Classroom Resource

Musical Make-Believe

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Overview

This article explores the use of transitions in music lessons.  A transition creates a lesson that is streamlined and flows from one activity to the next.  It explains four types of transitions - thematic verbal transitions, directive verbal transitions, non-verbal transitions, and literacy transitions.  Students will perform songs and transitions during the lesson.  

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

AE17.MU.K.13

Perform appropriately for the audience.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.K.13

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: 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
  • Demonstrate same and different (e.g., fast/slow, loud/soft, high/low and long/short).
  • Demonstrate a steady beat and maintain it while performing.
  • Sing using head voice and appropriate posture.
  • Play a variety of classroom instruments, alone and with others, and demonstrate proper technique.
Creating
  • Create a wide variety of vocal and instrumental sounds.
Reading/ Writing
  • Explore connections between sound and its visual representation.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Move to music of various and contrasting styles, composers and cultures.
  • Demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 1 - Music

AE17.MU.1.14

Perform appropriately for the audience and specific occasion.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.1.14

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: 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 or play music with attention to expressive elements such as dynamics and articulation
  • Perform music from a variety of cultural traditions, focusing on holidays and special days.
Creating
  • Create new verses for familiar songs.
  • Use manipulatives or movement to inform melodic contour.
Reading/ Writing
  • Write rhythmic phrases that include quarter notes and paired eighth notes using standard or iconic notation.
  • Read rhythmic phrases containing quarter notes, quarter rests, and paired eighth notes using standard or iconic notation.
  • Indicate melodic contour using manipulatives such as yarn, or by drawing lines that reflect the melodic contour.
  • Identify expressive markings in printed music.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Determine the appropriate dynamics and articulation for different types of music (ex.
    • March = staccato, forte; lullaby = legato, piano).

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 2 - Music

AE17.MU.2.14

Perform appropriately for the audience, purpose, and specific occasion.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.2.14

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: 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
  • Perform age-appropriate music with attention to expressive markings indicated in the printed music.
Creating
  • Perform an improvised interlude to a known song, matching expression and rhythmic/melodic themes.
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify expressive markings in printed music.
  • Identify meter marking in printed music.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Notate from dictation 8-beat rhythm patterns using standard notation.
  • Perform short melodic patterns from standard or iconic notation.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 3 - Music

AE17.MU.3.14

Perform music with expression and technical accuracy.

Unpacked Content

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.

Unpacked Content

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.

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
https://www.musicconstructed.com/tool/musical-make-believe/

CR Resource Type

Informational Material

Resource Provider

Music ConstructED
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.musicconstructed.com/privacy-policy/

Approved Date

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