Classroom Resource

Listen Up, Canada

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

4, 5

Overview

Students will explore the life and music of Canadian composer, Raymond Murray Shafer. Students learn about R. Murray Schafer's soundscapes. "A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions," says composer R. Murray Schafer. "When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous." David New's portrait of the renowned composer becomes a lesson unto itself, gracing viewers (and listeners) with a singular moment of interactive subjectivity. In this activity, students will listen to his music and compose with found sounds.  

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

AE17.MU.4.1

Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific social and cultural purposes and contexts.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.4.1

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: The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians' work emerge from a variety of sources.
EQ: How do musicians generate creative ideas?

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 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Music

AE17.MU.5.1

Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific social, cultural, and historical purposes and contexts.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.MU.5.1

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: The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians' work emerge from a variety of sources.
EQ: How do musicians generate creative ideas?

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 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Link to Resource
http://naccna-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/schafer-teacher-guide-eng.pdf

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

National Arts Centre

Resource Provider other

National Arts Centre
Accessibility

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

http://artsalive.ca/en/eth/footer/siteinfo.asp

Comments or Notes

Student workbook http://naccna-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/nac_listen_up_may2014_enq9_-_improved_web_version.pdf

Excerpt 1: Miniwanka Opening http://naccna-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/excerpt_1_miniwanka_-_opening.mp3

Excerpt 2: Miniwanka Plosh  http://naccna-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/excerpt_2_miniwanka_-_plosh_page%2C_4_mm_before_f_to_g.mp3 

R. Murray Schafer compositions from YouTube:

Miniwanka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViBbRM3gFnI

Epitaph for Moonlight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzUXzu7JYFc

**Additional R. Murray Schafer compositions can be found on YouTube

Approved Date

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