Planning from the Music Section of the Curriculum Guide

The Curriculum Structure

The music section of the curriculum encourages teachers to plan their programs in units – that is, in a series of connected lessons. For many Elementary Level teachers, this is a change from past classroom practice in music education.

The curriculum outlines four required units. Each unit is presented in two mini-units, which are simply shorter units. The mini-unit topics have been designed so that during the Elementary Level students experience a varied range of contexts for their learning in music.

The time allotment for music is 50 minutes per week. It follows, then, that roughly three to five weeks could be spent on each mini-unit. However, it is not required that the two mini-units be given equal time.

The activities provided for each mini-unit are intended to be a starter list only. As teachers become more experienced in using the guide, they will certainly want to add other activities or adapt the ones provided for different themes or topics. The activities are listed in three categories: introductory, main, and concluding activities. These three categories have the following purposes:

Introductory Activities

• to engage the students' interest and attention
• to provide a context for learning
• to introduce concepts, skills, or materials needed for activities that follow

Main Activities

• to explore a theme or topic toward achieving the selected objectives

Concluding Activities

• to give the students opportunities to reflect upon their experiences
• to explore possible extensions to the unit, or to provide a bridge into a new unit of study.

Planning Lessons and Units

A sample form for planning music lessons from the curriculum guide can be found on page 178. Remember that lessons can include research, discussion, reflection, and a variety of other activities as music experiences. The following are steps to consider when planning music units

Step One

Familiarize yourself with the information provided for your grade. Become familiar with the scope of learning objectives. Study the four unit overviews. Become familiar with the units and mini-units. Read the sample unit for your grade. This provides a model for unit planning. Read the sample units for other grades to get a sense of how other units and themes or topics are addressed. All sample units appear on the CD-ROM and Saskatchewan Learning website.

Step Two

Select a unit. Most teachers will want to begin with Unit 1: Learning to Hear; however, the units may be taught in any order. Choose a mini-unit theme and topic. You may use the topic suggested in the guide, or select one of more relevance to your students and community.

Teacher Note: You may wish to begin by using the sample unit for your grade. The sample unit includes detailed lesson plans and is available on CD-ROM and Saskatchewan Learning website.

Step Three

Outline a sequence of lessons. At this point, be brief – a sentence or two describing each lesson. Refer to the Starter List of Activities in the guide, or develop your own activities. Lessons may be either 25-minute lessons (two per week) or 50-minute lessons (one per week), although teachers could plan for any combination totalling 50 minutes per week.

Step Four

Plan the lessons in detail. The following are important aspects of lesson planning:

• Select appropriate learning objectives for each lesson. A checklist is provided at the beginning of each grade. Remember that some learning objectives may need to be taught only once during the year, while others need to be taught and/or reinforced several times, depending on the students' progress and the nature of the objective. Some learning objectives will, in all likelihood, be selected for all four units. Be sure to include Common Essential Learnings objectives. A sample checklist is provided.
• Select resources to which you have access. Be sure they apply to the objectives as well as the theme of your mini-unit.
• Determine the means of assessing achievement of the objectives. Remember to plan for ongoing assessment rather than only at the end of a mini-unit. Sample assessment forms are included in this curriculum guide.
• Outline procedures for each lesson in the mini-unit. Be as detailed as you feel you need to be.

Step Five

Refer to the Sample Checklist for Planning a Music Mini-unit. This checklist is a means of ensuring that Core Curriculum components and initiatives are included in every unit. It also acts as a reminder of the importance of including a variety of teaching strategies in music.

Planning for Composing in the Classroom

It is suggested that teachers guide students through the process of creating sound compositions in the following way.

