National level standards offer a base level of expectations and assessment, whereas state level standards are further refined in regard to teaching and learning. Detailed state standards for teaching music, such as the Texas Music Education Teaching Standards, for example, outline specifically what music teachers are expected to know and teach their students. The California State Board of Education specifies learning concepts as artistic perception, creative expression, historical and cultural context, aesthetic valuing and transferability.
According to the Kennedy Center ArtsEdge, students from kindergarten to fourth grade learn music best by doing. This includes singing, playing, performing, creating and responding to music. Because they list the kinds of possible age-appropriate musical activities and expectations, standards help parents learn the kinds of musical activities that should take place at home. These activities can reinforce or enrich a child’s music education.
The golden years in music education usually take place between ages 9 and 11, when age-appropriate music activities can stress music notation, analysis, composing, studying historical context and performing. Elementary school music standards for fifth- and sixth-graders include introducing students to music from outside cultures. During these years, students will study music independently, including practicing on their own. Standards make parents and teachers aware of cases in which music education becomes too one-sided or when students are striving above or below expectations.
Elementary school music standards also make clear how music education works at its best. Outcomes for engaged children reach beyond musicianship, into building focus, confidence, coordination and imagination in the early elementary years. Then, in addition to honing these skills, the teaching aims to build analytical and critical thinking, cultural understanding and abstract thinking in the later elementary years. Standards communicate building blocks, goals, and assessment at this level, for a complete development in music education. All desired outcomes are transferable knowledge to understanding concepts in math, reading, writing, history and science.