Classroom Resource

On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Arts Education

Grade(s)

6, 7, 8

Overview

No matter where you teach, students are likely to listen to music. Their tastes may vary widely—pop, rap, country, classical, jazz, R & B. Regardless of their preferences, they each bring a rich knowledge of musical tunes and lyrics to the classroom. This lesson takes advantage of that interest by asking students to create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read. Students begin by analyzing how specific songs might fit with a familiar story. Students then create their own soundtracks for the movie version of a novel they have read. They select songs that match the text and fit specific events in the story. Finally, students share their projects with the class and assess their work using a rubric. Examples in this lesson focus on The Beast by Walter Dean Myers, but any piece of literature can be used as the basis of students' soundtracks.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 7

ELA21.7.15

Utilize digital tools and/or products to enhance meaning.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.7.15

Vocabulary

  • Digital tools/products

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Necessary skills to utilize digital tools.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use digital tools or products, such as hashtags, videos, slide presentations, audio clips, GIFS, memes, and social media platforms, to strategically enhance the meaning of digital texts.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Digital tools and products can be used to enhance the overall meaning of a text.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 8

ELA21.8.14

Utilize digital tools and/or products to enhance meaning.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.8.14

Vocabulary

  • Digital tools
  • Digital products

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Necessary skills to utilize digital tools.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use digital tools or products, such as hashtags, videos, slide presentations, audio clips, GIFS, memes, and clips from social media, to strategically enhance the meaning of digital texts.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Digital tools and products can be used to enhance the overall meaning of a text.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Music

AE17.MU.6.15

Select music to listen to and explain the connections to interests or experiences for a specific purpose.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.6.15

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: La- centered diatonic (minor)
  • Clef reading (diatonic)
  • Octave
  • Unison/ harmony
Harmony
  • Polyphonic
  • 2-part songs
  • 3-part songs
  • Descant
  • Bass clef
  • Accompaniment
Form
  • AB form
  • ABA form
  • Form
  • Canon
  • Composer
  • Composite forms
Expression
  • Tone Quality
  • Articulation
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (G3-G5)
  • Historical periods

Essential Questions

EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Sight-read rhythm patterns commonly found in middle-level literature.
  • Sight-read eight-beat, stepwise, and unison melodic patterns.
  • Analyze a musical score to determine formal components such as D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Coda, etc.
Creating
  • Develop criteria to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of music performances and compositions including their own.
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify stylistic elements of a piece of music based on markings in the score.
  • Follow a musical score that contains formal components such as D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Coda, etc.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Identify the names of the lines and spaces in the bass clef.
  • Identify accidentals, including flats, sharps, and naturals.
  • Reflect on a variety of live or recorded music performances.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 7 - Music

AE17.MU.7.15

Select contrasting music to listen to and compare the connections to interests or experiences for a specific purpose.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.7.15

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard,
  • invented, or technological)
Melody
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard, invented, or technological)
Harmony
  • Phrase
  • Accompaniment
  • Progression
Form
  • Binary form (AB)
  • Ternary form (ABA)
  • Style
  • Genre
  • Structure (melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic)
Expression
  • Tempo
  • Dynamics
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette

Essential Questions

EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Perform music appropriate for middle level students from a variety of cultures, genres, and historical time periods.
  • Perform music appropriate for middle level learners that represents personal interests or experiences.
  • Compare and contrast, with guidance, context of music, selected for performance.
Creating
  • Create a playlist of music for listening that reflects personal interests, and/or a specific purpose, and/or an experience and describe how each selection is related.
  • Compare and contrast the context of at least two pieces of music created by self or peers and explain how the elements of music and expressive qualities were used in each piece.
  • Analyze at least two pieces of music created by self and peers and explain how the elements of music and expressive qualities contribute to each piece's structure.
Reading/ Writing
  • Use standard notation skills, with guidance, to analyze music to be performed.
  • Use standard notation skills, with guidance, to explain music created by self and peers.
  • Aurally compare and contrast, with guidance, two pieces and explain how the elements of music and expressive qualities are used to convey intent.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Create a presentation (lecture, multimedia, etc.) that describes a composer's or performer's use of the elements of music and expressive qualities to convey intent.
  • Develop a presentation (lecture or multimedia) that explains your personal interpretation of how the elements of music and expressive qualities were used to convey intent and meaning in specific musical pieces.
  • Discuss how musical products are evaluated by professional musicians.
  • Evaluate musical performances and products, with criteria provided by the teacher.
  • Compare and contrast how cultural and societal convention influences responses to music.
  • Develop, with guidance, personal criteria for responding to music.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 8 - Music

AE17.MU.8.15

Select programs of music and demonstrate the connections to an interest or experience for a specific purpose.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.8.15

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Tension and release
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard, iconic, technological)
Melody
  • Tension and release
  • Phrase
  • Notation (standard, iconic, technological)
Harmony
  • Texture
  • Tension and release
  • Sequence
  • Notation (standard, iconic, technological)
Form
  • Arrangement
  • Song structure
  • Expanded forms
  • Introduction
  • Transition
  • Coda
  • Style
  • Genre
  • Structure
Expression
  • Timbre
  • Balance
Other
  • Sound sources (instruments, voices, found sounds, & technology)
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquettes

Essential Questions

EU: Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences, understandings, and purposes.
EQ: How do individuals choose music to experience?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Perform a program of music that is for a specific purpose, interest, or experience and explain your choices.
  • Perform music from a variety of cultures, styles, historical time periods, or genres and discuss how personal interpretation and the composer's use of the elements of music influence expressive intent.
  • Compare and contrast the context of music selected for performance.
Creating
  • Compare and contrast the context of three or more pieces of music created by self or peers and explain how the elements of music and expressive qualities were used in each piece.
  • Compare and contrast how the elements of music and expressive qualities are used in multiple pieces from the same time period and/or culture, and/or genre to create meaning and expression.
Reading/ Writing
  • Analyze music using standard notation and appropriate vocabulary.
  • Compare and contrast how the elements of music and expressive qualities are used within music selected for performance to contribute to the overall structure and intent.
    • Cite specific examples and use appropriate vocabulary.
  • Analyze music of a variety of cultures, styles, historical time periods, and/or genres and compare the context and/or intent of the pieces.
  • Compare common terms and how they are used in various pieces to demonstrate intent.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Compare and contrast programs of music for connections to history and culture.
  • Develop personal criteria based on personal knowledge and skills for including music in performance programs.
  • Develop personal criteria based on the elements of music for including music in performance programs.
  • Demonstrate (lecture, presentation, journal, etc.) how personal knowledge and experience contribute to enjoyment of music.
  • Identify how criteria based on the elements of music support personal preference for specific musical works.
  • Develop a rubric to evaluate musical performances and/or musical works based on personally developed criteria.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Link to Resource
http://readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/musical-note-explori…

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

ReadWriteThink
Accessibility

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.readwritethink.org/util/legal.html

Approved Date

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