General Music Responding to and Creating Blues Music—Grade 5
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General Music Creating through Responding Unit Grade 5 Responding to and Creating Blues Music A Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States Teaching with Primary Sources ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PERSONNEL, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GRANT — WRITING RESPONDING UNITS 2018–2019 PROJECT DIRECTOR • Johanna J. Siebert COMPOSITION/THEORY WRITING TEAM • Carolyn Bennett, North Stonington, CT, Team Chair • Terrence E. Bacon, North Chili, NY • Lisa Cookson, Wichita, KS GENERAL MUSIC WRITING TEAM • Wendy Barden, Minnetonka, MN, Team Chair • Steve Kennedy, New Orleans, LA • Richard Maxwell, Phoenix, AZ • Susan Osborn, Bear, DE • David Potter, Lansing, MI • Matt Warren, Webster, NY Special thanks to the Library of Congress for the generous grant on Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS), which made this resource possible. GENERAL MUSIC RESPONDING UNIT | GRADE 5 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview of NAfME/Library of Congress Responding Units ........... 4 Overview of Grade 5 General Music Unit on Responding to and Creating Blues Music ............................................ 4 Prerequisite Knowledge and Experiences ........................... 5 Instructional Goals ............................................. 5 Embedded Inquiry Model: KWL ................................... 6 National Core Arts Standards in Music (2014) ....................... 7 Formative/Summative Assessments ............................... 9 Library of Congress Resource Links ............................... 10 LESSONS Lesson 1: Experiencing and Interpreting Blues .......................... 12 Lesson 2: Describing and Contextualizing the Blues ..................... 16 Lesson 3: Creating and Developing Blues .............................. 22 Lesson 4: Presenting and Synthesizing Blues ........................... 27 HANDOUTS ................................................... 32 GENERAL MUSIC RESPONDING UNIT | GRADE 5 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION 3 OVERVIEW OF NAfME/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RESPONDING UNITS These units are based on the 2014 National Music Standards (nafme.org/standards). These Standards are all about music literacy, since they emphasize conceptual understanding in areas that reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage; they cultivate a student’s ability to carry out the three Artistic Processes of Creating, Performing, and Responding while aligning with the ideal of Connecting to their world and the world around them. These are the processes that musicians have followed for generations, even as they connect through music to their selves and their societies. OVERVIEW OF GRADE 5 GENERAL MUSIC UNIT ON RESPONDING TO AND CREATING BLUES MUSIC This Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Unit is aligned with the Artistic Processes of (1) Responding, defined as understanding and evaluating how music conveys meaning, and (2)Creating , the application of musical concepts to develop original musical ideas. Through application of inquiry-based instructional strategies linked to essential questions embedded in the Responding and Creating Process components (Select, Analyze, Interpret, Evaluate/Imagine, Plan and Make, Revise and Evaluate, Present), students understand how creators manipulate the elements of music to convey expressive intent related to specific contexts (social, cultural, historical). Acquisition of music knowledge and skills leads to students becoming independent thinkers and creators. The Process components need not be linear in instruction and student learning; rather, they can be presented in an order appropriate to the integration of specific content and knowledge as determined by each grade level and curricular focus. This general music unit music-making activities and responding activities use the genre of the blues. Three audio examples of blues compositions from the Library of Congress will be used as primary resources. While the time frame, like the creative process, is flexible, the lessons in this unit can be done in approximately 3–4 hours of total instruction time. The first lesson is a readiness lesson, where the students will be asked to write or record a critical account of experiences in their life. Students will then listen to a blues song that provides a critical account in the lyrics. Potential examples include, but are not limited to, “We Don’t Have No Payday Here,” “I Heard What You Said About Me,” and “Obey the Ration Laws.” The intent is to establish familiarity with critical narratives in blues songs. Reinforcing and extending the material over several lessons will allow for student reflection and retention. This will also allow students who were absent in a previous lesson to have the opportunity to experience songs within the blues genre. The Readiness activities for the blues songs used in this unit include multiple listening examples that can be teacher-selected from various resources. While it focuses on the Responding Artistic Process, this unit will apply the understandings gained to the idea of responding through creating. Additionally, other music- making experiences separate from the blues activities are encouraged for exploration within the lessons. This approach will help keep students engaged in the overall music-making and learning process. Estimated Lesson Title Description Duration Experiencing and Finding hopes, dreams, and concerns in blues recordings 1 45–60 min Interpreting Blues Describing and Distinguishing blues recordings and the role of civics in recordings 2 Contextualizing 45–60 min Blues Creating and Improvising, informing, and practicing 12-bar blues 3 45–60 min Developing Blues Presenting and Presenting original student works based on the blues 4 45–60 min Synthesizing Blues GENERAL MUSIC RESPONDING UNIT | GRADE 5 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION 4 PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES • Students should have experience discussing history and participating in collaborative discussions. • Students should have a working knowledge of grade-level musical terms. • Students should have experience comparing and contrasting musical genres. • Students should have experience creating short pieces of music. • Students should have experience explaining why music interests them. • Students should have experience discussing purposes for which music was/is created. • Students can describe a composition and/or arrangement. • Students can explain how lyrics reflect intent. • Students have experience analyzing the elements of a musical experience. • Students have experience evaluating musical works and performances using specific criteria based on the elements of music. • Students have experience reading and/or listening to musical and lyrical literature. • Students have experience improvising music. Note: This unit contains old recordings that have been digitized from the Library of Congress collections. It may be necessary to discuss early recording technology with students before beginning the unit so that they understand that the crackle and hissing sounds are not part of the music examples. INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES/STUDENT “I CAN” STATEMENTS • I can critically analyze a blues song and reflect on its cultural context. • I can critically listen to my own compositions as well as those of others. • I can reflect on blues compositions using appropriate musical terms. • I can use musical concepts to describe musical experiences within the blues. • I can make connections between personal experiences and the experiences described within blues compositions. • I can explore the purposes and contexts of blues compositions. • I can create a final composition or arrangement based on the blues. • I can improvise 12-bar blues alone and/or with a group. • I can use feedback to make changes to my 12-bar blues creation. • I can compare and contrast blues music to other genres. GENERAL MUSIC RESPONDING UNIT | GRADE 5 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION 5 EMBEDDED INQUIRY MODEL: KWL Know: What do students already know about the pieces after listening? • Elements of music including harmony, tempo, melody, rhythm, and form. • Guidelines for critically analyzing music. • Guidelines for collaborative feedback in student compositions. • Evaluate musical works and performances using specific criteria based on musical elements. Want: What do they want to know about the genre? • Deeper understanding of the blues in relation to other musical genres through analysis and reflection. Learn: Students apply what they have learned about the blues. • Students create blues songs that reflect their understanding of the elements and narratives found within the blues. GENERAL MUSIC RESPONDING UNIT | GRADE 5 | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION 6 NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS IN MUSIC (2014) Creating through Responding The Responding Process addressed in this unit is detailed below. Select: Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context. Enduring Individuals’ selection of musical works is influenced by their interests, experiences Understanding understandings, and purposes. Essential How do people choose music to experience? Question Performance MU:Re7.1.5a–Demonstrate and explain, citing evidence, how selected music connects Standard to and is influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts. Student “I Can” I can use musical concepts to describe musical experiences within the blues. Statement Analyze: Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical