1. In a fifth
grade general music class, students will create a small group of 3-4 students
by choice. They will be given access to
a variety of percussion instruments as well as band instruments if they have
them. Students will have three days in
class to create a composition. The
composition will need a melody, accompaniment, and a range of dynamics. These concepts will have been covered in previous
classes for thorough understanding.
Students will perform their composition for the class on the third day.
2. Students in
jazz band will participate in an improvisation lesson using a basic blues chart
in the Standard of Excellence Jazz Series. Students will go through the
exercises leading up to the end of the unit of instruction. These exercises give the students ideas and
tips on how to improvise melodies. The
end of the unit exercise will provide the ensemble the opportunity to play the
head of the chart and then take turns improvising in the solo section. The students will take a chorus each and then
move onto trading eights or fours for a quicker thought-process.
3. Students in
a seventh grade general music class will complete a technology-based
composition assignment using Garage Band.
Students will use the loops and sounds provided in Garage Band to
compose a song. The song will need to be
two minutes in length. The students are
free to use whatever sounds they wish, but the composition must represent a
story. The students will provide a
written reflection of their composition to accompany their sound file. This will help the listener (and student) be
sure that they can fully follow the mood and picture created by the music.
4. Students in
an eighth grade general music class will complete a technology-based
compositional review of a piece of music.
Using Audacity, students will import a sound clip of piece of music from
a specific period in musical history. The
sound clip will need to be five minutes in length. The student will create an audio track to be
layered in on top of the composition that explains how the different aspects of
the music create different ideas or pictures.
The student will relate to things such as instrumentation, dynamics,
style, tempo, etc. This compositional
review will help them to understand how to listen to music closely. The project will be turned in for grading at
the conclusion of the assignment.
5. Students in
a middle school band class will complete a concert review of a professional
ensemble. Students will have a worksheet
that asks specific questions about the music being performed. Students will need to document the name of
the piece, composer, and other aspects.
This review will be done using YouTube videos so that students have a
visual representation. The idea is that
students will be listening closely to how instrumentation, timbre, dynamics,
tempo, and other musical concepts influence the performance. Students will also describe how the music
makes them feel and what makes them feel that way. They will also be asked to describe how the
musical concepts influenced their thoughts.
This will help students understand how to listen to music closely.
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