Even though there are multiple literacies, the preoccupation and even reliance on the primacy of functional literacy, as seen as an end-point in the formal process of schooling, masks an ideology that rarely goes interrogated throughout all disciplines. This article considers the obligation and structure of functional literacy, and, in particular, scripted curriculum, as an imposition of meaning. Broad constructions of literacy, as have been addressed in the general disciplines (including mathematics, language arts, history, and science), provide a lens through which to consider those ways sequential, scripted curriculum and pedagogy frame all disciplines, most especially music. (Contains 2 notes.)