Learning and Fun Using a Virtual Keyboard

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

3, 4, 5

Overview

In this classroom resource, Megan Stilla introduces a free virtual keyboard on the Musicca website. A PDF learning sheet is included for the teacher or students to use as a guide. A link to a version of "Lean On Me" on Youtube is also provided. The PDF guide includes chord notes, guitar, ukulele, and bass guitar notes to be used as an extension.

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 3 - Music

AE17.MU.3.9

Read and perform rhythmic patterns and melodic phrases using iconic and standard notation.

UP:AE17.MU.3.9

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Bar lines
  • Measures
Melody
  • Pitch set: Low So, Low La, High Do
  • Treble clef reading (Mi, Re, Do)
  • Middle C to high G
  • Ledger lines
Harmony
  • Partner songs
  • Rounds
  • Ostinati
Form
  • Theme and variations
  • Coda
  • D.S. al coda
  • Repeat sign
  • Fermata
Expression
  • Phrase/ phrasing
  • Pianissimo (pp), fortissimo (ff)
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Orchestral instruments: 4 families
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (Bb3 - Eb5)

Essential Questions

EU: Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of context and expressive intent
EQ: How do performers interpret musical works?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Sing a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch and expressive qualities individually and with others.
  • Sing, move and respond to music from diverse cultures.
  • Sing, move and respond to age-appropriate music of various composers.
  • Play a variety of classroom instruments with proper technique.
Creating
  • Improvise and compose short compositions using a variety of classroom instruments and sound sources.
  • Create new words for familiar songs.
Reading/ Writing
  • Read, write and perform using two-eighth through whole note values including rhythms in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 meter.
  • Read, write and perform extended pentatonic melodies.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Use the head voice to produce a light, clear sound employing breath support and maintaining appropriate posture.
  • Develop criteria and use it to critique their own performances and the performances of others.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 3 - Music

AE17.MU.3.14

Perform music with expression and technical accuracy.

UP:AE17.MU.3.14

Vocabulary

Rhythm
  • Bar lines
  • Measures
Melody
  • Pitch set: Low So, Low La, High Do
  • Treble clef reading (Mi, Re, Do)
  • Middle C to high G
  • Ledger lines
Harmony
  • Partner songs
  • Rounds
  • Ostinati
Form
  • Theme and variations
  • Coda
  • D.S. al coda
  • Repeat sign
  • Fermata
Expression
  • Phrase/ phrasing
  • Pianissimo (pp), fortissimo (ff)
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Orchestral instruments: 4 families
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (Bb3 - Eb5)

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 and expressive qualities individually and with others.
  • Sing, move and respond to music from diverse cultures.
  • Sing, move and respond to age-appropriate music of various composers.
  • Play a variety of classroom instruments with proper technique.
Creating
  • Improvise and compose short compositions using a variety of classroom instruments and sound sources.
  • Create new words for familiar songs.
Reading/ Writing
  • Read, write and perform using two-eighth through whole note values including rhythms in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 meter.
  • Read, write and perform extended pentatonic melodies.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Use the head voice to produce a light, clear sound employing breath support and maintaining appropriate posture.
  • Develop criteria and use it to critique their own performances and the performances of others.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 4 - Music

AE17.MU.4.14

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

UP:AE17.MU.4.14

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 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, move and respond to music from world cultures and different composers.
  • Sing a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm, pitch and expressive qualities individually and with others.
Creating
  • With limited guidance, Improvise and compose short compositions using a variety of classroom instruments and sound sources.
Reading/ Writing
  • Read, write and perform using rhythm patterns that include syncopated rhythms, in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 meter.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Use the head voice to produce a light, clear sound employing breath support and maintaining appropriate posture.
  • Use student developed criteria to critique their own performances and the performances of others.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic 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.

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.

CR Resource Type

Informational Material

Resource Provider

Other

License Type

Custom

Resource Provider other

Teaching With Orff
https://teachingwithorff.com/learning-and-fun-using-a-virtual-keyboard/

Custom License Type (URL)

https://teachingwithorff.com/about/

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles

Approved Date

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