Study Guide
Overview and Test Objectives
Field 099: Music Education
Test Overview
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Time | 2 hours 30 minutes* |
| Passing Score | 220 |
*Does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial
Test Objectives
| Subarea | Range of Objectives | Approximate Percentage of Questions on Test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Listening Skills | 001–006 | 25% |
| 2 | Music Theory | 007–010 | 16% |
| 3 | Music History | 011–014 | 16% |
| 4 | Music Creation and Performance | 015–018 | 16% |
| 5 | Music Education | 019–024 | 25% |
Hover over each subarea for details of subtest content or see table above.
Sub area 1 25%, Sub area 2 16%, Sub area 3 16%, Sub area 4 16%, and Sub area 5 25%.
Subarea 1—LISTENING SKILLS
Objective 001—Understand the elements of melody in a musical performance.
Includes:
- identifying tonalities and scale types (e.g., pentatonic, blues) and melodic patterns and intervals
- identifying melodic structures (e.g., phrases) and melodic embellishments and devices (e.g., sequence, turn)
Objective 002—Understand the elements of harmony in a musical performance.
Includes:
- identifying harmonic intervals and chord types
- identifying harmonic progressions and cadences
Objective 003—Understand the elements of rhythm and tempo in a musical performance.
Includes:
- identifying meter, meter changes, and rhythmic patterns and devices
- identifying tempo and tempo changes
Objective 004—Understand form, structure, texture, style, and the use of expressive elements in a musical performance.
Includes:
- identifying types (e.g., binary, twelve-bar blues) and components of musical forms (e.g., variation, repetition)
- identifying textural organization (e.g., monophony, homophony, polyphony)
- identifying characteristics of various music styles (e.g., bluegrass, folk, Cajun, gospel, reggae, jazz)
- identifying dynamics, articulation, embellishments, and other expressive terms and symbols
Objective 005—Understand the historical and cultural context and characteristics of a work in a musical performance.
Includes:
- identifying characteristics of European music from major periods (e.g., baroque, romantic)
- identifying characteristics of music of the United States (e.g., jazz, show tunes)
- identifying origins of world musics (e.g., sub-Saharan African, Arabic, Latin, Asian)
Objective 006—Understand the relationship between the written score and the musical performance.
Includes:
- recognizing pitch or rhythmic errors in an instrumental or vocal performance
- recognizing errors in dynamics, phrasing, and articulation
Subarea 2—MUSIC THEORY
Objective 007—Understand the elements of melody.
Includes:
- recognizing melodic intervals and scale types (e.g., modal, minor)
- recognizing melodic structures (e.g., motives, phrases)
- identifying melodic embellishments and devices (e.g., turn, trill)
Objective 008—Understand the elements of harmony.
Includes:
- recognizing harmonic intervals
- identifying key signatures and chords
- analyzing harmonic progressions and cadences (e.g., deceptive, plagal)
- identifying nonharmonic tones (e.g., suspensions, passing tones)
Objective 009—Understand the elements of rhythm and tempo.
Includes:
- identifying note and rest values
- identifying time signatures
- recognizing rhythmic patterns and devices (e.g., syncopation, augmentation)
- identifying expressive terms and symbols
- identifying changes in tempo
Objective 010—Understand form, texture, style, and the use of expressive elements in music.
Includes:
- identifying types (e.g., binary, twelve-bar blues) and components of musical forms (e.g., variation, repetition)
- identifying characteristics of compound forms (e.g., da capo, aria, development, recapitulation, recitative)
- identifying textural organization (e.g., monophony, homophony, polyphony)
- identifying dynamics, articulation, embellishments, and other expressive terms and symbols
Subarea 3—MUSIC HISTORY
Objective 011—Understand the development of European music from the Middle Ages to 1750.
Includes:
- identifying important genres (e.g., mass, madrigal, fugue) and their characteristics (e.g., modal, polyphonic)
- recognizing contributions of important composers (e.g., von Bingen, Palestrina, Bach)
Objective 012—Understand the development of European music from 1750 to the present.
