Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework - November 1999

Massachusetts Arts

Curriculum Framework

November 1999

Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148

Phone 781-338-3000 TTY: N.E.T. Relay 800-439-2370

www.doe.mass.edu

October, 1999

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to present to you the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework that was adopted by the Board of Education in June, 1999. This second edition of the Arts Curriculum Framework presents the new statewide guidelines for learning, teaching, and assessment in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts for the Commonwealth’s public schools. Based on scholarship, sound research, and effective practice, the Framework will enable teachers and administrators to strengthen curriculum and instruction from PreKindergarten through grade 12.

I am proud of the work that has been accomplished. The comments and suggestions received on the first edition of the Arts Curriculum Framework of 1996, as well as comments on subsequent working drafts, have strengthened this new edition. I want to thank everyone who worked with us to create a high quality document that provides challenging learning standards for Massachusetts students.

We will continue to work with schools and districts in implementing the Arts Curriculum Framework over the next several years, and we encourage your comments as you use it. All of the curriculum frameworks are subject to continuous review and improvement, for the benefit of the students of the Commonwealth.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and commitment to achieving the goals of education reform.

Sincerely,

David P. Driscoll, Commissioner

Massachusetts Department of Education

Table of Contents

Overviews: PreK–12 Standards for Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts1

Introduction10

Core Concept11

Guiding Principles12

The Content of the Arts: Strands and Standards17

The Arts Disciplines Strand18

Dance20
Music37
Theatre53
Visual Arts67

Connections Strand: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines87

Appendices

A:Arts in World and United States History 108

World History109

United States History121

B:Assessment Development 129

C:Research on the Arts and Learning 131

D:Opportunities to Learn the Arts: Organizing Materials, Space, and Time 134

E:Improving Arts Education: What Partners Can Do 135

F:Technology Literacy Competencies and the Arts137

References140

Selected Resources: Performing Arts Organizations, Museums, and Bibliography141

Masssachusetts Arts Curriculum FrameworkOctober 1999

Overview

The Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework applies to the study of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.

Core Concept

In dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, people express ideas and emotions that they cannot express in language alone. In order to understand the range and depth of the human imagination, one must have knowledge of the arts.

Guiding Principles

I.An effective arts curriculum provides a sequential program of instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts for all students beginning in preschool and continuing through high school.

II.An effective arts curriculum emphasizes development of students’ skills and understanding of creating, performing, and responding.

III.An effective arts curriculum promotes knowledge and understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of the arts.

IV.An effective arts curriculum uses a variety of assessment methods to evaluate what students know and are able to do.

V.An effective arts curriculum provides opportunities for students to make connections among the arts, with other disciplines within the core curriculum, and with arts resources in the community.

Masssachusetts Arts Curriculum FrameworkOctober 19991

Dance Strands and Standards

STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
The Arts Disciplines
Students learn about and use the symbolic language of dance / PreK–12 STANDARD 1

Movement Elements and Dance Skills

Students will identify and demonstrate movement elements and dance skills.
PreK–12 STANDARD 2
Choreography
Students will create movement compositions based on choreographic principles, processes, and forms.
PreK–12 STANDARD 3
Dance as Expression
Students will demonstrate an understanding of dance as a way to express and communicate meaning.
PreK–12 STANDARD 4
Performance in Dance
Students will rehearse and stage dance works.
PreK–12 STANDARD 5
Critical Response
Students will describe and analyze their own dances and the dances of others using appropriate dance vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

Masssachusetts Arts Curriculum FrameworkOctober 19991

Dance Strands and Standards

STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
Connections: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines
Students learn about the history and criticism of dance, its role in the community, and its links to other disciplines / PreK–12 STANDARD 6
Purposes and Meanings in the Arts
Students will describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and architecture were and are created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings.
PreK–12 STANDARD 7
Roles of Artists in Communities
Students will describe the roles of artists, patrons, cultural organizations, and arts institutions in societies of the past and present.
PreK–12 STANDARD 8
Concepts of Style, Stylistic Influence and Stylistic Change
Students will demonstrate their understanding of styles, stylistic influence, and stylistic change by identifying when and where art works were created, and by analyzing characteristic features of art works from various historical periods, cultures, and genres.
PreK–12 STANDARD 9
Inventions, Technologies, and the Arts
Students will describe and analyze how performing and visual artists use and have used materials, inventions, and technologies in their work.
PreK–12 STANDARD 10
Interdisciplinary Connections
Students will apply their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, foreign languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering.
STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
The Arts Disciplines
Students learn about and use the symbolic language of music / PreK–12 STANDARD 1
Singing
Students will sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
PreK–12 STANDARD 2
Reading and Notation
Students will read music written in standard notation.
PreK–12 STANDARD 3
Playing Instruments
Students will play instruments, alone and with others, to perform a varied repertoire of music.
PreK–12 STANDARD 4
Improvisation and Composition
Students will improvise, compose, and arrange music.
PreK–12 STANDARD 5
Critical Response
Students will describe and analyze their own music and the music of others using appropriate music vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

Music Strands and Standards

STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
Connections: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines
Students learn about the history and criticism of music, its role in the community, and its links to other disciplines / PreK–12 STANDARD 6

Purposes and Meanings in the Arts

Students will describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and architecture were and are created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings.
PreK–12 STANDARD 7
Roles of Artists in Communities
Students will describe the roles of artists, patrons, cultural organizations, and arts institutions in societies of the past and present.
PreK–12 STANDARD 8
Concepts of Style, Stylistic Influence, and Stylistic Change
Students will demonstrate their understanding of styles, stylistic influence, and stylistic change by identifying when and where art works were created, and by analyzing characteristic features of art works from various historical periods, cultures, and genres.
PreK–12 STANDARD 9
Inventions, Technologies, and the Arts
Students will describe and analyze how performing and visual artists use and have used materials, inventions, and technologies in their work.
PreK–12 STANDARD 10
Interdisciplinary Connections
Students will apply their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, foreign languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering.

Music Strands and Standards

Theatre Strands and Standards

STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
The Arts Disciplines
Students learn about and use the symbolic languages of theatre / PreK–12 STANDARD 1
Acting
Students will develop acting skills to portray characters who interact in improvised and scripted scenes.
PreK–12 STANDARD 2
Reading and Writing Scripts
Students will read, analyze, and write dramatic material.
PreK–12 STANDARD 3
Directing
Students will rehearse and stage dramatic works.
PreK–12 STANDARD 4
Technical Theatre
Students will demonstrate skills in using the basic tools, media, and techniques involved in theatrical production.
PreK–12 STANDARD 5
Critical Response
Students will describe and analyze their own theatrical work and the work of others using appropriate theatre vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

Theatre Strands and Standards

Connections: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines
Students learn about the history and criticism of theatre, its role in the community, and its links to other disciplines / PreK–12 STANDARD 6

Purposes and Meanings in the Arts

Visual Arts Strands and Standards

STRAND / PreK–12 STANDARDS
The Arts Disciplines
Students learn about and use the symbolic language of the visual arts. / PreK–12 STANDARD 1
Methods, Materials, and Techniques
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the methods, materials, and techniques unique to the visual arts.
PreK–12 STANDARD 2
Elements and Principles of Design
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the elements and principles of design.
PreK–12 STANDARD 3
Observation, Abstraction, Invention, and Expression
Students will demonstrate their powers of observation, abstraction, invention, and expression in a variety of media, materials, and techniques.
PreK–12 STANDARD 4
Drafting, Revising, and Exhibiting
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the processes of creating and exhibiting artwork: drafts, critique, self-assessment, refinement, and exhibit preparation.
PreK–12 STANDARD 5
Critical Response
Students will describe and analyze their own work and the work of others using appropriate visual arts vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

Visual Arts Strands and Standards

Connections: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines
Students learn about the history and criticism of visual arts and architecture, their role in the community, and their links to other disciplines. / PreK–12 STANDARD 6

Purposes and Meanings in the Arts

Introduction

he Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework sets the expectation that all students in the Commonwealth’s public schools will become proficient in understanding the arts and communicating in at least one arts discipline by the time they graduate from high school. In order to achieve these goals, it is recommended in this framework that students begin their study of the arts in the elementary grades, and continue to study one or more of the arts disciplines throughout middle and high school.

