Reddit mentions of Teaching General Music in Grades 4-8: A Musicianship Approach

This is a great book for teaching middle school general music: http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-General-Music-Grades-4-8/dp/0195137787

The trick is to make the music learning relevant to them. If they're never going to use quarter and eighth notes, there's no need to introduce it to them.. and if your goal is to teach notation, then have them learn to play something, like keyboard or drums.

The most important part of teaching general music to MS kids is to remember that they themselves are not empty inside, music wise. They probably all own ipods or smartphones with music on them, and so you could ask them to share their favorite music with the class (wit prior approval, of course.) Then you could link their music with music that you would like to teach them (for example, classical music or classic rock.) The nice thing about GM is that it's so flexible....

Another advice would be to get them to move! Maybe they don't understand what a contour of a melody is but they can definitely feel it when you have them do "interpretative dance" or other kinesthetic activities. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a great tool to use in these situations because movement comes pretty naturally to most people (i.e. moving along to the beat, learning a dance to enhance cultural understanding)

And also have them compose. Garageband is easy enough for 8th graders to understand, and if you use loops, that could be incentive for them to even continue writing/producing music after they leave your class.

I would advise you to place a focus on lifetime learning and enduring understanding - so that everything they learn can be used later in life. If you want them to appreciate music by bach, beethoven, and mozart, show them the beauty behind it in a concrete way that will stick with them. Incorporate any and all stops that you have - have fun!