Classroom composition ought to be a relaxed and enjoyable experience for the students but should not stand alone or appear to be only for “fun”. Student-created sound compositions are always included and taught within a larger context. Teacher and students can explore music within the context of a unit theme or topic in that unit. Students demonstrate their comprehension of musical learning through their sound explorations. For instance, students could demonstrate their understanding of function by creating music that they feel might be used to create suspense for a television show or movie. They could demonstrate their understanding of variety and repetition by creating a composition that alternates between similar musical material and sections of different sounds and sound patterns. Composition activities might also develop from discussions about a piece of music, a music concept, different functions of music in various societies, a style of music, a recently viewed video, or an experience with a live group. Students need to see this activity as a meaningful way to explore and understand a particular concept or idea.

These creative activities can sometimes generate a lot of unwanted sound for other classes in the school. It is a good idea to schedule such activities in co-operation with neighbouring classrooms, perhaps when the other class is out of the room. Let administrators and fellow teachers know in advance that the students will be problem solving and on task in spite of the increased sound level. The students are using and developing higher level critical and creative thinking skills. These activities require a great deal of concentration, co-operation, and communication abilities.

Provide for both structured and open-ended exploration with as varied a collection of sound-producing objects and instruments as possible. Encourage students to continue creating at home, both individually and with friends, as well as in the school setting. They soon begin to realize that music can be an effective form of communication and that this communication is possible for all people, not just a talented few. They also learn about the work and effort that goes into making a creative statement by examining musical artists of all styles, cultures, and types.

The teacher selects particular learning objectives for composing activities based primarily on the following two foundational objectives:

• students begin to understand the variety of sources for music ideas
• students develop ideas into music expressions, learning about and using the processes of creating and the sources of sound/music.

The objectives may be directly related to the elements of music or principles of composition; the study of patterns or form; the different functions of music in various societies; or the expression of moods, images, or ideas. The students must understand their objectives in order to have a focus for their compositions. Within the context of the unit, discuss with the class what the main objective of this particular project is. Present the project as a problem-solving activity. Discuss possible resources and previous learning that may help them fulfill the objectives.

The objectives may come from:

• the unit focus; for example, how a musician puts things together for a purpose
• a specific music concept, such as “repetition and contrast”, “metre in music”, or “syncopation”
• other subject areas; for example, creating a soundpiece to accompany a poem (English language arts); creating a soundpiece to demonstrate changes in the weather (science); creating a soundpiece that illustrates elements that predominate in music of various cultures (social studies); creating a soundpiece to accompany a student video or art work, a dance creation, or a situation in drama (arts education)
• listening to another piece of music
• an experience that a student or the class has had with a live performance.

The teacher guides students through each of the following steps. It is important to realize however, that this is not a discrete step-by-step procedure. Composing is an interactive, dynamic process that sometimes requires reviewing or retracing previous material or steps.

1. Decide on a focus.

The teacher or the students themselves may have determined general or very specific criteria for structuring and developing the soundpiece.

The following are examples of general directions:

• Plan and arrange a short series of sounds to express a feeling or idea.
• Match sounds with one or more visual images.
• Improvise a soundpiece inspired by an event, poem, or story.
• Create sound for the background of a cartoon.

The following are examples of specific directions:

• Explore specific rhythms or concepts such as syncopation.
• Use three different instruments, alone or in combination, that are capable of playing several different timbres.
• Create a composition that demonstrates a gradual increase or decrease in volume (i.e., crescendo and decrescendo).
• Using a previously composed work, alter one specific musical element, principle, or the form.

2. Collect sounds.

Discuss and list the sound possibilities of the chosen focus and begin to collect sounds for the sound composition. For example, animal sounds, electronic sounds, and environmental sounds can be put on tape to refer to later when finding musical ways to represent them.

Investigate how to change the timbre, pitch, and volume of various found and traditional instruments. The students could find innovative ways to create the sound and determine the optimum ways to produce a conventional sound.

Remember, it is important to remain open and flexible to all possibilities at this stage of the process.

3. Experiment.

During experimentation with the sounds that have been collected, attempt to balance instructional time and problem-solving activities.

