| The Curriculum Structure | Planning a Unit | Arts Education Planning Sheets | Creating Sound Compositions in the Classroom |
The Curriculum Structure
As the unit structure suggests, the music curriculum
strongly encourages
teachers to plan their music programs in series of connected
lessons.
The curriculum outlines three required units. The suggested activities in the guide are structured within each of these units.
In each unit, the suggested activities are organized under sub-headings. These sub-headings are often derived from a theme or another curriculum area. For example, in Unit II: What's It All About, a sub-heading based on a theme might be "Music With a Message". In Unit III: Traditions and Innovations, a sub-heading such as "World Music" could draw the teacher to relate to materials being studied in the Social Studies curriculum. In classroom practice, a theme might be chosen by the teacher and/or students based on a topic relevant to their own situation.
Teachers should familiarize themselves with the foundational objectives and the unit overview charts. They outline the required content for the year. Planning involves setting learning objectives derived from the "Foundational Objectives" section and selecting or designing appropriate activities to meet those objectives.
Begin by trying to plan three or four lessons in a sequence. Remember that lessons should include a wide variety of music experiences such as problem-solving, research, listening, discussion, reflection, etc., as well as singing, playing and creating music. Musical concepts previously taught can be reinforced in any or all of the units.
Planning a Unit
The following describes steps to consider when planning a unit:
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The following pages show a planning sheet that may be used for daily or unit planning and a list of various instructional strategies and assessment techniques to which teachers may wish to refer. A Model Unit has been included to serve as a further guide for planning.
Click here to see the Arts Education Planning Sheet. You need Acrobat Reader to view it properly. The following information is also intended to assist teachers in their planning.
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Common Essential Learnings
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| For objectives specific to the CELs see: Instructional Approaches: A Framework for Professional Practice, Staff Development Program Binder, 1991, or the Bulletin Board System in the conference area Teacher Information and Support. | |
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Instructional Strategies and Methods: For detailed information see Instructional Approaches: A Framework for Professional Practice, 1991 | ||
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Direct Instruction:
Indirect Instruction: |
Independent Learning:
Experiential Learning: |
Interactive Instruction: |
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Assessment Techniques: For detailed information on many of these techniques see Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook.
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Methods of Organization:
Methods of Data Recording: |
Ongoing Student Activities:
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Teacher Checklist for a Sequence of Lessons
Have you set appropriate learning objectives?
Have you mapped out a "series" of lessons within the unit; for example, several lessons under the topic "Putting It Together"?
Have you included opportunities for the students to explore and express themselves using a variety of experiences (singing, creating, playing, moving, listening)?
Have you considered the learning needs of all students?
Have you included activities which develop the Common Essential Learnings objectives?
Have you included opportunities for the students to research ideas, topics, etc.?
Have you included opportunities for both individual and group work?
Have you included opportunities for discussion?
Have you included opportunities for student reflection on their own work?
Have you included opportunities for listening to music from a variety of time periods and cultures (live and recorded)?
Have you considered all three components (creative/productive, cultural/historical and critical/responsive)?
Have you included Indian, Métis or Inuit content, either specifically or as examples of general concepts?
Have you connected the sequence of lessons to things relevant to the students and their communities?
Have you made plans to evaluate to what extent the students have achieved the foundational objectives?
Creating Sound Compositions in the Classroom
| Provide a Context | Discuss Objectives and Set Criteria | Guide Students | Perform Their Compositions | Reflect and Evaluate |
Teachers should use whatever equipment that is available to them and that they are familiar with. If there are classroom musical instruments, they should be used along with found and homemade instruments.
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.
Teachers should guide students through the process of creating sound compositions in the following way.
Provide a context or motivation for the
compositions.
Classroom composition should 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 should always be
included
and taught within a larger context. The teacher can
explore music
within the context of a unit theme or sub-heading in that
unit.
Students could 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 should be able 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 noise for other classes in the school. It is a good idea to schedule them 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 noise. The students will be 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 unstructured exploration with as varied a collection of sound-producing objects and instruments as possible. Students should be encouraged to continue creating at home, both individually and with friends, as well as in the school setting. They should 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 will also learn the work and effort that goes into making a creative statement by musical artists of all styles, cultures and types.
Discuss objectives and set criteria.
As the teacher, you will have set particular learning objectives for this activity based primarily on the following two foundational objectives:
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:
Guide students as they create.
The teacher should guide students through each of the following steps.
1. Decide on a focus.
The teacher or the students themselves may have set general or very specific criteria for structuring and developing the soundpiece.
The following are examples of general directions:
2. Collect sounds.
Collect sounds for the sound composition. For example, animal sounds, electronic sounds and environmental sounds can be put on tape. These sounds can then be referred to later when finding musical ways to represent them.
Collect found objects to make appropriate sounds. Make instruments or select sound objects to use in compositions. 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 wash boards. In addition, use traditional and electronic musical instruments, voices and body sounds.
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.
3. Explore.
During exploration, attempt to balance instructional time and problem-solving activities.
Allow the students to freely explore a wide variety of sound materials in the classroom. Students should 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 (popping a balloon, for example)? Are there a number of different ways sound can be produced?
Students might be self-conscious about exploring vocal sounds. Initial exploration could be done as a whole group, exploring different pitches and timbres. Opportunities to utilize vocal sounds, traditional and non-traditional, in non-threatening ways are to be encouraged, especially with those students who have little exposure to these types of activities. Listen to Aboriginal pow wow singing, Inuit throat singing, Chinese opera, yodelling, scat singing and other musical forms which use the voice in ways with which the students may not be familiar. If students are able to overcome their initial fears about using their voices in new ways, they will eventually be able to contribute interesting variations to their pieces. They might start in their small groups with familiar songs accompanied by rhythm instruments and then gradually introduce harmony and vocal inflections when they are more comfortable.
Extend and focus explorations by guiding students to discover new ways to make sounds or 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, students should explore and improvise with sounds in combination and in sequence. Students will develop the ability to manipulate their collected sounds. They will 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, what order to use them in and how often to use them. This stage involves decision-making about discarding, inventing, balancing, restructuring and rearranging.
Students should:
Students should:
Encourage students to rehearse or practice 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.
Encourage students to reflect on and self-evaluate their work.
At this stage, students should reflect on their compositions and processes. This might lead students to discover new ways of expressing ideas, moods and feelings, rework the instrumental combinations to create balance, work towards building tension, or improve existing and future compositions.
Encourage students to discuss the project with the other students who worked on it. What were the strong points? What could be done to make it better? Discuss specific music elements and principles of composition.
Students should also discuss the project with the teacher. 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 from it? Students can also write about the project in journals.
Help students extend and redirect their experiences.
Encourage students to:
Evaluation for creative experiences in music should focus on the individual student's process. Criteria for the project or composition should be established and shared with the student before the project begins. The teacher should evaluate creative projects in consultation with the student 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 "explore, recognize and discuss sounds of every kind".
Teachers might ask questions such as the following: