CORNERSTONE OVERVIEW
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE (Before the Unit)
Even with high school performing ensembles, very few assumptions are made about student’s prior knowledge other than close study experience. Where prior knowledge is needed, the instructional outline itemizes the required concepts in the "Prior Knowledge" section. As teachers progress through this cornerstone’s sequence of lessons, for most of them, they will be able to maintain the normal ensemble rehearsal routines and simply incorporate 1 or 2 extra steps, but teachers should not have to deviate much from the norm. That being said, the only other prior knowledge assumed of this cornerstone is that the ensemble is comprised of a level-appropriate grouping of students who are undertaking the endeavor to rehearse and perform music, and that the group has a baseline set of best-practices, rehearsal procedures and routines, in which students are versed and equipped to participate as fully as their ability will allow.
PLACEMENT WITHIN THE UNIT
Before:
A Close Study should have happened at the very beginning of the school year. The ability to examine a piece of music through listening, analysis, and evaluation are skills that students in performing ensembles should be comfortable with by the start of
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Music teachers and students may become concerned about finding published ensemble repertoire because of a unique instrumentation, availability of desired selections, as well as your preferences of arranging style, rhythmic interpretation, voicing, difficulty, or fit. For these and other reasons you may prefer to create custom arrangements or even original compositions. You may consider some of the following ideas in order to implement custom