Allow the students to freely explore a wide variety of sound materials in the classroom. In this way, students discover and identify sound possibilities. How many different sounds can be made with a single object? What are the dynamic possibilities of the object? Will the object need to be played alone in order to be heard? Can duration be manipulated? Can the pitch be altered by any means? How is the sound created? Can it play a repeated pattern or is it capable of only playing once (e.g., popping a balloon)? Are there a number of different ways sound can be produced?

Extend and focus explorations by guiding students to discover new ways to make sounds or to improve the quality of the sounds they have collected. Discover the sounds that are around them in their own environment.

After discovering some interesting sound possibilities, plan ways for students to explore and improvise with sounds in combination and in sequence. Such explorations help students to develop the ability to manipulate their collected sounds. They discover that the expressive quality of a sound changes when it is combined, preceded, or followed by another sound.

Students might try to create sounds that suggest a mood or feeling using objects, instruments, or voices. They might imitate or recreate sounds they have heard or imagined and combine taped sounds with real sounds.

4. Develop sound compositions.

During the development stage, students are challenged to combine and sequence sounds into compositions or forms of expression that are personally meaningful to them. They must make decisions about which sounds to use in what order to use them, and how often to use them. This stage involves decision making about discarding, inventing, balancing, restructuring, and rearranging.

Students:

• experiment and improvise with different sound combinations
• experiment and improvise with different sequences for the sounds
• experiment with expressive qualities (e.g., loud and soft)
• decide which sounds to use for the soundpiece
• decide on which principles of composition are important and how to use them best.

5. Synthesize.

Students:

• decide if there should be any changes to the sounds used, the order of sounds, or the length of the composition
• return to an earlier step, if necessary
• decide whether notation is necessary (traditional or invented) or decide on other ways to cue musicians
• finalize the order or pattern of the sounds, although some improvisation may always be desired.

Encourage students to rehearse or practise their soundpieces. If students are working in a group, they might decide to appoint a conductor. Have them make a tape and listen. What needs work? What could be done to make the composition more effective? Are the intentions and ideas they are trying to convey obvious to their audience? Is it important to them that their intentions be obvious? Why or why not?

The students can perform their compositions for themselves or for others. They might decide, instead, to put the composition on tape.

At this stage, students need time to reflect on their compositions and processes. This might lead students to discover new ways of expressing ideas, moods, and feelings; to rework the instrumental combinations to create balance; to work towards building tension; or to improve existing and future compositions.

Encourage students to discuss their project. Provide small groups with focus questions such as: What were the strong points? What could be done to make it better? Facilitate a large group discussion about specific music elements and principles of composition.

Plan for brief teacher-student interviews at which students can discuss their project: Did they enjoy working on it? How could they change it next time? What were the most difficult aspects of working with a group? What would they do differently next time? What did they learn?

Help students extend and redirect their experiences.

Encourage students to:

• talk to a composer about their project
• listen to recordings of music that illustrate the same principles they were using
• go to a live performance
• compare their compositions to music on the radio or on television
• adapt or expand their original idea and create a new soundpiece
• apply their soundpieces to another subject area such as dance, literature, or visual art.
• use a process from Responding to Arts Expressions on page 45 to examine their compositions.

Evaluate the students' progress.

Evaluation for creative experiences in music must focus on the individual student's process . Criteria for the project or composition needs to be established and shared with the student before the project begins. It is essential that the teacher evaluate creative projects in consultation with the student in order to establish the student's intent for the composition and, if appropriate, the context of the work.

The following evaluation criteria provide an example. The questions are based upon the foundational objective “develop ideas into music expressions, learning about and using the processes of creating and the sources of sound/music”.

Teachers might ask questions such as the following:

• In what ways does the student experiment with a wide variety of sounds in his or her sound explorations?
• What sounds has the student discovered when using the instruments available?
• To what extent has the student used sounds from the natural and constructed environment in creative and imaginative ways?
• To what extent has the student discovered how different instruments create their characteristic sounds?
• Is the student able to increasingly recognize and distinguish different voice types and instruments?
• What knowledge has the student gained about the characteristics of sounds in music and the natural and constructed environment?
• To what extent does the student recognize the effects of sound on daily life?
• What instrumental sounds has the student discovered from various cultures at home and around the world?

