Essential Questions

Rotation 2 through 12

5th Grade:

• Why is opera more popular in Europe than in the United States?
• Why do musicals tend to be more accepted in the United States?
• How are Kwanzaa and Hanukkah related? How are they different?
• For Sankta Lucia, why do children wear a crown of candles?
• What is a countermelody? How is it related to harmony?
• How is it possible to sing two different songs at the same time?
• What is calypso music and how is it different than other styles?
• What is syncopation and how is it used in "Mango Walk"?
• Why were spirituals so important during the Civil War?
• How can I create a pentatonic scale?
• How does the style of a piece music affect the way it sounds?
• What different styles were presented using Beethoven's music?
• Why is "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" considered historical fiction?
• Why were Beethoven's later compositions classified as Romantic?
• What makes Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" unique?
• What did Beethoven do to compensate for his hearing loss?
• Who is Ludwig van Beethoven and why is he famous?
• Why are Beethoven's symphonies so memorable?
• What word combinations can I make using the musical alphabet?
• How can I remember the line and space notes in the treble staff?
• Why are vocal warm-ups important?
• Why do musicians separate beat from rhythm?

4th Grade:

• How are music and science related?
• What orchestral instruments can I identify?
• How do phrases help guide us when breathing and singing?
• How are accents different than legato and staccato styles?
• Who is Sergei Prokofiev and why am I studying his "Troika"?
• How can form and phrase make a musical composition predictable?
• Why is balance important when singing a canon?
• What other elements can you add to the performance of a canon?
• Why are canons harder to sing than a song sung in unison?
• Why do we breathe at the end of phrases and not in the middle?
• How can I transfer music notation to playing an instrument?
• What different ways can melodies travel on the staff?
• How can I remember the line and space notes in the treble staff?
• What words can I create using the musical alphabet?
• How can I derive sixteenth rhythms from whole rhythms?
• Who is Georges Bizet? Why was his opera, "Carmen," controversial?
• How can I transfer rhythmic sentences to rhythmic patterns?
• How is a canon different than performing in unison?
• How are fractions and rhythms related?
• What rhythm patterns can I create in a meter of 4?
• How do composers organize the steady beat?
• What different meters can I identify?

3rd Grade:

• Why does the composition "Different Trains" sound strange?
• Why is "Jickety Can" hard to say when using two or more groups?
• How can I identify steps, skips, and leaps when reading music?
• What different cultural traditions are there in December?
• What different ways can I read music notation?
• How do rhythm and melody combine to create a music composition?
• What is the correct technique for holding a mallet?
• How can I transfer music notation to playing an instrument?
• What ways do melodies travel on the staff?
• Why do I have to be careful when removing xylophone bars?
• Why is the staff important when composing music?
• How can I remember the line and space notes in the treble staff?
• How does the length of an instrument affect its pitch?
• How can I use the staff to show pitch?
• How can I transfer poetry to rhythmic patterns?
• What instruments are appropriate to use for half rhythms?
• Who is Franz Joseph Haydn and why is he famous?
• What rhythms can you identify in Haydn's "Surprise Symphony"?
• What rhythm patterns can I create?
• Why is silence an important element in music?
• How can I use the "7 E's" to improve my singing?
• How is rhythm different than the steady beat?

2nd Grade:

• What ways can I classify percussion instruments?
• Why is a xylophone NOT classified in the "wood" family?
• Why is Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" so popular?
• How can I create a pentatonic scale?
• How can I identify someone's voice without using my eyes?
• Why is it important not to disguise my voice when singing alone?
• How can I move "do" around the staff?
• If I move "do" on the staff, where would "so", "mi" and "la" go?
• What melodic patterns can I create using "so", "mi" and "la"?
• How can I combine melody and rhythm to create a song?
• How can I use the staff to show pitch?
• How can I transfer "so" and "mi" to the music staff?
• How can I notate different rhythm patterns?
• What rhythm patterns can I create using what I know?
• Why is silence an important element in music?
• How can words become rhythmic?
• How are quarter rhythms and eighth rhythms different?
• How can I transfer rhythm patterns to words?
• How do I show respect to an instrument?
• How can I use picture notation to read music?
• Why is the steady beat important?
• How does tempo affect the steady beat?

1st Grade:

• What different sounds does the slide whistle make?
• How do the step bells help us hear sounds that go up and down?
• What patterns can I identify in music?
• How can I show these patterns in my musical movement?
• How can a song tell a story?
• What genre of music uses rhythmic speech?
• What different and appropriate ways can I use my voice?
• Why is my "calling voice" inappropriate to use inside?
• When describing soft and loud, what music words should I use?
• When moving around the music room, how do I move loudly? softly?
• Why are soft and loud sounds important to musical contrast?
• How can I show loud and soft sounds using my hands?
• How can I identify long and short sounds?
• How can I write long and short sounds?
• How can I use my body to show how long a sound is?
• What instruments can I use to make short and long sounds?
• What is an appropriate way to move to jazz music?
• How can the steady beat change speeds?
• When moving in space with others, why do I need to be careful?
• What ways can I move to show the steady beat?
• How do I show respect to an instrument?
• Why does the steady beat never change?

Kindergarten:

• How is a roller coaster like a piece of music?
• What animal sounds are high? What sounds are low?
• How does Peter Gamble tell the story of "The Nutcracker"?
• Why did the sugar plum fairy bring the nutcracker to life?
• How should I hold a triangle so that it vibrates freely?
• What changes the sound of an instrument?
• What is a maraca and how do I play it?
• Why should I share and take turns when playing instruments?
• What different and appropriate ways can I use my voice?
• Why should we be careful when using our "calling voice"?
• How can I demonstrate patterns in music by using my body?
• How can I tell a story without using words?
• How can I share the music room space with others?
• What patterns can I find while listening to music?
• How do I use a mallet to play a drum?
• What are appropriate ways to move around the music room?
• How can I show respect to an instrument?
• When using a drum, what is an appropriate way to use my hands?
• Why is the steady beat an important element in music?
• How can I move to show the steady beat?
• How many ways can I say hello?
• How should I behave in music class?