Includes:
- identifying important genres (e.g., opera, symphony, lieder) and their characteristics (impressionist, atonal)
- recognizing contributions of important composers (e.g., Brahms, Debussy, C. Schumann)
Objective 013—Understand the musics in the Americas, including the United States, within their cultural and historical contexts.
Includes:
- identifying important genres (e.g., Native American musics, spirituals, show tunes, mariachi, tango, blues)
- identifying instruments (e.g., maracas, steel drums)
- recognizing contributions of important composers (e.g., Joplin, Copland, Villa-Lobos)
Objective 014—Understand the world musics, including Africa, Asia, and Oceania, within their cultural contexts.
Includes:
- recognizing types, functions, and characteristics of world musics
- identifying techniques and instruments of world musics
- identifying cross-cultural influences of world musics
Subarea 4—MUSIC CREATION AND PERFORMANCE
Objective 015—Understand techniques used in composition, improvisation, arrangement, and adaptation of music.
Includes:
- identifying techniques for composing and music composition (e.g., invention of melodic/rhythmic idea, variation, sequence, repetition)
- for improvising music
- recognizing methods of orchestration
- recognizing ways of arranging music to meet the needs of different instrumental and vocal ensembles
Objective 016—Understand the elements of singing and vocal performance.
Includes:
- identifying processes for developing singing skills
- recognizing stages of healthy vocal development
- recognizing problems encountered in singing and methods for resolving them
Objective 017—Understand instruments and instrumental performance.
Includes:
- identifying types, characteristics, and uses of various instruments
- identifying processes for teaching students to play different instruments
- recognizing standard configurations of instruments for ensembles
- recognizing problems encountered in playing an instrument and methods for resolving them
Objective 018—Understand rehearsal and conducting skills for musical ensembles.
Includes:
- recognizing rehearsal strategies for vocal and instrumental ensembles
- identifying criteria for selecting music for vocal and instrumental performance
- analyzing common beat patterns and expressive techniques used to conduct small and large ensembles
Subarea 5—MUSIC EDUCATION
Objective 019—Understand the professional context of music education.
Includes:
- analyzing how music and music education function within the context of schools, communities, and society
- identifying strategies for promoting the role of music in education and society to colleagues, communities, and policy leaders
- evaluating instructional practices and programs
Objective 020—Understand music pedagogy for general music and performance classes.
Includes:
- recognizing ways to develop units of instruction that are sequential and aligned to Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks
- identifying methods and strategies for teaching students to listen to (e.g., describe, analyze), perform (e.g., read musical notation, make artistic decisions), and create (e.g., improvise, compose, arrange) a diverse and global body of music
- recognizing relationships and connections among the arts, between music and other disciplines, and between music and everyday life
- recognizing ways of teaching students to work independently and collaboratively in solving a variety of musical problems
- identifying ways to articulate music's uniquely expressive qualities
Objective 021—Understand music instruction for all music learners.
Includes:
- identifying knowledge and skills needed to teach diverse students in developmentally appropriate ways in a variety of classroom and ensemble settings
- recognizing ways to plan, deliver, and assess differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all music learners (e.g., students with disabilities, students learning English as a second language, students who are gifted and talented)
- recognizing methods for communicating students' progress and achievement in music to students, their parents/guardians, and the community
Objective 022—Understand the importance of an environment conducive to the learning and performance of music.
Includes:
- recognizing what constitutes safe and effective facilities and environments for vocal and instrumental music instruction, rehearsal, and performance
- identifying strategies for adapting facilities and environments for safe and effective vocal and instrumental music instruction, rehearsal, and performance
- identifying strategies for coordinating staffing, facilities, scheduling, and resources for the music program
Objective 023—Understand the use of technology in music and music education.
Includes:
- recognizing uses of technology for improvisation, composition, arranging, listening, performance, and additional classroom and administrative responsibilities appropriate to music education
Objective 024—Understand careers in music and the profession of a music educator.
Includes:
- identifying career pathways available to students of music and music education
- recognizing interrelationships among various professions and activities that constitute a musical enterprise
- identifying resources and opportunities associated with membership in professional education, music, and music education organizations
- analyzing the application of ethics and laws related to music education (e.g., equity, copyright, inclusion, privacy, confidentiality, reporting suspicions of child abuse)