Exploring Melodic Phrases

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

K, 1, 2

Overview

Students will identify phrases in poems, nursery rhymes, and songs. A worksheet is provided to identify phrases in a nursery rhyme and song. Video demonstrations are provided. 

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): KG - Music

AE17.MU.K.15

Demonstrate how a specific music concept is used in music.

UP:AE17.MU.K.15

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Steady beat
  • Long/ Short
  • One and two sounds per beat
  • Silent beat
Melody
  • High and low
  • Pitch set: So, Mi
  • Musical alphabet
Harmony
  • Accompaniment/ no accompaniment
Form
  • Like and unlike phrases
  • Echo
Expression
  • Speak, sing, shout, whisper
  • Solo/ Group
  • Unpitched percussion
  • Flute, trumpet, violin, piano
  • Loud/ Soft
  • Fast/ Slow
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette

Essential Questions

EU: Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.
EQ: How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Perform songs of various genres while reflecting appropriate stylistic characteristics.
Creating
  • Purposefully move to music and articulate why they made the movement choices they made based on the music they heard.
Reading/ Writing
  • Discuss, using musical language, the characteristics of the music they hear and/or perform.
  • Discuss, using age/developmentally appropriate musical language, what sort of music they like personally and why.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Share ideas about musical selections of various and contrasting styles, composers and musical periods.
  • Describe how sounds and music are used in our daily lives.
  • Describe the difference between steady beat and rhythm.
  • Identify and connect a concept shared between music and another curricular area.
  • Identify and discuss various uses of music in the United States and the various meanings of the term "musician."
  • Respond to sound with a drawing of how the sound makes them feel.
  • Offer opinions about their own musical experiences and responses to music.
  • Aurally identify flute, trumpet, violin, and piano.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 1 - Music

AE17.MU.1.16

Demonstrate and identify how specific music concepts are used in various styles of music for a purpose.

UP:AE17.MU.1.16

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Quarter note, quarter rest, paired eighth notes
  • Strong/ weak beat
  • Steady beat/ rhythm
  • Allegro/ adagio
Melody
  • Pitch set: Mi, So, La
  • Steps/ skips/ repeated notes
  • Melodic direction
  • Modified staff
  • Line notes and space notes
Harmony/texture
  • Rhythmic ostinati
  • Simple bordun
Form
  • AB, ABA
Expression
  • Legato, staccato
  • Piano (p), forte (f)
  • Classroom instrument classifications
  • Clarinet, trombone, cello, drum
  • Orchestral music: ballet
  • Non-Western music celebrations
Other
  • Proper singing posture
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (C4 - C5)1
  • Mallet/ drumming technique — hands together

Essential Questions

EU: Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.
EQ: How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Select appropriate music for specific events such as school festivals, community events, and class or grade level performances.
Creating
  • Create a rhythmic ostinato that reflects the style of the music performed (ex: finger cymbals/lullaby).
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify repeated rhythmic passages in music and notate using iconic notation (ex: rhythm of repeated melodic phrase in "In the Hall of the Mountain King").
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Aurally identify clarinet, trombone, and cello in the context of an ensemble performance.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 2 - Music

AE17.MU.2.17

Demonstrate knowledge of music concepts and how they support creators’/performers’ expressive intent.

UP:AE17.MU.2.17

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Eighth note, eighth rest, half note, half rest, whole note, whole rest
  • Strong/ weak beat — 2/4; 3/4 meter
  • Accelerando/ ritardando
Melody
  • Pitch Set: Do, Re, Mi, So, La
  • Five-line staff
  • Treble clef
  • Names of lines/ spaces (treble staff)
Harmony
  • Melodic ostinati
  • Partner songs
Form
  • AAB, AABA, Rondo
  • Verse/ Refrain
Expression
  • Orchestral instrument families
  • Piano (p), forte (f)
  • Crescendo/ decrescendo
  • Orchestral Music: programmatic
  • Indigenous music: Native American
  • American music: slave songs, colonial folk songs
Other
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (B3-D5)1
  • Mallet/ drumming technique: alternating hands

Essential Questions

EU: Through their use of elements and structures of music, creators and performers provide clues to their expressive intent.
EQ: How do we discern musical creators' and performers' expressive intent?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Demonstrate understanding of musical intent when performing, through attention to expressive markings.
Creating
  • Demonstrate understanding of cultural authenticity by performing music with appropriate stylistic expression
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify repeat signs and multiple verses in a verse/refrain song
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Explain musical decisions that contribute to the expressive intent of the music.
  • Describe the context of lyrics in a verse/refrain song.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

Carnegie Hall

License Type

Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
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