night shift the violins and violas are the only two
shifting to third position, while the cellos have extensions. In Orange Jam the violins and violas
are shifting to third position again, and the cellos are also shifting to third and fourth position.
The basses have had plenty of shifting experience at this point, so they will join the cellos in the
pre teaching strategies. To maximize time and instruction, I will teach shifting to everyone out of
the context of a piece so that we are able to play Night shift and Orange jam at the same concert
seamlessly. Other considerations for Night Shift are the slur two, bow two eighth notes at a fast
tempo, quick pizzicato to arco, and difficult arpeggios. Dr. Dirks has developed a “Night Shift
Remix” that has all the difficult concepts wrapped up into a unison song that makes things a lot
easier for the students to digest. Other considerations for Orange Jam are double stops,
syncopation, and descending and ascending glissandos. I would create a “Orange Jam Remix” as
well to break up the concepts in this piece. We end with Journey (not meaning it is the last on the
concert), which is our slow and lyrical piece. Because it is very slow, students will have to work
on having a controlled and even bow speed. We will also work on vibrato during this semester
which will be showcased in this piece.
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Performance 4 Outline

Summer Stomp: eighth notes

slurred
Night Shift: Sixteenths, slur
two bow two, & 4 &,
Rhythm Orange Jam: Ostinato rhythm
throughout. Glissandos in one
beat. Syncopation.
Journey- eighth note hooked
bow, two note slurs

Summer Stomp: Passes

throughout
Night Shift: Upper strings
with some shifts
Melody Orange Jam: Passing of
melody
Journey- Two main themes
introduced by the upper
strings

Summer Stomp: Low strings

have arpeggiated chords
Musical Elements underneath
Night Shift: Arpeggios, and
Harmony
string beat accompaniment
Orange Jam: Basses have the
pulse.
Journey- minor key,

Summer Stomp: light

Night Shift: Busy driving
Texture forward
Orange Jam: Full
Journey- Open

Summer Stomp: Jazzy with

blues
Night Shift: Frantic
Timbre
Orange Jam: Groovy
Journey- Slow and
contemplative

Summer Stomp: ABBA’

Form Night Shift:
Orange Jam:AA’BA
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Journey- AA’BA

Summer Stomp: Jazz

Night Shift: super cool and
Musical Expression fun to play
Orange Jam: Rock and Roll
Journey- Slow and lyrical

Styles/Genres Jazz/blues
Eclectic style: rock and roll

Historical Periods
Musical Topics Cultures

National Standards

Activities/Sample Lesson
Lesson Plans
Plans

Assessments Tools
(Minimum of 1 per objective)

Sample Lesson Plan of Performance 4

Grade: Second Year Orch. Teacher: Ms. Dominguez Date:

Standards:
MU:Pr5.3.E.8a Develop strategies to address technical challenges in a varied repertoire of
music and evaluate their success using feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to
refine performances.

Materials:
Sheet Music (including remixes)
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Pencil, stand, chair

Instrument

Lesson Sequence:
Time/ Objectives Lesson

Entry Activity Warmup

● Tuning sequence
● D major scale and B minor scale
Shifting Pre Teaching
● Glissando aural skills game
● Sliding up to fourth position (thumb
on the base of the neck)

Activity 1 Objective: Students will perform Night Shift Remix

shifting/ extensions in Night Shift Remix and ● Beginning section: Shifting in vl, va
Night Shift with 80% Accuracy. and bass; extensions in cl
Excerpt from Night Shift
● Beginning that is similar to the remix

Activity 2 Objective: Students will perform Orange Jam

glissandos in Orange Jam with 80% accuracy. ● Glissandos (get ready for shifting)
● Section with shifting

Assessment/ Closure
Were students able to shift in Night Shift?
Were Students able to glissando in Orange Jam?

Rubric

Assessment

Types to be used:
● Rubric
● Checklist
● Written assessment
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Rubric: Shifting

Developing- 1 Approaching- 2 Meets- 3 Exceeds- 4

Fluid Motion Student does not Student almost Student exhibits Student exhibits
exhibit a exhibits a a standard fluid a beautiful fluid
standard fluid standard fluid motion between motion between
motion between motion between left and right left and right
left and right left and right hands. hands.
hands. There is hands. There is
significant slight hesitation
hesitation.

Intonation Student does not Student almost Student Student

produce a produces a produces a produces a very
quality tone in quality tone in quality tone in high quality tone
shifted position. shifted position. shifted position. in shifted
The pitch is very Pitch is slightly position.
flat or sharp. flat or sharp.

Left Hand Student’s left Student’s left Student’s left Student’s left
Formation hand position is hand position is hand position is hand position is
not correct. correct. Can be correct and correct, relaxed,
more relaxed. relaxed. and flexible.
Total: __/12

Rationale:
There is much gray area in a lot of the concepts being taught in my second year orchestra class
therefore the use of rubrics allows for more accurate assessment of individual students. Students
are also able to receive more specific feedback to improve their practice at home and
performance in rehearsal.

Sources:

ASTA Curriculum: Standards, Goals, and Learning Sequences for Essential Skills and
Knowledge in K-12 String Programs

Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra Volumes 1-4