Whether you love music, want to play piano or keyboard for your family and friends, or desire to be a music star, this course is a great place to start. No prior music experience is needed. You will learn the fundamentals of music and the basic skills necessary to play a wide variety of music styles. Your teaching guide will take you through each step of this journey towards becoming a skilled pianist and musician. Let's get started!
Prerequisites: None
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
- Define and recognize the basic elements of music: beat, rhythm, meter, pitch, dynamics, duration, and timbre.
- Read and play music on the grand staff using a variety of time signatures, dynamics, tempos, and intervals.
- Read and play music using the C major five-finger scale and improvise, read, and play music using the C major five-finger scale in the higher octave.
- Identify F and G on the treble clef staff.
- Understand new music terms and symbols: D.C. al Fine and fermata.
- Read and play music using the interval of a sixth.
- Play music using new dynamic markings: crescendo and diminuendo.
- Identify changes in dynamics in music by listening.
- Read and play music using an expanded range of notes.
- Understand the many roles of music in society.
- Describe common styles of music.
- Identify ways people relate to music.
Course Outline:
Module 5: Improving Your Reading Skills
Module 6: Building on Your Skills
Module 7: Moving Around the Keyboard
Module 8: Encore!
Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.
Additional Costs:Students will need a functioning keyboard instrument (acoustic or electronic) and a way to record and submit a video performance to your instructor. Common types of acoustic keyboard instruments include upright pianos and grand pianos. The sound is produced by hammers striking the strings, which happens whenever you press a key. The keys on acoustic pianos are touch-sensitive so that when you press the keys lightly, you produce a soft sound, and when you press the keys heavily, you produce a louder sound. Standard-size pianos have 88 keys, but the number of keys may vary from piano to piano. Acoustic pianos may require occasional tuning by a piano technician.
Common types of electronic keyboard instruments include digital pianos and electric keyboards. A digital piano is designed to feel—and sound like—an acoustic piano, having the same number of touch-sensitive keys. An electric keyboard may or may not have touch-sensitive keys and usually has fewer keys and more sound effects than a digital piano.
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Assessments can be in the form of video performances, self-checks, multiple choice questions, essay writing, small projects, discussion-based assessments, collaborative assignments and numerous strategies for practicing, performing, analyzing, and composing music. Instructors evaluate progress and provide interventions through the variety of assessments built into a course, as well as through contact with the student in other venues. Students will need a means of video recording themselves and sharing a the video file or link to the recording for instructors to view.
Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:
- Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
- Download and install software
- Use a messaging service similar to email
- Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
- Open attachments shared in messages
- Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
- Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Save a file as a .pdf
- Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
- Insert images or links into a file or html editor
- Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
- Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
- Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
- Use presentation and graphics programs
- Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
- Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
- Create and maintain usernames and passwords
Additional Information:Students will need a functioning keyboard instrument (acoustic or electronic) and a way to record and submit a video performance to your instructor. Please see the “Additional Costs” section above for additional details on acceptable instrument options.