Alison Geesey Lagan
Music Educator & Choral Conductor

Click here to edit subtitle

GENERAL MUSIC ~ GRADE 8

I taught for 3 years at Mount Nittany Middle School in the State College Area School District, where I was the general music teacher for all 8th grade students.  Music and art are team classes at MNMS, meaning I had the opportunity to teach all 8th graders for a semester-long class.  In Music 8, we spent half of our time in my regular classroom focusing on music history and general musicianship skills; the rest of our time was spent in the keyboard lab, where we learned basic piano skills and composition foundations and techniques.

Keyboard Lab Curriculum

  • Basic RH/LH C Position
  • Identifying notes in Treble and Bass Clefs
  • LH Chords: C, G7, F, d minor
  • Accidentals and playing outside the 5-finger C Position
  • Composition Projects and discussions of form
  • Incorporation of technology with use of NoteFlight & notation software


Packets, lesson plans, and materials available upon request.

-

Music History Curriculum

  • Classical Period
    • Haydn, Surprise Symphony
    • Mozart, Requiem
    • Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
  • Romantic Period
    • Schubert, The Erlking, and Basics of Art Songs
    • Chopin, Winter Wind
    • Bizet, Carmen, and Basics of Opera
    • Dvorak, Slavonic Dances
  • 20th Century
    • Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faune
    • Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire
    • Stravinsky, Firebird and Rite of Spring
    • Ives, Variations on America
    • Copland, Appalachian Spring
  • The Beatles (unit created and implemented by Alison)
    • Formation of the Band
    • Member Biographies
    • Song Analyses
    • Class Singing of Beatles Hits