Statement of Purpose

The Curriculum Committee supports the implementation of the New York State Learning Standards for the Arts in all areas of music education. It provides guidance and resources for curricula that are innovative, relevant, robust, representative, and responsive to a diverse population of students.

Curriculum Committee Members – Meet our Team!

Nikki Cole, Bath-Haverling Central School District
Dennis Creighton, Shoreham-Wading Central School District
Dr. Deborah Cunningham, Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District
Dr. Susan A. Davis, Queens College – Committee Chair
Matt Gayle, Potsdam Central School District
Dr. Rich Tilley, Nazareth University of Rochester
Gary West, White Plains Central School District

Join us at NYSSMA’s 90th Winter Conference

Save the date! December 3-6, 2026

Info for session presenters and attendees is coming soon!

Current Projects

Lesson Plan Templates (generate lesson plans for personal use)

Click on one of the template forms below to design a lesson plan for your classroom. You will be prompted to enter your lesson plan ideas and procedures. All standards are embedded in these templates via dropdown menus!!! You simply pick the ones that apply to your lesson. You can save the lesson plan for yourself after everything is submitted.

Pk-8 General Music Lesson Plan Template Information

Lesson Sample Database

(access and/or contribute to a data base of standards-based lessons)

Click the link to explore our searchable database of standards-aligned lessons. You can search by keyword, artistic processes (creating, performing, responding, connecting), anchor standard, grade level, and strand. *** If you want to contribute a lesson plan to our database, please email and share your work: curriculum@nyssma.org

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Access resources related to culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy. Discover ways you can transform your own teaching practice through a BEDR lens (belonging, equity, diversity, and representation). View links to the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework.