Instrument Variation in Amazing Grace
Date of Lesson:  Oct. 8th 2009                                    Teacher: Erika Calhoon
Grade Level:  
4th/5th Grade                                        Subject Area: Music
Time Needed:
1 hour                                                  Topic: Listening/Instrument Sounds

Standards:

·          #6 Content Standard: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
o   D) Identify the sounds of a variety of instruments, including many orchestra and band instruments, and instruments from various cultures, as well as children’s’ voices and male and female adult voices.

Materials Needed:
·         Selected Versions of Amazing Grace burned to disc.
·         Amazing Grace by Hayley Westenra
·         Amazing Grace by Mark O’Connor
·         Amazing Grace by Walela
·         Amazing Grace by the Dropkick Murphy’s
·         Amazing Grace by The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
·         Amazing Grace by The New Orleans Saxophone Ensemble
·         Envelopes of Instrument Cutout kits

Objectives:
·         Students will select instruments they hear as they listen to 6 interpretations of Amazing Grace given cutout kits of various instruments.
·         Students will recall the sounds of different instruments given the different recordings.
·         Students will write a word on the chalk board describing the mood they hear from each variation of Amazing Grace.

Lesson Context:
 Student will have already participated in a lesson in which they heard and helped to identify several instrument sounds.  This lesson will be practice at recognizing the different sounds of the instruments in different styles of music, using the same melody song, Amazing Grace.

Lesson Opening:
Briefly discuss the history and origins of Amazing Grace.  The song is a popular hymn in the United States and is rooted in religion.  However, it was written as a poem by an Englishman whose career was in the slave trade in the 1700’s.  He later fought against the slave trade and for the abolition of slavery.

Procedures:
“Today, many different version of Amazing Grace have been recorded by artists from all different genres of music.  I am going to play for you a simple version of Amazing Grace.
 Play the first minute of the Haley Westenra version of Amazing Grace.  Ask students to listen for the melody.
·         Have students identify sounds they heard in the song (voice, instruments).
·         Ask students what sort of mood they felt while listening or what they thought the song expressed.
·         Group students into 3-4 groups of 4 or 5 students.
·         Explain that you will be passing out Instrument Cutout kits that they can use together as a group to identify instruments they are hearing.
·         Give each group of students a manila envelope full of the instrument cutout kits.
·         Tell students you are going to play another version of Amazing Grace and ask them to listen for particular instruments and what sort of mood the song portrays.
·         Explain that they should look through the instruments in their cutout kit and hold up the instruments they hear in the song as they listen.
·         When the song is over, ask students to volunteer to share what instruments or sounds they heard. 
·         After instruments have been shared, ask each group to converse with each other and come up with one word that describes the mood of the song played.
·         When done, ask one student from each group to come up and write that one word down on the chalkboard.
·         Discuss with students the words they came up with and why they picked those words.  Ask students to use examples from the music to back up their word.
·         Ask students what was different about this version versus the previous version of the song.  If needed, prompt them about tempo, use of vocals, language, etc.
·         Repeat this procedure after each version of the song is played. 

Closure:
 Ask students what their favorite version was and why.  Ask them to site reasons from their listening experience.