Sweden Mellanstadiet (Year 4-6) Music Syllabus

The Swedish national curriculum for music aims to develop students' ability to participate in musical contexts, both by playing music themselves and by listening to it.

Purpose:

The teaching of music should aim to help students develop knowledge that enables them to participate in musical contexts, both by playing music themselves and by listening to music. It should also provide students with the opportunity to acquire music as a form of expression and means of communication. Through the teaching, students should be given the opportunity to develop knowledge of how to use their voice, musical instruments, digital tools, and musical concepts and symbols in different musical forms and contexts.

Central Content - Years 4-6:

• Performing and Creating Music:
• Singing, melody playing, and accompaniment in ensembles of various genres.
• Ear training based on musical patterns, such as chord progressions, periods, and compositional models.
• Imitation and improvisation with voice and instruments, rhythms, and tones.
• Music creation based on musical patterns and forms, such as chord progressions and bass lines.
• Musical performances.
• Tools of Music:
• Voice care and hearing care during musical activities, such as warm-up exercises.
• Healthy sound levels and different types of hearing protection for music.
• The voice as an instrument for different vocal expressions, such as singing, yodeling, and rap.
• Chord and melody instruments, bass, and percussion for melody and rhythm playing or for accompaniment.
• Rhythm, timbre, dynamics, pitch, tempo, periods, time signatures, verse, and refrain as building blocks for composing music in different genres.
• Music symbols, graphic notation, notes, and chord symbols.
• Digital tools for sound and music creation.
• Music's Contexts and Functions:
• The physical, mental, and emotional impact of sound and music on people in different contexts. How music is used for influence and recreation and in various ritual contexts.
• Words and concepts needed to read, write, and talk about music-making and about impressions and experiences of music.
• Music together with images, text, and dance. How different aesthetic expressions can interact.

Grade Requirements - End of Year 6:

• Performance: Students can participate in group singing and follow rhythm and pitch relatively confidently. They can play most parts of a simple adapted melody, bass, and percussion part, and accompany on a chord instrument, changing chords smoothly. They can also sing or play an instrument with relatively good timing and appropriate expression.
• Creating: Students can create music based on their own musical ideas, using voice, instruments, or digital tools. They can experiment with simple musical patterns and forms and combine them into a composition that mostly works.
• Analysis and Discussion: Students can have developed discussions about their own and others' music-making. They can express themselves in a developed way about their own musical experiences and describe and give examples of how music can affect people. They can distinguish and give examples of musical characteristics from different genres and cultures with relative certainty, and give examples of instruments from different instrument groups with relative certainty.