Learning Activity

Can You Read and Play the Pitches on the Treble Clef Staff?

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

3, 4

Overview

This activity is designed to assess whether students are able to read the pitches on the treble clef staff. The digital resource contains games that students can play to give you the opportunity to observe their ability to read the pitches. You will also be able to assess students' ability to play the notes they are reading on an ORFF instrument.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

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

AE17.MU.3.9

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

Unpacked Content

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): 4 - Music

AE17.MU.4.9

Read and perform with increased fluency, using iconic and/or standard notation.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.4.9

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: Analyzing creators' context and how they manipulate elements of music provides insight into their intent and informs performance.
EQ: How does understanding the structure and context of musical works inform performance?

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 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Phase

After/Explain/Elaborate
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will:

  1. read the pitches on the lines and spaces of the staff, produced by the digital resource.  
  2. build words using the letter names of the lines and spaces on the treble clef staff.
  3. read notes and perform them on the xylophone.  

Activity Details

  1. Sit in two groups/teams, across from each other, in front of the interactive whiteboard.
  2. Go to the website and choose to play the game, Note Names.
  3. Take turns in this game by tossing a Nerf ball across to the other team. The student who catches the ball will get a turn. If a student catches the ball and has already had a turn, they should pass it to someone in their group who has not had a turn.
  4. When the student gets an answer right, his or her team receives a point. The teacher should keep score for both teams.
  5. When the game is complete, divide into partner teams.  
  6. Pass out felt staff boards and quarter notes to each partner team.
  7. One partner will use their felt staff board to create a melody and the other student will play the melody on the xylophone to make sure the pitch is correct.
  8. The teacher will check each group’s melody.
  9. Perform each melody for the class.
Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

Determine whether students can read the letter names of the lines and spaces of the staff by observing students playing the game. Determine whether students can create their own melodies by observing the partner groups collaborating. 

Variation Tips

  1. Create a rhythm pattern to accompany their melody.
  2. Create lyrics to go with their melody.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

  1. Review the letter names on the lines and spaces on the treble clef staff.
  2. Set up some xylophones.
  3. Create felt staff boards and notes if needed.

Digital Tools / Resources

Classics for Kids Note Names
http://classicsforkids.com/games/note_names.php

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

jmuse83
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