The installment in the My Music Journal, designed for Sixth Grade students, will expand on the material learned in all previous textbooks to continue the students’ musical education throughout grade six. The material in this textbook will continue where the Fifth Grade installment ends and will continue to teach new material based on the students’ previous music education up to that point, providing a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare middle school students for the next phases of their music education and achievements. Students will develop knowledge and skills related to the elements of music, the principles of performance, the connection of music to history and culture, and music’s many interdisciplinary connections. Students will expand upon their previously learned knowledge of time signatures, meters, and mixed meters in this textbook. Students will continue to study triplets, tied notes, dotted rhythms, syncopation. Students will learn to recognize diatonic intervals when reading music and identify notes written on the treble staff and the bass staff. Students will learn to recognize the repeated tones, leaps, and steps in a listening selection and a score. Students will continue to learn to perform a musical selection, solo or with a group, in the appropriate tempo markings like andante, moderato, allegro, presto, ritardando, accelerando. Students will explore various classroom instruments in this course, including recorder, guitar, and electric keyboard. Students will learn to describe the dynamics in a listening selection using the correct musical language. The concepts of harmony and tone will be expanded upon with students engaging in topics such as thick and thin textures, unison and harmony, new vocabulary like ostinato, partner songs, descants, counter-melodies, and rounds, and various chord patterns. Finally, students will continue their education of different musical styles, engaging in various musical pieces from different cultures and periods and comparing and contrasting these different types of music. Students will listen to the music of various styles, historical periods, and cultures and discuss how elements and expressive qualities determine the style of the music.

Teacher and student follow the same textbook. The teacher receives also Curriculum Outline and Assessments for My Music Journal - Music Teaching Method for Sixth Grade.

My Music Journal Teaching Method for Sixth Grade will teach the following:

Concept: Rhythm
The student will:
•create examples of measures in a variety of meters
•recognize and perform: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 2/2, syncopation and dotted rhythms
•listen to music in mixed meters and indicate changes in meter
•listen to and experience a score in mixed meters and perform the rhythm patterns
•recognize and perform patterns including sixteenth notes
•read, create, and perform ostinato
•continue to recognize and perform triplets, tied notes, and slurs
•compare metered and unmetered music in various historical periods
•create a rhythm pattern appropriate to a style

Concept: Melody
The student will:
•recognize a phrase end
•recognize the repeated tones, leaps, and steps in a listening selection and in a score
•play the chromatic scale on classroom instrument
•describe the tonality as major/minor in a variety of listening selections
• identify and perform a major and minor scale using the appropriate patterns
•identify, construct, and perform the pentatonic scale as a review
•review key signature, bass clef, and accidentals

Concept: Tone Color
The student will:
•continue to name and categorize musical instruments
•listen to and compare various keyboard instruments
•describe how sound is produced by the keyboard instruments
•distinguish between heavier/lighter vocal tone color
•identify changed and unchanged voices
•review soprano, alto, tenor, and bass
•listen to an example of a baritone voice

Concept: Tempo
The student will:
• perform a musical selection, solo or with a group, in the appropriate tempo
• read the tempo marking in a score: andante, moderato, allegro, presto, ritardando,accelerando
• perform rhythmic body movement, with accompaniment, in the appropriate tempo

Concept: Dynamics
The student will:
•describe the dynamics in a listening selection using the correct musical language
•review the dynamic marking in a score to perform the piece appropriately
•review and define accent symbols
•incorporate accents into the performance of a piece

Concept: Form
The student will:
•listen to and draw examples of the theme and variations form and rondo form
•describe changes in the theme with each variation
•identify and describe composite forms: opera, operetta, musical theater, concerto, and oratorio
•identify the use of a motif in a listening selection

Concept: Harmony/Texture
The student will:
•discuss the texture in a variety of listening selections
•recognize major/minor chords
•construct triads and other chords in writing or on classroom instruments
•experiment with chord progressions to compose simple accompaniments
•perform examples of various types of texture: ostinati, partner songs, descants, countermelodies, rounds, and two-part harmony

Concept: Style
The student will:
•listen to the music of various styles, historical periods, and cultures
•discuss how elements and expressive qualities determine the style of the music
•begin to study music in its historical setting
•listen to and identify music of great composer

Apollo Publishing has 9 music textbooks for each grade level, K-8. Each grade level is Teacher and Student edition. Teacher and student follow the same textbook. In addition teacher receives Curriculum Outline and Assessments for each grade level.