Music Education – Content Standards

Louisiana Arts Content Standards (Adopted 5/22/97)

Louisiana educators and citizens collaborated to develop “rigorous and challenging” content standards to prepare students to meet the changing demands of the 21st century. The following document is dated 5/22/1997 and contains the current content standards for music and the other arts.

Content standards were developed for all K-12 Louisiana students, including students with disabilities, gifted and talented students, and linguistically and culturally diverse students. Guidelines are organized according to the four strands of fine arts: dance, theater arts, visual arts, and music. Music begins on p. 64.

Designated content areas within each strand coincide with the four fundamental components of discipline-based art education (DBAE):

  • Creative Expression
  • Aesthetic Perception
  • Historical and Cultural Perception
  • Critical Analysis

Specific benchmarks in each content area are organized by grades: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12.

National Music Standards

The 2014 Music Standards are all about Music Literacy. The standards emphasize conceptual understanding in areas that reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage. The standards cultivate a student’s ability to carry out the three Artistic Processes* of: Creating, Performing, and Responding

*The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, of which NAfME is a part, includes “Connecting” as a fourth Artistic Process. The music standards consider connecting to be embedded in the processes of Creating, Performing, and Responding.

The National Standards (contains multiple links):

2014 Music Standards (PK-8 General Music)
2014 Music Standards (Ensemble)
2014 Music Standards (Composition/Theory)
2014 Music Standards (Music Technology)
2014 Music Standards (Guitar/Keyboard/Harmonizing Instruments)
Context and Explanation of Terminology.  These standards are written in the context of Artistic Processes (with process components), Enduring Understandings, and Essential Questions.
Applying Model Cornerstone Assessments (K-12)
Using Model Cornerstone Assessments (includes samples – approaching standards, meets standards, exceeds standards)
Examples of Model Cornerstone Assessments Approaching Standards (K-12)

Music National Standards Comparison Chart (1994 compared to 2014)

The 1994 National Standards for Music Education are divided into nine (9) content standards and are organized by grade levels: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12.