High School Block:
Popular Music 110 / 120
Popular Music 110 and Popular Music 120 are sequential Creative Arts courses designed for learners who have successfully completed Music 9 and have skills for an instrument (which may include voice, Digital Audio Workspace (DAW), various instruments, etc.). While not mandatory, successful completion of Civics is encouraged as it will provide learners with the background in historical thinking concepts required to explore and gain understanding of the music industry, its evolution, its impact on society, and its response to events/movements.
Enrollment in Popular Music 120 is only recommended after successful completion of Popular Music 110 or after consultation with the educator about the learners’ experience. Learners may enroll in Popular Music 110 or Popular Music 120 concurrently with any other music, visual art, or dramatic art elective.
People of all backgrounds have always written music about their social and cultural surroundings as well as historical events that influence their lives. Popular Music courses allow learners the opportunity to investigate the ways global events shape popular music and how popular music has, in turn, influenced culture and society. Through their investigations, learners develop a deeper understanding of musical genres and the development of social and cultural trends.
In Popular Music courses, learners examine culture through the elements of music, instrumentation, the role of industry and promoters, artists, and writers. Additionally, learners are expected to create and/or recreate music to demonstrate their understanding of specific characteristics of a particular genre or theme. Differing from other music electives, presentations or performances for Popular Music courses should focus on process rather than product.
The concepts and contexts, strands, big ideas and skill descriptors are, in some instances, the same in both courses. However, skills acquired in Popular Music 110 will be refined in Popular Music 120. Shared achievement indicators will be demonstrated at a higher level of complexity in Popular Music 120.
CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS
Create
Interpret and Curate
- Demonstrating understanding through performance
Literacy
- Developing skill in reading notation
Critical Listening
- Identifying elements of music
Connect
Historical Thinking Concepts
- Changes over time:
- Musical Change
- Societal Change
- Technological Change
Career connections
- Career pathways within the music industry
Communicate
Artistic Intent
- Self-Reflection
- Peer feedback
GRADE 12
Strand: Create
Big Idea: Interpret and Curate
Skill Descriptor: Create/recreate musical examples that are representative of various popular music genres.
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Present a collection of created/recreated examples to highlight the evolution of a specific genre.
- Explain how characteristics of one genre are found in other genres or can be used to create a new genre.
- Justify artistic choices when creating a “mashup” of two or more existing genres.
Big Idea: Literacy
Skill Descriptor: Explore music notation styles associated with popular music.
Global Competencies: CTPS, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Demonstrate improvement in reading various forms of popular notation. (Tab, lead sheets, gamified notation, etc.)
Strand: Connect
Big Idea: Musical Change
Skill Descriptor: Examine the continuity and changes to the purpose of music over time.
Global Competencies: CTPS, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Investigate changes to a specific genre and illustrate those changes over time.
- Discuss the reasons why music has been used for entertainment and for messaging.
- Examine ways in which elements of music have changed and/or remained the same.
Big Idea: Societal Change
Skill Descriptor: Investigate the ways our consumption of music has evolved.
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Distinguish between appropriation and appreciation.
- Discuss ‘identity’ and how it relates to world view and musical preference.
- Select and discuss song lyrics to infer meaning related to specific events or trends.
- Investigate how a particular event in history impacted popular music making (i.e., The Great Depression and swing bands of the 1930s, 9/11 and the rise of patriotic music)
Big Idea: Technological Change
Skill Descriptor: Elaborate on the ways technology has impacted how we create, disseminate, and consume music.
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Discuss how elements of music are changed when amplifying/electrifying instruments.
- Discuss the advantages/disadvantages of evolving industry standards and technology.
- Investigate the ways social media has influenced the dissemination of music.
Big Idea: Career connections
Skill Descriptor: Investigate potential career pathways connected to popular music industry
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Research ways to self-publish.
- Discuss the challenges of being an independent artist.
- Research sound studios and other music organizations based in New Brunswick.
Strand: Communicate
Big Idea: Artistic Intent
Skill Descriptor: Self-Reflection
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Articulate personal artistic intent and justify creative choices in music-making.
- Document musical growth through a portfolio of examples created/recreated
Skill Descriptor: Peer Feedback
Global Competencies: CTPS, ICE, SASM, CL, CM, SGC
Achievement Indicators:
- Use knowledge of elements of music to infer artistic intent of others.
- Using the elements of music, offer genre-specific feedback to peers
