Music Performance and Production (AMU3O) with David

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David Spencer's Education Paragon is a free educational resource portal helping David Spencer's secondary school students, their parents and teaching colleagues with understanding, designing, applying and delivering assessment, curriculum, educational resources, evaluation and literacy skills accurately and effectively. This wiki features educational resources for Indigenous Aboriginal education, field trips for educators, law and justice education, music education and outdoor, environmental and experiential education. Since our web site launch on September 27, 2006, online site statistics and web rankings indicate there are currently 1,888 pages and 20,185,651 page views using 7.85 Gig of bandwidth per month. Pages are written, edited, published and hosted by Brampton, Ontario, Canada based educator David Spencer. On social media, you may find David as @DavidSpencerEdu on Twitter, as DavidSpencerdotca on Linkedin.com and DavidSpencer on Prezi. Please send your accolades, feedback and resource suggestions to David Spencer. Share on social media with the hashtag #EducationParagon. Thank you for visiting. You may contact David Spencer here.

The following resources are helpful to parents and teachers:

  1. Book: Supporting Successful Transition from Primary to Secondary School by Tina Rae (2014)
  2. Book: Book: Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv (2008)
  3. Book: Digital Tools for Teaching: 30 E-tools for Collaborating, Creating, and Publishing across the Curriculum by Steve Johnson (2013)
  4. DVD video: Canadian Popular Music in the '60's, '70's & '80's by EMI Music Canada (2012)
  5. DVD video: Canada: A People's History produced by Mark Starowicz (2001).
  6. Book: Fire in the Bones: Bill Mason and the Canadian Canoeing Tradition by James Raffan (1999)


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The shortcut to AMU3MO Music is http://music.davidspencer.ca
Course Description | Culmintating Unit (CU) | CU Topics | Course Units | Field Trip
Bass Guitar | Guitar | Piano | Resources| | Music Theory

Please NOTE. This course was posted in 2010 and is now out of date. Please contact your school curriculum head, curriculum coordinator at your school board and Ontario Music Educators’ Association (OMEA) for help to develop your Music (AMU3O) course.

Music Performance and Production (AMU3O) with David

  • Course Description This course develops students’ artistic knowledge and skills through the performance of music and the preparation of music productions. Students will perform appropriate works, particularly works in contemporary popular styles. Independently and in groups, they will also plan, market, and produce music productions, making use of appropriate technology, and will evaluate the results.
  • Prerequisite: Music, Grade 9 or 10, Open
  • Overall Expectations: By the end of this course, students will:
    • demonstrate an understanding of the elements of music as they are used in contemporary popular styles;
    • demonstrate an understanding of basic elements of arts project management;
    • identify technological tools that are necessary in organizing and presenting a music production, and explain their use.

The following are some of the resources used by educator David Spencer with his students who are studying AMU3O Music. This list is dynamic and constantly changed and updated as time permits. Many in class theory, teaching, performance and assessment components are not shown on the following list. If you have suggestions or questions about this page, please contact educator David Spencer.

Unit 1: Introduction to Music

Explore the following music resources:

Unit 2: Elements of Music and Music Theory

  1. Music Theory Package (printed)
  • Elements of music:
    Dynamics - the degree of loudness or softness of a piece of music. It also indicates whether there is a change in volume
    Form - the structure of a particular piece, how its parts are put together to make the whole.
    Harmony - the relationship between two or more simultaneous pitches or pitch simultaneities. The chord progression affects the key signature. Harmony accompanies and supports the melody.
    Melody - a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit. It is a single line of tones that moves up, down, or stays the same using steps, skips and repeated tones. Melody is what our brain tries to follow.
    Rhythm - the variation of the accentuation of sounds and silences over time.
    Timbre - the quality of a sound, determined by the fundamental and its spectra: overtones or harmonics and envelope, and varies between voices and types and kinds of musical instruments.
    Tempo - The speed the notes are played in a particular piece of music. Describes how fast or slow music is played.
  • Aspects of sound:
    intensity - also called dynamics. How loud or softly a sound is played and includes how stressed a sound is or articulated.
    pitch - the perception of the frequency of the sound described as "low" or "high".
    duration - the temporal aspect of music; time. It includes: pulse, beat, rhythm, rhythmic density, meter, tempo
  • Secondary aspects of music
    Aesthetics - How the music affects you emotionally. An upbeat tune may make you joyful, while a slow song in minor key may make you feel lonely and depressed
    Structure - The motive, subphrase, phrase, phrase group, period, section, exposition, repetition, variation, development, and other formal units and textural continuity.
    Style - What distinguishes an individual composer or group, period, genre, region, or manner of performance from others.
    Texture - The interaction of temporal and pitch elements. It includes: homophony, polyphony, heterophony, and simultaneity.

    Source: Owen, Harold (2000). Music Theory Resource Book. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511539-2.
  1. To apply some of the above elements of music, we will be introduced to the djembe. For inspiration watch videos on "djembe lesson for beginners".


Unit 3: Culminating Unit for a Music Genre

  1. CU Topics for Music
  2. CU Work Log

Unit 4: Acoustic Guitar

  1. Introduction to acoustic guitar.
  2. Learn Guitar Chords with these videos.


Our Song List for Guitar

Our March 2015 Music Class would like to learn the following songs for guitar:

  1. "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  2. "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  3. "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  4. "Lean On Me" performed by Bill Withers. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  5. "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  6. "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Ari
  7. "By Your Side" by ?. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Shenisha.
  8. "Give in to Me" by Michael Jackson. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Isaiah.
  9. "Going Back to California" by Led Zepplin. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Matthew.
  10. "Blackbird" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  11. "Another Bottle Down" by Asking Alexandria from the Album Reckless & Relentless. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Jeremy.
  12. "Don't Go" by Bring Me the Horizon. Suggested by Jeremy.
  13. "Be There" by Joseph Vincent. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Kevin.

