In the Zone
The Full Curriculum
for Musical Excellence 

Each unit begins with a student practice check page. This is where the student records what they have completed in the unit.

We have included teacher check-off pages to help teachers with multiple classes keep track of class progress.

Skill Builders help the student develop the basic skills needed to succeed as a

musician.

Objective: To develop tone quality

• Focus on a relaxed and steady tone

• Develop proper breath support

Objective: To build embouchure and flexibility

• Focus on a consistent sound between notes

• Visualize the sound going straight rather than up and down to avoid excessive movement

Objective: To learn new notes and musical patterns

• Say the note names with a steady beat

• Play from memory

Objective: To coordinate the tongue and fingers

• Start slow and increase speed

• Maintain accuracy as you gain speed

Objective: To listen for proper blend and balance

• Apply quality tone to ensemble playing

• Listen for other parts

• Develop a sensitivity to balance and blend within a section and between parts

Each unit contains a theory lesson in each of the following areas. Each topic is reviewed and progresses through 10 levels to ensure optimum retention.

There is a note identification worksheet that specifically targets the notes used in the current unit. This is a great way for the student to review and demonstrate their ability to identify notes.

The ability to visualize a keyboard can be very helpful in many areas of music. This section starts out with identifying the white keys. It progresses through the sharps and flats and covers enharmonic names for each note.

The key signature lessons start by learning the order of sharps and flats. The lessons progress to properly identifying key signatures and applying accidentals to notes

altered by the key signature.

Students see music notation on the page but there is a deeper understanding of how music is notated when students write it themselves. Keep high standards for your students in this area. Make sure they are paying attention to detail with their notation. You can learn a lot about their understanding of music by observing their notation.

We have included basic exercises to help students understand different time

signatures. They learn to determine how many beats are in a measure, what kind of note gets a beat, and how to put together different combinations of notes and rests to fill a measure in a given time signature.

Learning to transpose is necessary for students playing transposing instruments. We have developed a system where everyone learns to transpose for all instruments. This

helps everyone better understand how music works and helps prepare students to write music for any instrument.

Proper use of dynamics is key to a great performance. We want students to be aware of them and make it part of their sight reading. Exercises are presented in different forms to ensure student comprehension.

We start by making students aware of the musical alphabet and the fact that there is one of each letter in a basic scale. We progress along with key signatures, to a point where students can write out a scale when given only the corresponding key signature.

Each unit reviews basic terms and symbols so that the student will recognize them in a piece of music and will know what they represent. Isolating these terms and symbols makes learning them less intimidating than while trying to read notes, count rhythms, and get proper fingerings.

We have included rounds and trios to help students develop independence. Please feel free to be creative in dividing your group into the different parts.

Each unit contains songs that consist of the notes, rhythms, key signatures, etc. that have been presented in the unit.

Students put together what they have learned in the unit and write a composition of

their own. If a student can write their own piece they demonstrate a true understanding

of the concepts they have been studying.

Starting with unit 3, a composer is highlighted in each unit. There is a short biographical section followed by some questions to ensure student understanding. We have included a composition by the composer so the students can associate the work with the composer.