Objectives
Sing "Do - Re - Mi" in unison, then with 2 parts as in Lesson 2.
Locate C major scale on the white notes of the personal keyboard.
Observe the letter names of the pitches of the C major scale.
Observe the C major scale notated on a music staff.
Note the definition of singing in unison.
Materials
Personal keyboards, made in Lesson 1
Recording of "Do - Re - Mi" from The Sound of Music (optional)
Schematic rendering of song sung in two parts, from Lesson 2 (optional)
5-line music staff written on chalkboard w/ G clef
Copies of 5-line music staff labeled "C Major Scale," attached, 1 for
each student
Procedure
Start the class by singing up and down a major scale using the music
syllables do, re, mi, and asking the students: What am I singing? (C Major
scale--you may in fact have started on a different note, but the intervals
are the same in all major scales, and the students have learned the C major
scale on the keyboard, so they should continue working with that scale
so as not to be confused with the sharps and flats that are a necessary
part of other major scales) Have the students join you singing, using the
same syllables.
Next, pass out their personal keyboards and have them play up and down
the C major scale while singing the syllables. Circulate among them in
case someone needs help with the fingering. You may need to remind the
class of the fingering order: Going up the scale, they use thumb, pointer,
third finger, then pass the thumb under the third finger and continue
the fingers in order. Coming down, it is pinkie, fourth finger, third finger,
pointer, and thumb, then passing third finger over the thumb, then
pointer and thumb again. Have them practice that a few times while singing
the scale and tell them: It's just like practicing the piano. That's how
you do it. (If you have any xylophones or other percussion instruments
with pitches in the room, let them see that the scale is just the same
when played on any keyboard instrument.)
Tell the students you are going to put this same scale in its musical
notation
on a staff to look at. Tell them that this is the way all composers
write their music. Put the following on the board:
Then have the children sing the scale with its pitches again, this time
having them watch the notation on the chalkboard as they do. Point out
that there are both lines and spaces on this staff, and that this C major
scale moves up its ladder one step at a time, including both lines
and spaces. Ask in which direction the scale goes on the staff?
(left to right) Ask: How do you think it would look if we went in the opposite
direction? (Let a volunteer come up and make the notes going in the opposite
direction.)
Have everyone sing the scale in both directions as you point to each
note with a pointer. Quickly pass out the music paper pattern provided
below, marked C major scale and with middle C & D (do & re) written
in notes and syllables to get them started. Tell them to notate the C major
scale on their music staffs, first going up, then going down. Leave the
completed scale notated on the board. The students should not be expected
to have memorized any of this. Have everyone sing the scale again in each
direction using the do, re, mi syllables as you circulate around the room
to check that each person has notated the scale correctly. Ask: Can you
see how clear it seems that the notes are going up and going higher on
the staff as we sing it, then going back down again, getting lower as we
sing in the opposite direction?
Congratulate them. Tell them that now they are actually reading
music as well as singing it, and tell them this year they will be
learning a lot more about reading music, singing it, and playing it on
a keyboard. Collect the keyboards and store them for future use.
Finally, either play or sing the "Do - Re - Mi" song for them that
they learned in Lesson 2. Have them recall the name of the song and join
you, singing it in unison. (Tell them that when you all sing exactly the
same pitches at the same time, you are singing in unison.) Ask the
students: In addition to singing this song all together in unison, how
else did we try it last time? (in two groups; one sings the song, the other
sings the music syllables, holding each one until the next is mentioned
in the song--help the students as they try to explain the process) It may
be helpful to use the schematic rendering of this version, attached to
Lesson 2, and give a copy to each student once again to refresh their visual
memories. Then divide the group into two sections and sing the song several
times. At the end, ask the students: Do you think we all sang "Do - Re
- Mi" in unison that time? (no) Tell them they are correct, this time they
sang it with harmonies, which means that not everyone was singing
the same thing, but the two different melodies made good musical sense
together.
C MAJOR SCALE
Third Grade - Music - Lesson 4 - Listening to Brass Instruments
Objectives
Recall the names of four major brass instruments.
See pictures of trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba.
Listen to pieces of classical music featuring particular brass instruments.
Materials
Recording of finale from Rossini's William Tell Overture
Recording of 1st movement from Mozart's Horn Concerto #1 in
D Major
Recording of Meredith Wilson's "76 Trombones" from The Music Man
Recording of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever"
Illustrations of trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba
Suggested Books
Balet, Jan. What Makes an Orchestra. New York: Henry Walck,
1951.
Barber, Nicola and Mary Mure. The World of Music. Parsippany,
NJ: Silver Burdett, 1995.
Bunche, Jane. An Introduction to Instruments of the Orchestra.
New York: Golden Press, 1962.
Doney, Meryl. Musical Instruments. NY: Franklin Watts, 1995.
Hausherr, Rosmarie. What Instrument is This? NY: Scholastic,
1992.
Hayes, Ann. Meet the Orchestra. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich,
1991.
Jeunesse, Gallimard and Claude Delafosse. Musical Instruments.
NY: Scholastic, 1994.
Taylor, Barbara. Sound and Music. NY: Franklin Watts, 1991.