Unit 5: Bass Guitar

  1. Introduction to bass guitar.



Unit 6: Keyboard and Piano

  1. Introduction to keyboard.
  2. Outline the purpose and value of printed, smartphone app and web resources for learning the keyboard musical instrument such as:
    a) Keyboard Magazine
  3. Introduction to accordion. For inspiration watch the Accordion Shredding Video
  4. Introduction to harmonica.

Our Song List for Keyboard

  1. Watch the Youtube video playlist of 50 Best Classic Rock Songs or 50 ultimate classic rock songs. Select five (5) of your favourites and provide two reasons why for each. Then find the lyrics, chords for one song and learn it on guitar or keyboard. Application __/20 marks
  2. Watch the Youtube video playlist of 100 best folk and pop songs. Select five (5) of your favourites and provide two reasons why for each. Then find the lyrics, chords for one song and learn it on guitar or keyboard. Application __/20 marks


Select one song from the list below, find the sheet music and learn the song for the keyboard:

  1. "Happy Birthday to You" Melody comes from the song "Good Morning to All" by American siblings Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video.
  2. "Imagine" by John Lennon. See the history, lyrics, sheet nusic and video.
  3. "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Allan.
  4. "Ode to Joy" from the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Breanna.
  5. "River Flows in You" by Yiruma. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Breanna.
  6. "Limelight" by Rush with (Geddy Lee). See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Mark.
  7. "Endless Love" by ?. Sung by Jackie Chan and Kim Hee Ciseon. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Richy.
  8. "Lie to Me" by George. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Shenisha.
  9. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Jeremy.
  10. "How to Save A Life" by The Fray. See the history, lyrics, sheet music and video. Suggested by Kevin.

Unit 7: Music Industry and Careers

  1. Watch the documentary film and write jot notes about background singers of famous pop and rock music bands. Watch Twenty Feet from Stardom and watch the interviews with the film director and crew after the Sundance Film Festival. View the IMDB listing. The full film is available from your local library. C= __/20 marks
  2. MusicBrainz What is it? How can it help you?
  3. What music streaming pays the artist.
  4. Copyright and music royalties.
  5. Music Industry Field Trip

Field Trip to downtown, Toronto, Ontario to see:

  • The Nstional Film Board of Canada (NFB)
  • MuchMusic, Bravo, FashionTelevision and E-Talk
  • Stroll along Canada's Walk of Fame on King Street
  • a vinyl record store on Queen Street West
  • street musicians and buskers
  • Lunch in the food courtyard of The Eaton's Centre
  • CFNY 102.1 FM Younge Street studio


Careers in Music, Performance and Recording. The following resources are from the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) .

Unit 8: Lyrics and Song Writing

  1. Read and summarize the article "Why is the average pop song only 3 minutes long?" C=__/10
  2. Outline the purpose and value of publishing rights organizations such as:
    a) ASCAP: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
    b) BMI: Broadcast Music, Incorporated
    c) SOCAN: Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
  3. Outline the purpose and value of performance rights organizations such as:
    a) American Federation of Musicians and the local branches such as the Toronto Musicians' Union
  4. Songs You Should Know Make jot notes on the following songs indicating the following:
    a) Song Title
    b) composers/writers
    c) year written
    d) name of performing artist
    e) a summary of the lyric story or message
    f) Aesthetics of the music. How does it make you feel?


Song #1:"Peace Train" written in 1971 and performed hear by Cat Stevens in 1976. Lyrics. History of the song. Buy the song. See more lyrics by Cat Stevens.

Song #2:"This Land is Your Land" written by Woody Guthry and sung by The Travellers in 1967. Lyrics. History of the song. Buy the song.

Song #3: "Stand By Me" performed by Playing for Change. "Stand by Me" was written by Ben E. King in 1960.

Song #4: "One Love" performed by Playing for Change. "One Love" was written by Bob Marley. Lyrics. History of the song.

Song #5: "Imagine" performed by Playing for Change. "Imagine" was written by John Lennon. Lyrics. History of the song.

Thinking __/30 marks

See the lyrics for other guitar players who write lyrics and music.


  • See David's music related YouTube Playlist (coming soon)


Live Performances

  1. "Twist And Shout" by The Beatles in Washington 1964
  2. Beatlemania in Manchester, England
  3. Earliest recording of the Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1962.
  4. Freddie Mercury at Live Aid 1985. He sand a number of Queen's hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975) history, "This Thing Called Love" and "We are the Champions" during Live Aid Wembley Stadium in England, 13th July, 1985

Unit 9: Live Concert Performance

We are planning a live concert. The concert will be in our classroom at our school. Other students and staff at our school will be invited.

  1. "Hotel California" by the Eagles (vocals-?, bass guitar-?)
  2. "Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead
  3. Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison ( - Bass, - Guitar, - Guitar)
  4. House of the Rising Sun by The Animals
  5. Numb by Linkin Park
  6. Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
  7. Sound of Silence by Paul Simon
  8. Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix


Unit 10: Digital Music Recording

Digital Music recording.
Using digital music software, compose and record a piece of music. The music you record and create could be a cover tune or an original creation. Make sure your piece of music has:

  • at least three (3) tracks
  • a length of at least 1 minute


Music and Video Mixing
Learn the creative process for "Pop Danthology 2014" by #Canadian @canadankim editing with @MixedInKey + @LogicStudioPro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQYqX50xwHs

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