Lesson Plans
1st Quarter
Week 1
Date Aug 30th - Sept 3rd
"Review classroom guidelines and Expectations" Investigatethe characteristics and purposes of each of the arts to communicate ideas, feelings, and meaning. (e.g., the differences among musical instruments, the differences in techniques used to perform singing, pantomime, etc.)
Include mini syllabus grades 3-8.
1. Piano, Forte / Major, Minor
2. Band and chorus (president and librarian votes).
3. Begin Music Journals grades 5-8
4. "Your Life Story" - This is a fun, get-acquainted activity.
Week 2
Date Sept 6th - 10th
"Plans for Success"
Recognize musical symbols.
Pre-test: Introductions of Bass clef, Treble clef and meter
notation.
1. Pre-test: Ear-training (tonalities, Intervals)
2. Instrument introductions of (brass, woodwind, percussion,
and strings).
3. Antonio Vivaldi Baroque era.
4. What instrument do I want to play?
5. First Act - Borg, or rental. What works best for me?
"Begin music composition grades 6-8" Hand Written!
Explain rules for use of laptops with Garage Band, and MuseScore.
(Kodaly method): Introduction of hand signals.
Singing, Do-Sol tempo 90 to 120, (following conducting, group co-operation).
1. Explore and review: Melody - Pitch direction, and Tonality.
A. Introduce recorders grades 3-8.
2. Weak and strong beats. (row your boat!)
Week 4
Date Sept 13th - 17th
"The Mathematics of Music"
1. Meter = Pulse: 4/4 (common time), 3/4 (waltz), 2/4(march).
2. Music journal (3 examples-classical, country folk, and hip-hop), analyze for genre, instrumentation. Listening/Analyzing/Describing.
Grades 5-8
3. George Frederic Handel "Water Music"
Week 5
Date Sept 20th - 24th
Review of first months lessons: Rhythmic and tonal imitation and improvisation on neutral syllables. (Call and Response)
1. Pentatonic scale, Beat-box (split the group, beat-box and add instant motif using three notes and the pentatonic scale).
2. Repeat 1 using Kazoos and Boom-Wacker tubes. (Review of first months learning).
The lesson is assessed by use of listening skills. In addition, the students can assess themselves and their group and others. Teacher will guide a class discussion about how the experience could be different or better.
Week 6
Date Sept 27th - Oct 1st
"Tonality" - In tune and Out of tune, what does it mean?
Evaluate written reviews of visual and performing works of music. Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between a personal opinion and an educated judgment, and the meaning of various works. Understand that the success of musical, theatrical, and dance groups depends on collaboration.
1. Music reviews for hip-hop, pop, and country songs (seeChorus Lit.), compare to journal.
2. Johann Sebastian Bach - organ
3. Harmonic Minor scale
Week 7
Date Oct 4th - 8th
"The System" New South American approach to music in schools. Students begin with real instruments in First grade!
"Recorders Karate Theme" - Perform and/or listen to anumber of pieces on a given theme and create a variation. Recruit student participation! Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!
1. "The Suzuki Method" Suzuki calls this the "mother tongue approach". A child learns to speak simply by listening and then imitating and then, later in life, the child learns to interpret symbols as a written form of that language. Compare these concepts to musical notation and the long tradition of European musical training. Singing: Vocal Development, intonation, expression, part singing, and diction.
2. Round using pentatonic scale. Creation of new variations. (Rhythmic)
3. Continue music journal (new music terminology). Grades 5-8
Week 8
Dates Oct 11th -15th
"Conducting musical patterns" Show video "Fantasia" Clips relating to styles: waltz, march, simple and compound time signatures.
1. Vocal warm-ups with fun texts and syllables. Rounds with vocals/percussion instruments.
2. Relate and reinforce musical terminology.
3. Body percussion: you are going to use different parts of their body to make music and pretend to be an orchestra.
4. Odd meters 5/4 7/8 and their uses in contemporary and hip-hop.
5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Classical (create a Sonata)
Week 9
Date Oct 18th - 25th
"Investigate how the elements, principles, and structures of the arts are manipulated by communication media to persuade and to influence."
1. Recognize how advertisers use design, spatial relationships, gender, movement, and sound to sell products.
2. Explain why an individual chooses to buy a particular CD.
3. Relate to Halloween and how it uses music to sell!
Week 10
Date Oct 28th - Nov 1st
"Review History of Music - Handouts"
Work in groups of three or four to extend their ideas into longer pieces of music with several layers of sounds.
1. Construct a Garage Band project to reflect a mood, idea, or reaction. (Collage of music) linked in an orderly fashion.
2. Quiz, and retakes…
3. Review of first 2 months lessons:
Answer Question? Why are problem-solving skills, reflection,
self-evaluation, revising, and refinement all parts of the creation and development of musical works.