Designed to provide guidance to teachers, administrators, and parents, the Framework is composed of five major sections.

A.The Core Concept presents the essential purpose of making the arts part of each student’s education.

B.The Guiding Principles are the underlying tenets of learning, teaching, and assessment in the discipline.

C.The Strands (The Arts Disciplines: Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts; and Connections: History, Criticism, and Links to Other Disciplines) describe the overall content and skills of learning, teaching, and assessment in the arts.

D.The Standards define what students should know and be able to do by the end of various stages of their arts study. The standards have been designed with three purposes in mind:

to acknowledge the importance of both the content and the skills that students learn as they study the arts;

to help teachers create meaningful curriculum and classroom assessments; and

to serve as the basis for models of district and statewide assessment of student performance in the arts.

E.The Appendices and Selected Resources Sections provide reference materials that support the Standards.

The Arts Framework was conceptualized and written by practicing artists and teachers of the arts from elementary school through higher education. It was designed for use in conjunction with the other Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks in English Language Arts, Foreign Languages, Health, History and Social Science, Mathematics, and Science and Technology/Engineering. Its content parallels that of the federally funded national Standards for the Arts: Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations under the guidance of the National Committee for Standards in the Arts.1

Core Concept

n dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, people express ideas and emotions that they cannot express in language alone. In order to understand the range and depth of the human imagination, one must have knowledge of the arts.

An effective curriculum in the performing and visual arts enables students to:

communicate fluently and effectively in at least one artistic discipline;

apply both imagination and rational thinking to the making of art;

understand the value of reflection and critical judgment in creative work;

present and perform art publicly, with confidence, pride, and distinction;

use artistic literacy as a natural enhancement to learning other subjects;

understand how world cultures have been historically influenced and shaped by the arts; and

understand the ways in which the arts contribute to contemporary life.

The arts — including spoken and written poetry and narrative along with dance, music, theatre, film, visual arts, and architecture — embody memorable and eloquent expressions of human ideas and feelings. Art that is worthy of attention expresses truths about human nature; it crosses frontiers of ethnicity, economic status, and historical tradition. In order to comprehend how artists express meaning, students must acquire literacy in the arts. The term “artistic literacy” means the ability to use and understand symbols and structures of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. Artistic literacy thus complements linguistic literacy, which is the ability to use and understand language.

Writers combine thoughts in ways that are primarily discursive — words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs chosen and arranged in a particular linear order. Visual artists, musicians, composers, choreographers, designers, dancers, and filmmakers, on the other hand, often think and act in non-discursive ways. They express perceptions and ideas through simultaneous combinations of shapes, colors, sounds, and movements for which there are no precise verbal equivalents.2

Arts education broadens students’ thinking about ways of expression and communication, enabling them to create and perform, as well as respond to both historical and contemporary forms. Educators, therefore, should provide artistic experiences, cultural resources, and technologies that range from traditional harmonic scales of color and sound to the domain of cyberspace.

Students of the arts gain knowledge and self-critical awareness, often accompanied by cathartic pleasure. Like the gymnasium, performing and visual arts studios are places where emerging intuitive and intellectual skills can be physically tested. They are places in which students can reflect upon, play with, and remake in their own voices that which they hear, see, and feel in their lives. As they learn to communicate through the arts, students understand why people need more than words alone for eloquent expression.

Guiding Principles

Guiding Principle I

An effective arts curriculum provides a sequential program of instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts for all students beginning in preschool and continuing through high school.

“Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang, except those that sang best.”