A Semester-Long Middle School Music Curriculum
If music at your middle school is an 18-week elective, Music Complete – Middle School lets you build a full semester from a larger Grades 6–8 unit bank. Choose the listening, theory, culture and creating units that fit your semester, teach them in order, and keep the rest for the next group or a second semester.
See the full curriculum →Music Complete – Middle School, from $149.90, can be shaped into an 18-week elective. Its units cover listening and analysis, theory foundations, music and culture, and creating and presenting, and they can be taught individually or in sequence. Semester teachers pick a subset that fits the calendar and use the included review activities, assessments and rubrics for grading. You bring the recordings.
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
Too long for a sampler, too short for everything
A semester elective sits in an awkward middle. It is long enough that students expect real progress, from knowing nothing about notation in August to writing a short piece by December. It is too short to cover everything a year-long course would. The choices are hard: how much theory before students lose patience, whether music history gets two weeks or six, and whether there is room for a composing project once you have taught enough theory to make it work. Electives also draw a mixed crowd. Some students picked music because they love it, some because it was the only open slot, and a few are in your choir already. Then the semester ends and a new group starts in January, possibly with kids who took the fall section and want something different. Without a plan, the second half of a semester tends to fill with movies and catch-up days. A strong elective has a clear arc with a beginning, a build and a finished piece of work.
Why it fits
Shaping an 18-week arc from the units
The curriculum gives you more units than one semester needs, which is the point: you choose the arc.
- Units work individually, so you can pick a sequence that fits exactly 18 weeks.
- Theory foundations move from notation and rhythm to scales, intervals and chords.
- Listening units on film, pop, jazz and classical keep the elective appealing to mixed groups.
- Composing and arranging tasks give the semester a project students can finish.
- Differentiated worksheets handle the elective mix of choir kids and total beginners.
- Unused units become a second semester or a fresh set for spring students.
Getting started
One way to lay out the semester
This is a suggested arc, not a calendar that comes in the product. Adjust the lengths to your school's schedule.
- Weeks 1–3: listening firstStart with listening and describing music across genres. Students build vocabulary for tempo, dynamics and form, and you learn who already reads music and who does not.
- Weeks 4–8: theory foundationsTeach notation, rhythm, meter and scales. Keep each lesson tied to a recording so theory always explains something students have just heard. Five weeks is a suggestion, not a rule.
- Weeks 9–11: music and meaningUse units on music in film, media and identity. This middle stretch is where mixed electives tend to sag, and familiar music keeps attention up.
- Weeks 12–16: create somethingMove into composing or arranging. Students use the theory they learned to write short pieces, alone or in groups, with digital tools if your school has them.
- Weeks 17–18: present and assessFinish with presentations and a written assessment using the included rubrics. Every student leaves with a finished piece of work and a grade based on it.
Which version
Which version for a semester course
For one semester taught once a year, the Starter version at $149.90 with 50+ resources gives you more than 18 weeks of material. If you teach the elective both semesters and want the fall and spring groups to get different units, choose the Extended version at $199.90 with 90+ resources. The Pro version at $239.90 adds Teach-Life-Balance, a separate time-saving course with a planner, guides and templates for your own workload; it does not add music units.
Honest limits
Before you commit
The product does not include an 18-week pacing calendar, so selecting units is your job. No audio or video comes with it; you supply recordings. Composing with digital tools depends on the devices your school provides. Although written for U.S. middle school classrooms, it should still be checked against your state or district requirements. Team or school use needs a short message to Teach Lessons first. If it is not a fit, exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value. That credit replaces a cash refund.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does it align with music standards?
It makes no claim of alignment with, or endorsement by, any state standards or the National Core Arts Standards. It is written for U.S. middle school classrooms. A semester elective covers only part of a full program, so check your chosen units against your state or district requirements and note any gaps you want to cover yourself.
Can I really fit it into one semester?
Not all of it, and you should not try. The curriculum has more units than 18 weeks can hold. You select a subset that moves from listening to theory to creating. The rest stays available for another semester or another grade level. Most of the planning work happens once, before the semester starts.
What if students take the elective twice?
Plan a second set of units for them. Because the content spans Grades 6–8 and builds across grades, a returning student can meet new repertoire and more advanced theory, such as chords and basic harmony, instead of repeating the first semester. Keep a record of which units each section used.
How do I grade an elective fairly?
The curriculum includes review activities, written and performance-based assessments, and rubrics. Combining a final project with a few shorter checks during the semester gives you a grade that reflects real work, which helps when electives get questioned at report card time. Students also know from day one what the final project asks of them.
Can I preview the content before buying?
Yes. You can open three sample documents in your browser from the product page: Music in the Orchestra – Instruments, Sound Art & Experimental Music, and Joseph Haydn – Biography & Works. They show the style and level of the materials. Comparing them with your elective plan takes a few minutes and answers most questions about difficulty.
Is there a high school version for an elective too?
Music Complete – High School covers Grades 9–12 and starts at $149.90. It goes deeper into harmony, texture and harmonic progressions. If your school runs both a middle and a high school elective, code TEACHMORE15 gives 15% off two or more Complete Curriculum packages. The two layouts match.
Give your elective a real beginning and end
Open the product page, look at the sample documents, and start picking your 18 weeks.
See the full curriculum →