Music

About this course

Seventh grade music has a practical bent. Much of it points toward being useful in a congregation: reading a lead sheet, following a chord chart, transposing a hymn into a key a singer can actually reach, and holding a part in four-part harmony. The theory unit covers key signatures, the circle of fifths, the four triad qualities (major, minor, diminished, augmented), the I-IV-V-I progression, dynamics and articulation, musical form, and chord symbol notation down to what G7, Amaj7, and G/B mean. The singing unit works through posture and breath, warm-ups, head and chest voice, vowels and diction, matching pitch, sight-singing with moveable-do solfege, close study of "Amazing Grace," "How Great Thou Art," and "Be Thou My Vision," and finishes by laying out the SATB voice parts and their ranges and asking your student to sing an alto line against a melody.

Rhythm work covers time signatures, note and rest values, syncopation, polyrhythm, compound and mixed meter, and conducting patterns. Melody work covers clefs, ledger lines, scales, intervals, contour, and how motifs build into phrases. The instrument unit is unusually current -- alongside the orchestral families, the guitar's string names and open chords, and piano basics, there is a full lesson on electronic instruments (electric guitar and bass, synthesizers, digital pianos, Hammond organs, and MIDI) that ends by addressing the question of whether such instruments belong in worship, and answers it by pointing to the heart rather than the hardware. History runs from David and the Psalms through Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, Bach and Handel, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, spirituals and gospel, the hymn writers Watts, Wesley, and Crosby, and modern worship music.

There are 72 lessons in eight units of nine, about 35 minutes each. Units 7 and 8 return to rhythm and pitch and re-teach that ground from a different angle rather than introducing new territory. A lesson is a well-organized reading with bolded terms, worked examples, and a short practice task, followed by a ten-question quiz that grades itself. There is no audio in the course. No instrument is strictly required, but this is the grade where having one changes the experience: the guitar, keyboard, chord chart, and transposition lessons all include a "try this" step that assumes an instrument is within reach, and the part-singing lesson works best with someone to sing the other line.

What the course covers

• Time signatures, note and rest values, and reading rhythm notation
• Syncopation, polyrhythm, compound and mixed meter, and conducting
• Clefs, ledger lines, scales, intervals, and melodic contour
• Motifs, phrases, and how melodies are built
• Vocal technique, sight-singing with solfege, and SATB part-singing
• Key signatures, the circle of fifths, and the four triad qualities
• Chord progressions, lead sheets, chord charts, and transposition
• Guitar chords, keyboard basics, percussion, and electronic instruments
• Church music history from chant and polyphony to modern worship
• Hymn study: Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and Be Thou My Vision

What your student will be able to do

• Read a lead sheet and interpret chord symbols including sevenths and slash chords
• Transpose a melody or chord progression into a new key
• Sight-sing a simple melody using moveable-do solfege
• Sing a harmony part against a melody and name the four SATB ranges
• Build and identify major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads
• Count and conduct rhythms in simple and compound meter

Scope and sequence

All 8 units of Music for Grade 7, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 72 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 72 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.