Learning Activity

Composing With Dice: Melody

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

6

Overview

Many people find the hardest part of composing music is getting started. This lesson will describe an engaging activity where students will use dice to select the notes of a melody for their next musical composition. First, the teacher assigns the letter names of a pentatonic scale to the six numbers of a typical six-sided die (the sixth pitch should be the octave above the first pitch). Next, the students will access a virtual die (or use a real one) and roll it. Then, they will draw the corresponding pitch on staff paper (or use digital notation software) using standard notation. Finally, the student will perform the melody on any available instrument (including singing).

This lesson can be used on its own or build upon the lesson titled Composing with Dice - Rhythm.

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

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Music

AE17.MU.6.3

Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or audio/video recording to document personal simple rhythmic phrases, melodic phrases, and two chord harmonic musical ideas.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.6.3

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: La- centered diatonic (minor)
  • Clef reading (diatonic)
  • Octave
  • Unison/ harmony
Harmony
  • Polyphonic
  • 2-part songs
  • 3-part songs
  • Descant
  • Bass clef
  • Accompaniment
Form
  • AB form
  • ABA form
  • Form
  • Canon
  • Composer
  • Composite forms
Expression
  • Tone Quality
  • Articulation
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (G3-G5)
  • Historical periods

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
  • Perform original music that adheres to a simple formal structure.
Creating
  • Describe distinguishing characteristics of music forms (e.g., verse-refrain, AB, ABA, rondo, canon, theme and variation) from various cultures and historical periods.
  • Compose an eight-measure melody based on a diatonic scale using familiar rhythmic patterns.
  • Create movement to illustrate the form of a composition.
Reading/ Writing
  • Identify instruments used in Western and world music ensembles.
  • Identify different functions and uses of music in American and other cultures.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Distinguish between and among the use of dynamics, meter, tempo and tonality in various pieces through active listening.
  • Describe roles and skills musicians assume in various cultures and settings.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Music

AE17.MU.6.9

Read and identify by name or function standard symbols for rhythm, pitch, articulation, and dynamics.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.6.9

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: La- centered diatonic (minor)
  • Clef reading (diatonic)
  • Octave
  • Unison/ harmony
Harmony
  • Polyphonic
  • 2-part songs
  • 3-part songs
  • Descant
  • Bass clef
  • Accompaniment
Form
  • AB form
  • ABA form
  • Form
  • Canon
  • Composer
  • Composite forms
Expression
  • Tone Quality
  • Articulation
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (G3-G5)
  • Historical periods

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
  • Play melodies on the recorder within an octave range, using a pleasing tone quality, both independently and collaboratively.
  • Demonstrate proper posture, hand position and embouchure for playing the recorder.
  • Demonstrate proper pitch control of notes in the lower register of the soprano recorder.
  • Play two-part and three-part recorder arrangements.
  • Perform a varied repertoire of music representing diverse cultures with appropriate dynamics and tempo.
  • Play a variety of classroom instruments, independently or collaboratively, with increasingly complex rhythms and melodic phrases.
  • Demonstrate a characteristic sound while singing unison or two-part songs.
  • Sing descants to produce harmony.
Creating
  • Demonstrate rhythmic augmentation and diminution in a familiar tune.
  • Improvise, compose and arrange music.
Reading/ Writing
  • Read, write, perform, and compose rhythm patterns and simple melodies in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Identify members of the recorder family, including soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
  • Identify the difference between duple and simple meter.
  • Identify irregular meters such as, 7/8 and 5/4.
  • Respond appropriately to the cues of a conductor.
  • Attend live performances and demonstrate appropriate audience etiquette.
  • Describe the characteristics used by the composer in a selected musical example to create a mood or effect.
  • Recognize I, IV, and V chords in the context of a piece of music.
  • Identify composite forms, such as, opera, oratorio, and musical theatre.
  • Identify polyphonic texture.

Anchor Standards

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

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will

  • use standard notation to indicate specific pitches on a musical staff
  • compose a short melody
  • perform a short melody

Activity Details

Opening Strategy

  • the teacher will review the seven letter names in the musical alphabet
  • the teacher will review the letter names of the lines and spaces in the treble clef
  • the teacher will ask the students to call out random letter names from the musical alphabet and then notate them on the staff
  • after five or six notes, the teacher will sing/play the melody on the staff
  • the teacher will ask the students if they have ever used dice in a game such as Yahtzee
  • the teacher will project the Roll a Die website for the students to see and demonstrate how it works (the teacher could also use real dice)
  • the teacher will assign notes from a pentatonic scale to the six sides of the die (for example 1 = C, 2 = D, 3 = E, 4 = G, 5 = A, 6 = C)
  • the teacher will demonstrate rolling the die and composing a melody

Core Strategy

  • the students can work individually or in small groups
  • the student will roll the die and draw the pitch that corresponds to the die number on the music staff
  • the student will repeat this process 10 times
  • If this lesson is following the lesson Composing with Dice: Rhythm, the student will use the rhythmic value for each note from their rhythmic composition. If not, the student can (a) choose their own rhythmic value, (b) roll two dice and use the number from the second die to determine the rhythmic value, or (c) follow a model provided by the teacher.

Closing Strategy

  • the students should have a ten note melody that can be played on a musical instrument or sung
  • the student will practice performing the melody
  • the student will perform the melody for the class
  • the student and class will discuss the characteristics of the melody using vocabulary such as contour, ascending, descending, step, skip, and leap
Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

Students will sen their music notation work to their teacher as email attachments if it is in a digital format, or, hand-in hard copies.

Teachers will

  • evaluate the student's ability to draw or place notation symbols accurately
  • evaluate the student's performance of the melody for accuracy
  • assess the ability of the student to describe the characteristics of their melody 

 

Variation Tips

The pentatonic scale was chosen because it is easy to work with. Teachers could expand this lesson to use the major scale, minor scale, or limit the choices to fewer than five pitches.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

If the students will be using notation software, they should be familiar with using the software prior to the lesson. 

If this lesson is not following the Composing with Dice: Rhythm lesson, the instructor should decide how the students will determine rhythmic values for their pitches.

Digital Tools / Resources

Roll a Die
http://rolladie.net

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

mzelenak
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