Sample Activities for Composing in the Classroom

The following suggestions are provided to help teachers structure activities that allow students to create their own sound compositions as an individual, a small group, or a whole class. These suggestions are intended for teachers of students with varied musical backgrounds. Some students in the class may be receiving private or formal musical instruction while others may have little or no formal training. The suggestions incorporate the use of both vocal and instrumental sounds. Teachers are encouraged to use whatever classroom instruments are available to them along with found objects and homemade instruments.

Create folders that contain shapes, words, and images from calendars/magazines, poems — anything that might act as a catalyst or stimulus for a composition. Encourage students to create their own folders of potential compositional material.

Collect found objects as potential sound makers. These objects might include various lengths and widths of plastic tubing (for blowing or twirling); copper pipe; wood; assorted sized tin cans filled with various articles (for shaking); coffee cans (for drumming); wind chimes made out of various materials (keys, dowelling); mallets (dowels with rubber balls or wide elastic bands around the ends); old automobile parts (hubcaps, brake drums, flywheels); homemade lummi sticks (dowel rods); homemade flutes; wash tub bass; and washboards. Make instruments to use in compositions. In addition, use traditional and electronic musical instruments such as piano or small electronic keyboards.

Depending on the particular classroom situation, initial activities in sound creation may need to be more structured. Once students are familiar with the process, activities that are less structured can be included.

Grades K-2

The following suggestion works best as a teacher led activity involving the whole class.

Activity One: Alternate loud and soft sounds (whole class)

Focus: Loud and soft sounds

Objective: Demonstrate an understanding of loud/soft sounds in speech and music

• Have the students form a circle.
• Create and clap a short rhythmic pattern such as “ta – ta – ti-ti – ta” (x x xx x).
• The rhythmic pattern is done by everyone and alternates with the students saying their names (e.g. pattern – I am Steven, pattern, I am Susan).
• As you go around the circle, ask the students to alternate between loud and soft as they say their names (e.g., name spoken loudly (clap) x x xx x; name spoken softly (clap) x x xx x; name spoken loudly (clap) x x xx x; name spoken softly (clap) x x xx x).

Activity Two: Create a loud and soft pattern of sounds (individual or small group)

Focus: Dynamics

Objective: Make basic decisions (individual/class) about how sounds or instruments can be used in creating a music expression (e.g., order, dynamics, patterns)

• Choose an instrument/object or your voice and experiment with making loud sounds/soft sounds.
• Create a pattern with your sound and repeat the pattern until you can sing/play it the same way each time.
• Explore ways to make your sound pattern gradually get louder and then gradually get softer.
• Practise your pattern.
• Share your sound pattern with your classmates.
• Join with a classmate and combine your loud/soft patterns together to make a short soundpiece.

Activity Three: Create rhythmic and melodic patterns (whole class activity)

Focus: Ostinato

Objective: Recognize and identify patterns of repetition and contrast in music

• Select a simple nursery rhyme or poem to recite (e.g., Jack and Jill).
• Recite or chant the poem as a group maintaining a steady beat and rhythm.
• Experiment with some spoken rhythmic patterns (ostinati) that could be used to accompany the poem (e.g., a small group chants “Jack and Jill” while the rest of the group recites the poem).
• Substitute an instrument/sound object to play the ostinato pattern of the chant “Jack and Jill”.
• Experiment with other rhythmic patterns using instruments/objects to accompany the poem.

Note: This same process can be used to develop melodic ostinati as accompaniments to songs or poems. For example, take the last phrase, “dip dip and swing” from “My Paddles Keen and Bright” and use it as a melodic ostinato.

