Middle School General Music Curriculum When Your School Gives You None
If you were handed a music room, a bell schedule and three grade levels but no curriculum, Music Complete – Middle School gives you a full year of general music for grades 6–8. It covers listening, theory, music in culture and classroom-friendly creating tasks, with worksheets, slides, activities and answer keys you can download today and teach from on Monday.
See the full curriculum →Music Complete – Middle School is a no-prep general music curriculum for grades 6–8, starting at $149.90 for 50+ resources, with 90+ resource versions at $199.90 and $239.90. It is built for a teacher who has a schedule but no written course. Units cover listening and analysis, notation and rhythm, scales and chords, music in film and media, and composing and performance tasks. Everything is digital, differentiated and comes with answer keys.
The curriculum
Music Complete – Middle School, Grades 6–8
Start with the full curriculum. The other resources below are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Music Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School Music (Grades 6–8)
Music Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for High School Music (Grades 9–12)
Music History & Style Periods Bundle | Baroque, Classical, Romantic & Impressionism | 4 Complete Units | Grades 9–12
Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates)
The real problem
What a blank general music year actually looks like
General music is often the class nobody planned. Band and choir kids have their ensembles; everyone else lands in your room. Some read notation, most do not. Without a curriculum you have to decide, every week, what counts as general music: is this a listening class, a theory class, a history class or a creative one? You also have to decide it three times, because sixth graders and eighth graders cannot do the same thing. The usual result is a patchwork of video days, a recorder unit and a composer poster project that never connects. Sooner or later someone asks what grade 7 learns that grade 6 did not. You need a sequence that moves from rhythm and meter to intervals and chords, from describing what you hear to analyzing form and motifs, and from copying patterns to composing short pieces. Building that alone, while also covering concerts or duty periods, is a full second job.
Why it fits
How the curriculum fills the gap
The content areas map straight onto your three grade levels.
- Listening units on classical, film, pop, rock, jazz and contemporary music give non-ensemble students a way in.
- Theory foundations run from notation and rhythm to scales, intervals, chords and basic harmony in sequence.
- Program vs absolute music and form and motifs give grade 8 analysis that goes past opinion.
- Culture and meaning units connect music to identity, media, film and everyday life.
- Composing, improvising and arranging tasks are written for a classroom, with no ensemble skills required.
- Rubrics, written and performance-based assessments let you explain a grade when a parent or principal asks.
Getting started
Your first two weeks with it
One way to get a working year in place before the first progress report.
- Sort the units by gradeOpen the download and place each unit under grade 6, 7 or 8. Keep the foundations of rhythm and notation in grade 6 and save harmony and form analysis for grade 8.
- Start every grade with listeningUse a listening and describing activity in the first lessons for all three grades. It needs no prior skill and shows you quickly who already reads music and who does not.
- Gather your own recordingsThe curriculum names genres, works and composers but includes no audio. Build a short playlist from your school's streaming access or recordings you already own for the first listening units.
- Pick one creating task per gradeChoose a composing or arranging task for each grade for the end of the first quarter. Students then have a concrete product, and you have something to show at conferences.
- Write a one-page course outlineUse the unit list to draft a short scope for each grade. If someone asks what general music covers in your building, you can hand them something that matches what you teach.
Which version
Which version fits a teacher building from nothing
With no existing material and three grades to cover, the Extended version with 90+ resources at $199.90 is the practical choice. It gives you enough units to keep grade 6, 7 and 8 genuinely different instead of stretching one set across all of them. The Starter version at $149.90 with 50+ resources works if you see students only part of the year or rotate on a short wheel. The Pro version at $239.90 adds Teach-Life-Balance, a digital course with a planner, guides and templates. It helps with your workload and schedule, not with music content, so choose it only if planning time is your real bottleneck.
Honest limits
What it does not do
It does not include audio, video or instruments. You supply recordings, any playback equipment and whatever classroom instruments you have. It is also not a band or choir method, so ensemble rehearsal repertoire is up to you. Check the units against your own state or district music requirements before you publish a course outline. If other music teachers in your school want to use it, send Teach Lessons a short message first. If it turns out not to fit within 7 days, you can exchange it for store credit of equal value. That is store credit, not cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does this curriculum meet my state music standards?
It is written for U.S. middle school classrooms and covers the areas most general music programs expect: listening and analysis, theory, culture and creating. It is not endorsed or adopted by any state, district or standards organization, including the National Core Arts Standards. If your school expects alignment documentation, compare the units against your own state's music standards yourself and note any gaps you need to fill.
My students have never read notation. Can I still use the theory units?
Yes. The theory strand starts with notation, rhythm and meter before moving to scales and intervals, and worksheets are differentiated for mixed-ability classes. With a room of beginners, spend longer on the rhythm and meter material in grade 6 and move to chords and basic harmony once students can read and count simple patterns with confidence.
How do I keep grades 6, 7 and 8 from repeating the same lessons?
The units are designed to build across grades 6–8, so assign the foundations to grade 6, broaden listening and culture topics in grade 7, and use form, motifs and program vs absolute music for deeper analysis in grade 8. The creating tasks can follow the same pattern, from short rhythm compositions to arranging and group presentations.
Can I preview anything before buying?
Yes. The product page has a browser preview of three sample documents: Music in the Orchestra – Instruments, Sound Art & Experimental Music, and Joseph Haydn – Biography & Works. Looking at those three side by side gives you a fair picture of how listening, contemporary and composer material is presented in the full set.
I only have a laptop and a speaker. Is that enough?
For most of it, yes. Listening units need you to play recordings, and slides need a screen. Worksheets work on paper or digitally. Some creating tasks mention digital tools, but composing and arranging also work on paper with body percussion or whatever instruments you have.
What if my principal later hands me a district curriculum?
Keep using the units that cover the same ground. Because units work individually, you can slot listening activities, theory worksheets or assessments into whatever framework you are given. Nothing requires you to teach it as one fixed sequence from start to finish, so it can sit beside a district framework.
Stop building general music from scratch
Open the product page, look through the three sample documents and the list of what is included, and decide whether it covers your year.
See the full curriculum →