Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Incredibox to the Rescue

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

4, 5

Overview

This classroom resource offers a series of lessons from LeslieAnne Bird uses the free site, Incredibox, to help students create their own compositions. It culminates in a DJ Party performance. She provides links to a set of Youtube videos by The Little Kids Rock that makes the process easy. This series of lessons work best with classes that have 1:1 devices.

    Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 4 - Music

    AE17.MU.4.4

    Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic, melodic, and simple harmonic musical ideas.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:AE17.MU.4.4

    Vocabulary

    Rhythm
    • Conducting patterns in
    • Syncopation
    Melody
    • Pitch set: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, Ti
    • Treble clef reading (La, So, Mi, Re, Do)
    • Middle C through High B
    • Create melodic sequences
    • Half-step
    • Whole step
    Harmony
    • Canons
    • Chord components
    • Chord progression (I, V)
    • Crossover bordun
    Form
    • Phrasing: antecedent and consequent
    • D.C. al coda
    • Fine
    Expression
    • pp through ff
    Other
    • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
    • Orchestra instruments within the 4 families
    • Age-appropriate pitch matching (A3-E5)

    Essential Questions

    EU: Musicians' creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.
    EQ: How do musicians make creative decisions?

    Skills Examples

    Performing
    • With limited guidance, perform simple chord progressions on pitched instruments.
    • Play a variety of classroom instruments with proper technique.
    • Use the head voice to produce a light, clear sound employing breath support and maintaining appropriate posture.
    Creating
    • With limited guidance, improvise or compose a 2-4 measure musical idea, a pentatonic melody, or a rhythm pattern using age-appropriate note values.
    • Create vocal harmony using rounds, ostinati, canons and partner songs.
    Reading/ Writing
    • Use notation and/or recording technology to document personal musical ideas.
    Responding/ Evaluating
    • Describe the way sound is produced by various instruments and the human voice.
    • Listen, identify and respond to music of different composers and world cultures.

    Anchor Standards

    Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
    Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Music

    AE17.MU.5.4

    Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic, melodic, and two-chord harmonic musical ideas.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:AE17.MU.5.4

    Vocabulary

    Rhythm
    Melody
    • Pitch set: Do-centered diatonic
    • Treble clef reading (choral octavos)
    • Grand staff
    • Bass clef
    • Accidentals
    • Major scale
    Harmony
    • Part singing/ playing
    • Chord progression (I, IV, V)
    • Arpeggio
    • Descant
    • Level bordun
    Form
    • Rondo form
    • 12-Bar blues
    Expression
    • Vibrato
    • Tremolo
    • Reggae
    • Blues
    • Timbre: soprano, alto, tenor, bass
    Other
    • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
    • Age-appropriate pitch matching (Ab3-F5)

    Essential Questions

    EU: Musicians' creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.
    EQ: How do musicians make creative decisions?

    Skills Examples

    Performing
    • Improvise over standard folk songs using the pitch set: La, So, Mi, Re, and Do.
    • Improvise melodies in a major diatonic scale by singing or using a pitched instrument.
    • Compose melodies and accompaniments to songs, poems, stories, and dramatizations, using AB, ABA, and rondo forms.
    • Perform pre-written musical ideas.
    • Perform harmonic accompaniments using Orff instruments, Boomwhackers, electronic sources, or by any other appropriate harmonic instrument.
    • Notate simple rhythms and melodies within a specified meter and tonality.
    Creating
    • Create a 12-bar blues song using appropriate chordal structure and lyrics.
    • Explore and identify musical instruments from different historical periods and world cultures.
    Reading/ Writing
    • Write an original blues song.
    • Identify elements of music including tonality, dynamics, tempo and meter.
    • Identify patterns of whole and half steps in a major scale.
    • Compose 4 or 8 measure pieces using appropriate notation.
    Responding/ Evaluating
    • Review and refine a composition.
    • Evaluate a performance, using appropriate vocabulary to describe strengths and weaknesses of the performance.
    • Listen to, identify, and respond to music of different composers, historical periods, and world cultures.
    • Identify terms related to form.
    • Recognize and identify longer music forms such as 12-bar blues, sonata form and theme and variations.
    • Identify vocal timbre as soprano, alto, tenor, or bass.
    • Write short self-reflections about his/her composition and the creative process.

    Anchor Standards

    Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
    Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Music

    AE17.MU.5.14

    Perform music, alone or with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:AE17.MU.5.14

    Vocabulary

    Rhythm
    Melody
    • Pitch set: Do-centered diatonic
    • Treble clef reading (choral octavos)
    • Grand staff
    • Bass clef
    • Accidentals
    • Major scale
    Harmony
    • Part singing/ playing
    • Chord progression (I, IV, V)
    • Arpeggio
    • Descant
    • Level bordun
    Form
    • Rondo form
    • 12-Bar blues
    Expression
    • Vibrato
    • Tremolo
    • Reggae
    • Blues
    • Timbre: soprano, alto, tenor, bass
    Other
    • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
    • Age-appropriate pitch matching (Ab3-F5)

    Essential Questions

    EU: Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time, place, and cultures. The context and how a work is presented influence the audience response.
    EQ: When is a performance judged ready to present? How do context and the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience response?

    Skills Examples

    Performing
    • Sing a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch, appropriate expressive qualities, proper posture and breath control.
    • Sing intervals on pitch within a major diatonic scale.
    • Perform melodies on recorder while reading standard and/or iconic music notation.
    • Perform, on instruments, a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch, appropriate expressive qualities, proper posture and breath control.
    • Sing partner songs to create harmony.
    • Sight-read and prepare a performance.
    Creating
    • Demonstrate appropriate use of legato and staccato in a song.
    • Create a personal playlist and explain why each piece was selected.
    • Improvise, compose and arrange music.
    • Use technology and the media arts to create and perform music.
    Reading/ Writing
    • Read, write, and perform rhythms in 2/4, 3/4.
    • 4/4. and 6/8 meter signatures using whole notes through sixteenth notes, including dotted notes.
    • Read, write and perform diatonic melodies and the major scale on the treble clef staff.
    • Identify tempo markings such as allegro, presto, largo, and andante.
    • Identify ledger-line notes A, B, and C above the treble clef staff.
    • Identify whole and half steps of the major diatonic scale in printed music.
    • Recognize the difference between major and minor tonalities.
    • Write program notes to accompany performances.
    Responding/ Evaluating
    • Discuss melodic and harmonic elements used in a piece of music.
    • Explain how a performer performs a piece of music differently when he/she knows the social, cultural, or historical background of the piece, (e.g., How does knowing the history of the American Civil Rights Movement affect the performance of "We Shall Overcome?"
    • Demonstrate appropriate audience etiquette at live performances.
    • Write performance reviews of performances.

    Anchor Standards

    Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Lesson/Unit Plan

    Resource Provider

    Teaching With Orff
    Accessibility

    Accessibility

    Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
    License

    License Type

    Custom
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