Activity Four: Create non-traditional notation (individual, small group)

Focus: Experiment with ways to visually represent musical concepts

Objective: Become aware that notation is a way of preserving compositions and that sounds/music may be represented through a variety of notation devices

• Draw a shape or symbol on a card that shows one of the musical elements: pitch (high-low), duration (long-short), dynamics (loud-soft), tempo (fast-slow), direction (ascending-descending), rhythm (even-uneven), texture (few sounds-many sounds).
• Create a sound for the shape you have drawn.
• Create a short sound pattern with your sound.
• Combine your pattern with one or two other classmates to make a short composition.
• Ask students to describe the relationship between the sound shape/symbol they invented and the musical concept chosen.
• Experiment with various combinations of students' patterns to create other compositions.

Grades 3-5

Activity One: Create a phrase structure (small group of two or three)

Focus: Phrase – a basic structural unit in musical form; a term used to identify patterns within more formal structuring of music

Objective: Understand that a phrase is a basic structural unit in music and can be repeated or contrasted with other phrases to create larger structural units (e.g., call/response, question/answer, rounds)

• Explore and experiment with the element of rhythm by creating a short rhythmic pattern using voice, instruments/objects.
• Talk about and listen to the sounds/rhythm patterns each member is making.
• Experiment with various rhythmic patterns emphasizing repetition.
• Create a short rhythmic pattern or phrase with your group (phrase a).
• Create a second pattern that is in contrast to the first pattern (phrase b).
• Decide whether phrase b will be the same length as phrase a.
• Combine the patterns into a soundpiece using an aabb phrase structure.

Activity Two: Create a sound sequence from a picture such as an image from a calendar, magazine, story book (individual or small group)

Focus: Sources of ideas for music expressions

Objective: Understand that they can develop ideas from a variety of sources to create music compositions

• Take the picture from your folder and discuss the ideas, moods, and sounds it suggests.
• Decide on which element/elements (rhythm, pitch/melody, dynamics, texture, timbre) you think might be used to reflect the mood or idea of the picture.
• Choose the sounds you wish to use: voice, instruments (pitched or non-pitched).
• Experiment with a variety of ways in which the sounds might be arranged or ordered into a sound sequence or pattern.
• Create a sequence or pattern.
• Practise and perform your sequence for another group/class.
• Explore the idea or possibility of combining various group patterns and making larger compositions.

Activity Three: Create a sound sequence from an invented notation chart (small group)

Note: This activity requires two or three lesson periods to complete.

Focus: The various uses of notation

Objective: Extend familiarity and use of traditional and non-traditional notation devices in music they create and perform

• Have each member of the group draw a shape and create a sound(s) to represent the shape.
  or
• Have each member choose a shape from a folder of shapes and create a sound for that shape.
• Practise the sound(s) developed from your shape until you can repeat it the same way each time.
• Share your sounds with each other.
• Discuss the idea of focusing on a particular music element (e.g., dynamics).
• Experiment with that element: soft/loud sounds; gradually getting softer or louder; sudden changes in dynamics; will each sound be heard just once, twice, or a few times?
• Begin to decide on an order or sequence for your sounds.
• Begin to draw the shapes on your notation chart in the order they will be heard.
• Invent symbols (e.g., underline loud sounds) or add words above, below, or beside the shapes to indicate the instructions for the performers.
• Choose a final pattern for your sequence employing principles of composition, such as repetition, variety, tension/resolution, and unity. Are your sounds compatible with each other? Does the sequence have a sense of cohesiveness? Is it interesting? Are you satisfied with the sequence?
• Develop a final notation scheme to represent the sound sequence.
• Display and explain your notation scheme and perform your sequence for another group/class.
• Exchange notations with other groups.

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of invented notation.

Adapted from a series of activities developed by D. Schaefer (2001), Prince Albert, SK: Garden River Research Associates.

Sample Checklist for Planning a Music Mini-Unit

Sample Planning Form for a Music Lesson