Curricula

As regards the curriculum in music, the keyword now is variety. Music classes used to be called “singing lessons”, but this term was officially dropped, and, alongside vocal music, increased importance is now placed on instrumental music, listening to musical performance, physical expression and various forms of creative work.

The number of weekly hours depends on the school. The minimum in grades 1-6 is a total of 6 week-hours, i.e. 1 hour per week per year. Schools are free to decide on the number of weekly hours in any subject, within certain limits. Music classes, which start at grade 3, usually provide 4 hours per week of music teaching. Grades 7 to 9 usually only have 1 week-hour of compulsory music teaching, mostly given in the seventh grade, after which music becomes an elective subject.

In the first four grades, development of the learner’s musical expression through playful and integrating activity is central. The instruction has to give the learners experiences with a variety of sound worlds and music, and encourage them to express themselves and give real form to their own ideas.

In music instruction in the fifth through ninth grades, the musical world and musical experiences are analysed and the learners learn to use musical concepts and notation in conjunction with listening and playing music. The final-assessment criteria for a grade of 8 are:

The learner will

• participate in group singing and know how to sing, following a melody line and with the correct rhythm;
• master, as individuals, the basic technique of some rhythm, melody, or harmony instrument so as to be able to play in an ensemble;
• know how to listen to music and make observations about it, and present justified opinions about what they have heard;
• know how to listen to both their own music and music produced by others, so as to be able to make music together with others;
• recognise, and know how to distinguish between, different genres of music and music of different eras and cultures;
• know the most important Finnish music and musical life;
• know how to use musical concepts in conjunction with making and listening to music;
• know how to use the elements of music as building materials in the development and realization of their musical ideas and thoughts.

After comprehensive school, learners may go on to a music-oriented upper secondary school. There are 11 of these in Finland, one of them Swedish-speaking, with a total of 2,100 learners. Some music-oriented upper secondary schools may offer other programmes such as visual arts. Also, ordinary upper secondary schools may give emphasis to music. The national curriculum allows up to five courses in music, and even more can be provided in exceptional cases. In upper secondary school, at least one 38-hour course in music is given to all learners, after which learners may choose to continue to study music or drop out.