Obviously, there are the arts standards. Please, let s not forget that column on the chart. What may not be as obvious is the connection of music to literacy. I have found that music provides a thread, an occasion for interpretation. Musical works are often explicitly mentioned in literature, to make a point or establish a setting, a mood or a character.
Music is used in film to create tension or comment on the action like a Greek chorus.
As students increasingly use multimedia projects to fulfill course requirements, music will be an essential element. Take for example, A Child of Our Time, an oratorio by Sir Michael Tippett. This was his expression of social conscience, inspired by the infamous Kristalnacht pogrom of 1938. He used Go Down, Moses as part of a survey of oppression in the world. The juxtaposition is interesting an African-American song based on the oppression of the Jews in ancient Egypt being used in a piece that comments on the Nazi genocide of the Jews.