Weil, Lisl. The Magic of Music. New York: Holiday House, 1989.
These books are all inexpensive, available either in paperback or (the
older ones) from the public library, and useful in the classroom primarily
for the pictures that illustrate various instruments and families of instruments.
All of them have good pictures of the members of the brass family and descriptions
that can be read aloud.
Suggested Recordings
Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," Sony cassette MLT 66710, Greatest
Hits: Marches.
Finale from Rossini's Overture from William Tell, Naxos CD 8.550236.
Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 1, Dennis Brain soloist, Emd/Emi
Classics #6103.
Background for the Teacher
Students following the Core Knowledge Curriculum will have been introduced
to the four families of orchestral instruments (strings, woodwinds, brass,
and percussion) in First Grade. In Second Grade they will have spent one
full lesson listening to the music of each family of instruments plus a
lesson on keyboard music (piano and organ). In addition, they will have
listened to Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" in Lesson 4, as one of
several patriotic songs.
In this lesson the students will listen to a well-known piece of music
that features a particular member of the brass family of instruments. Because
there is so much listening required in this lesson, there will be a minimum
of biographical information given about the composers.
Meredith Wilson's "76 Trombones" may be difficult to find. If you can
borrow the original cast recording of The Music Man, that would
be the best; otherwise, the piece is sometimes included in anthologies
or collections of older musical comedy tunes.
Procedure
Using any one of the books listed above, review the four families of
orchestral instruments with the class, showing illustrations that are clear,
and reminding the students of the differences in the way each family produces
its characteristic sound. Then turn to the four principal members of the
brass family that will be featured in the music they listen to today. Make
a list on the board:
Trumpet
French horn
Trombone
Tuba
Tell the students that they are going to help you compare the
four brass instruments whose names are on the board. Using one or two books
you have chosen, read about each instrument and show pictures of it. Then
have the students select characteristics for comparison. If you know the
names of outstanding players of these instruments whose names might mean
something to the students (such as Wynton Marsalis or Louie Armstrong for
the trumpet), be sure to mention them.
The comparisons may have to do with characteristic size and shape (tuba
the largest, French horn the most rounded, etc.), number of valves or "keys"
to change pitches, or loud or soft sound. The trumpet, loudest and brightest,
can be softened with a mute--show pictures of the mute, which looks like
and originally was a toilet plunger; the French horn is muted with its
player's left hand.
Leaving your chart on the board, play the first selection for the class,
the finale from Rossini's Overture to the opera William Tell, which
was first performed in 1829. (For a definition and discussion of opera,
see the Extra Listening Lesson on Wagner for this month.) The finale comes
at the end of the overture and takes less than 5 minutes to hear. It is
extremely clear when the trumpets come in with their theme. Start the overture
in the middle and ask the students to raise their hands as soon as they
hear the trumpets start, then let them listen to the end. Put a check in
front of the word Trumpet on the board.
Next play the first movement of Mozart's Horn Concerto #1, which
also takes about 5 minutes. Say to the students: This piece was written
in Europe by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at about the time our constitution
was being written. A concerto is a piece written for a special solo
instrument with an orchestra accompanying it. When you hear this concerto,
you'll hear that Mozart wrote it for one of the brass instruments, and
that the orchestra accompanying it includes only one family instead of
having four families of instruments. Listen carefully, and tell me which
of the three remaining brass instruments on the board is playing the solo,
and which family of instruments make up the orchestra. (French horn solo,
with string orchestra accompanying) When they have listened once or twice
and answered the two questions, put a check in front of French horn.
Remind them there are only two choices left. Then play Meredith Wilson's
"76 Trombones" for them. Tell them they should imagine lots and lots of
people playing the particular kind of brass instrument they will hear,
all marching and playing the melody together, dressed in bright uniforms.
If you have the cast recording, they will hear the words, beginning with
"76 trombones," which will be a definite clue. If they hear a strictly
instrumental version, it will be a little more of a challenge. When they
have identified the trombone, check it off, and have the class stand and
get ready to march for the last piece.
Ask: What brass instrument will you listen for especially in the next
piece? (tuba, the only one left unchecked) Say to them: You may have heard
this piece in Second Grade, when we were talking about patriotic songs
(Second Grade, Lesson 2). It was written for a full marching band by a
composer and bandleader named John Philip Sousa. Ask: Who remembers which
family of instruments is missing from a marching band? (strings) Has anyone
watched a marching band in a parade? How do they hold their music? (clipped
onto their instruments on little metal stands; lots of the music is also
memorized) How could a 'cello or stringed bass player march in a band?
(couldn't; maybe that's one reason strings don't play in marching bands)
Say to the students: Sousa's parents came to America from two different
European countries, but Sousa was born an American citizen shortly before
the Civil War. He grew up to become the leader of the United States Marine
Corps Band, which is one of the best marching bands in the United States.
He wrote lots and lots of marches, and this one is called "Stars and Stripes
Forever." Do you think that is a good name for a patriotic song? Why? (Accept
any reasonable answer.) In addition to the low, Aoom-pah,
oom-pah" sound of the big tubas, listen while you're marching for a very
special member of the woodwind family called the piccolo. You'll hear when
the piccolos come in, because they play the tune so very high, like birds.