"World Music Drumming" is a multicultural music curriculum that can address multiple Nevada Academic Content Standards for Music across all grade levels. It can be either embedded in the existing general music curriculum, or offered as an extracurricular group (I have done both). Of great importance: it is COVID-safe. The musical instruments used for World Music Drumming are primarily unpitched percussion, all of which are easily sanitized.
With sufficient equipment, it is feasible for every student to have their own instrument and remain actively engaged, without losing instructional time to sanitize instruments between groups.
In a 5th grade class, some examples of the NVACS that would most benefit from World Music Drumming equipment are MU:Cr.1.5.1 and MU:Cr.1.5.3. Improvisation is embedded into the World Music Drumming curriculum from the very first unit, and an excellent culminating project is for students to create their own group compositions, based on the culturally-authentic techniques and styles they have learned. The equivalent standards in other grade levels can be addressed equally as well, to their appropriate depth. However, those sorts of activities are only possible when all students have an instrument to play.
Besides addressing performance skills, World Music Drumming also provides instruction in non-Western/European musical cultures. The instruction is immersive, in that students actively participate in making music from, or in the style of, multiple West African and Caribbean cultures. The creators of the curriculum take great care to maintain authenticity and cultural sensitivity. Students learn some of the unique musical traditions of the cultures in question, and also learn how those traditions have influenced modern music in the United States.
About my class
"World Music Drumming" is a multicultural music curriculum that can address multiple Nevada Academic Content Standards for Music across all grade levels. It can be either embedded in the existing general music curriculum, or offered as an extracurricular group (I have done both). Of great importance: it is COVID-safe. The musical instruments used for World Music Drumming are primarily unpitched percussion, all of which are easily sanitized.
With sufficient equipment, it is feasible for every student to have their own instrument and remain actively engaged, without losing instructional time to sanitize instruments between groups.
In a 5th grade class, some examples of the NVACS that would most benefit from World Music Drumming equipment are MU:Cr.1.5.1 and MU:Cr.1.5.3. Improvisation is embedded into the World Music Drumming curriculum from the very first unit, and an excellent culminating project is for students to create their own group compositions, based on the culturally-authentic techniques and styles they have learned. The equivalent standards in other grade levels can be addressed equally as well, to their appropriate depth. However, those sorts of activities are only possible when all students have an instrument to play.
Besides addressing performance skills, World Music Drumming also provides instruction in non-Western/European musical cultures. The instruction is immersive, in that students actively participate in making music from, or in the style of, multiple West African and Caribbean cultures. The creators of the curriculum take great care to maintain authenticity and cultural sensitivity. Students learn some of the unique musical traditions of the cultures in question, and also learn how those traditions have influenced modern music in the United States.
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