Kasey Wagner
October 6, 2009
Composition - for Fifth Graders
Estimated time: 60 minutes
School of Music Standards for Composition - composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
A. Students compose short pieces within specified guidelines (a particular style, form, instrumentation, compositional technique), demonstrating how the elements of music are used to achieve unity and variety, tension and release, and balance
B. Students arrange simple pieces for voices or instruments other than those for which the pieces were written
C. Students use a variety of traditional and nontraditional sources and electronic media when composing and arranging.
Objectives
1. Students will select themes of a particular story and discuss in small groups what these would sound like when translated into music: loud, soft, staccato, legado, slow, fast, etc.
2. Given descriptions of changing parts of a plot, students will experiment with their instruments and create a part of a collective “song” to accompany the plot.
3. Everyone will participate by performing his or her part of the composition with the rest of the class.
Instruments available: congas, rainsticks, clavas, hand drum, xylophone, maracas
Also: clapping, stomping, tapping pens or pencils, whistling, singing, etc. (unconventional instruments)
Lesson Context: The fifth grade students have just finished reading their first “free choice” book of the year. The students will be given the option of creating a final project to represent what they have learned from this book in many different forms, today is part three of a five day lesson explaining all of the different acceptable projects (several poems or raps, graphic novel or collage, music composition, movement--dance, or a website). The class period will be devoted to having the children create a piece of music to a short story that I read to them in class. We will discuss the main points of the story and what the music should sound like during those periods, how it should sound during transitions, the climax, and what musical instruments should be included. Allow the possibility for different instruments or melodies to be used for certain characters (when they appear).
Procedure: The teacher will read a short story to the class and will write on the board the different parts of the plot, in this case, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The different parts might be something like Goldilocks skipping through the forest and coming across the house; trying the porridge; trying the different chairs; trying the different beds and falling asleep; bears returning home while she’s sleeping and realizing someone has been in their house; finding Goldilocks upstairs and scaring her out of the house. These will be the 6 parts of the song. Then each group of a few students will have a section of the song to create. They will be given the key of C to present the song in (in case there is a xylophone or piano available), and notes that will sound good together (CDEGc). Next they are to discuss what these parts sound like. Each student will have an instrument to experiment using and will be able to play their own parts. It is advised that one student will use and instrument to keep time during their section. The parts will then rehearse as many times as needed, with input from the teacher, and then will be performed in the order of the actual story.
Assessment: Students will describe which part of the plot of a story they are working on and what the theme of that situation would sound like if translated into music. There are no right or wrong answers, but students need to have supporting claims as to why they chose their sounds. Students will work in small groups and each have an instrument (or sound-making device) of their own to play in accompaniment with the rest of the group. Everyone in the class will perform the song together when they have finished the parts of the plot in small groups.
Adaptations/extension: The idea of bringing in technology, such as the software entitled “Garageband” in order for one student to be able to “perform” by first recording the different parts and sounds and then playing it later for the teacher.
Next steps: After today’s lesson, students will know that composing a unique piece of music to go along with their free choice book is an acceptable medium for their “book report”. They will be given time during class each day to work on their projects and will be performing and explaining their final product during our all day Art in the Classroom Festival.
Justification: For this language arts class, it is important for students to learn about reading for pleasure, which is why they have assignments to read their own “free choice book”. In order to assess these readings, rather than having students create a reading log or write a paper about their book, this mini-unit is used to connect literature across many different forms. Therefore, students are given several unconventional options of how to create a book report, and are taught lessons on the expectations of these forms. Many students in the class struggle and would rather take a failing grade than write a paper about a book that they have read, therefore this gives them the option to be creative and show off some of their possibly hidden talents. It also calls for students who prefer the conventional way of schooling to stretch their minds and understand what it is like when a curriculum is not specifically fit to their strengths.
October 6, 2009
Composition - for Fifth Graders
Estimated time: 60 minutes
School of Music Standards for Composition - composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
A. Students compose short pieces within specified guidelines (a particular style, form, instrumentation, compositional technique), demonstrating how the elements of music are used to achieve unity and variety, tension and release, and balance
B. Students arrange simple pieces for voices or instruments other than those for which the pieces were written
C. Students use a variety of traditional and nontraditional sources and electronic media when composing and arranging.
Objectives
1. Students will select themes of a particular story and discuss in small groups what these would sound like when translated into music: loud, soft, staccato, legado, slow, fast, etc.
2. Given descriptions of changing parts of a plot, students will experiment with their instruments and create a part of a collective “song” to accompany the plot.
3. Everyone will participate by performing his or her part of the composition with the rest of the class.
Instruments available: congas, rainsticks, clavas, hand drum, xylophone, maracas
Also: clapping, stomping, tapping pens or pencils, whistling, singing, etc. (unconventional instruments)
Lesson Context: The fifth grade students have just finished reading their first “free choice” book of the year. The students will be given the option of creating a final project to represent what they have learned from this book in many different forms, today is part three of a five day lesson explaining all of the different acceptable projects (several poems or raps, graphic novel or collage, music composition, movement--dance, or a website). The class period will be devoted to having the children create a piece of music to a short story that I read to them in class. We will discuss the main points of the story and what the music should sound like during those periods, how it should sound during transitions, the climax, and what musical instruments should be included. Allow the possibility for different instruments or melodies to be used for certain characters (when they appear).
Procedure: The teacher will read a short story to the class and will write on the board the different parts of the plot, in this case, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The different parts might be something like Goldilocks skipping through the forest and coming across the house; trying the porridge; trying the different chairs; trying the different beds and falling asleep; bears returning home while she’s sleeping and realizing someone has been in their house; finding Goldilocks upstairs and scaring her out of the house. These will be the 6 parts of the song. Then each group of a few students will have a section of the song to create. They will be given the key of C to present the song in (in case there is a xylophone or piano available), and notes that will sound good together (CDEGc). Next they are to discuss what these parts sound like. Each student will have an instrument to experiment using and will be able to play their own parts. It is advised that one student will use and instrument to keep time during their section. The parts will then rehearse as many times as needed, with input from the teacher, and then will be performed in the order of the actual story.
Assessment: Students will describe which part of the plot of a story they are working on and what the theme of that situation would sound like if translated into music. There are no right or wrong answers, but students need to have supporting claims as to why they chose their sounds. Students will work in small groups and each have an instrument (or sound-making device) of their own to play in accompaniment with the rest of the group. Everyone in the class will perform the song together when they have finished the parts of the plot in small groups.
Adaptations/extension: The idea of bringing in technology, such as the software entitled “Garageband” in order for one student to be able to “perform” by first recording the different parts and sounds and then playing it later for the teacher.
Next steps: After today’s lesson, students will know that composing a unique piece of music to go along with their free choice book is an acceptable medium for their “book report”. They will be given time during class each day to work on their projects and will be performing and explaining their final product during our all day Art in the Classroom Festival.
Justification: For this language arts class, it is important for students to learn about reading for pleasure, which is why they have assignments to read their own “free choice book”. In order to assess these readings, rather than having students create a reading log or write a paper about their book, this mini-unit is used to connect literature across many different forms. Therefore, students are given several unconventional options of how to create a book report, and are taught lessons on the expectations of these forms. Many students in the class struggle and would rather take a failing grade than write a paper about a book that they have read, therefore this gives them the option to be creative and show off some of their possibly hidden talents. It also calls for students who prefer the conventional way of schooling to stretch their minds and understand what it is like when a curriculum is not specifically fit to their strengths.
