Unit 2: Perform

Essential Questions:

How do performers select repertoire?

How does understanding the structure and context of musical works inform performance?

How do performers interpret musical works?

How do musicians improve the quality of their performance?

When is a performance judged ready to present?

How do context and the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience response?

Enduring Understandings:

Performers’ interest in and knowledge of musical works, understanding of their own technical skill, and the context for a performance influence the selection of repertoire.

Analyzing creators’ context and how they manipulate elements of music provides insight into their intent and informs performance.

Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of context and expressive intent.

To express their musical ideas, musicians analyze, evaluate, and refine their performance over time through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.

Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time, place, and cultures.

The context and how a work is presented influences the audience response.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

• Perform, alone and with others on an instrument, demonstrating appropriate, well-established playing posture and technique including bow hold, embouchure, hand/finger placement placement, and breath support.

 

• Perform with accurate intonation and attention to pitch accuracy, both independently and within the context of the ensemble.

 

• Perform with rhythmic accuracy, steady beat, and attention to meter including simple, compound, mixed, and asymmetric.

 

• Perform music in varying styles from varying compositional eras and from various cultures. 

 

• Perform two-octave major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales with steady tempo and accurate intonation.

 

• Perform in ensemble with attention to dynamics, blend, and balance, and refined ensemble timbre. 

 

• Perform musically with dynamics, phrasing, style, articulation, and with a high degree of sensitivity to the needs of the piece regarding tone, color, shape, and overall sound.

 

• Perform with appropriate and required articulation including detache, legato, staccato, martele, slurs, accents, with attention to style and score markings and varying bow distribution, tongue placement, use of air, etc. 

 

• Interpret and perform given tempo markings and alterations as notated in their music. 

 

• Perform with desired tone characteristic of the instrument and varying depending upon the needs of the specific work and the desired tone of the ensemble.

 

• Perform accurately and expressively Grade 3/Grade 4 ensemble repertoire. 

 

• Identify and follow conductor’s gestures including preparatory beats, rubato, changes in tempo/meter, cut-offs, phrasing, and all expressive gestures related to dynamics and balance. 

 

• Collaborate with conductors and ensemble mates in order to identify criteria for evaluation, apply feedback and evaluative responses to their work.

 

• Apply and trial rehearsal/practice strategies in order to refine their work, both independently and as an ensemble with attention to accuracy, expressiveness, and effectiveness. 

 

• Use analysis to study the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance.