"The Plan" - Part V

Whew!  And to think when I conceived this that I was going to put it in ONE post...glad I woke up before I started it.

This week, the final week for the curriculum series, I am addressing tone color and expressive elements as well as music-related topics.

Tone Color

The basic understanding of this musical element is that:  1)  Different materials produce different sounds and 2) We classify instruments by the materials from which they are made or by the way these instruments are played, and 3) The scientific concept that (generally)  "larger items produce lower sounds, smaller items produce higher sounds."

Pre-K - At this grade level, students can have experiences with various tone colors that may be available in the classroom.  Begin to point out that small, medium, and large sizes play high, middle, and low sounds.  Practice using different voices - speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling).

Kindergarten - Students at this age can begin placing sounds in groups - hit, shake, scrape, ring, etc.  It is not important that they know the four families of instruments.  Kindergarteners can also identify man's voice, woman's voice, and child's voice.  Speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling) voices are also solidified at this age.

First Grade - First graders continue classifying sounds and have much experience playing different sizes of instruments and relating that sound to pitch range.  They also can begin with playing different instruments in different ways and discovering or identifying how playing the instrument in a different way changes its tone color (how will the xylophone sound different if we play it with a wooden mallet instead of a yarn mallet?).

Second Grade - This is the age when we actually start to discuss families.  I never go into a comprehensive study of brass, woodwind, percussion, and string, but I do take the time to start to look at one or two of these families and several of the instruments contained in them.

Third Grade - Whatever families were not covered in second grade can be added in third grade.

Fourth Grade - In fourth grade being able to place instruments in their appropriate family is important.  Not only "memorizing" what instrument goes where, but being able to articulate the "why" an instrument belongs in a certain family and not in another.  Fourth graders should have a good understanding of the four main instrument families and what instruments belong in them.

Fifth Grade - In fifth grade, other "families" can be added (keyboard instruments, electronic instruments) as well as various ensembles and what instruments/voices are contained in them.  This age can also intellectualize various aspects of sound in groups and why they are traditionally arranged in a certain fashion (i.e. why is the conductor in the center of the orchestra?  Why are there so many strings and only a few brass?  Why do the strings sit near the front of the stage?).

Expressive Elements

The main expressive elements in music are dynamics and tempo.  As mentioned in my first post, you really can't have either of these without connecting them with some other element of music.  Perhaps the most difficult concept to get across (even to fifth graders) is the difference between "high" and "loud" and "low" and "soft."  Use appropriate terminology at all times and whenever possible, sneak in those "music words" even in non-musical contexts:  "Boys and girls, I need you to line up and be very pianissimo while getting in line."  When walking in a line, "We are moving andante - be careful not be largo or allegro!"  Connect types of music with various tempi, "If you were to sing a song that puts a baby to sleep, would you use a fast or slow tempo?  Would you sing loudly or softly?  Lullabies are usually slow and soft."  Try singing songs in various tempi or dynamic levels.  How did it change the way the song felt to you?

When discussing form in the upper grades, talk about elements of music that can contrast to create different sections - tempo and dynamics are two of these elements.

Music-Related Topics

I once had a discussion with a very noted music professor about this.  I was young in my career and was confused as to the importance of selecting topics for my classes and leaving others out (in elementary school, there simply isn't TIME to address them all!).  He said, "I have found that whatever YOU are into, your students will be highly successful at that.  I have seen teachers who are passionate about opera.  They develop units of study about opera and their students are quite successful.  Another teacher who is not as strong in opera could teach the same unit and it could end up being a total flop."  I have carried this with me and it has helped ease my guilt a little when I realize, "Gee, my students are leaving me not knowing ____." If composers and facts about their lives really rock your world, then by all means, include them.  Which ones do you include?  Good question.  At this point in musical history, I suppose it's completely up to you - there are far too many!  I try to select "the biggies" to discuss (within the context of the study of other elements) - Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, etc.  My music memory students are currently studying "O la o che bon echo" by Lassus.  I will confess, I don't believe I've ever heard this piece of music (or heard of this composer) in my life.  Sure, I may have crammed about Lassus for a music history class in college - but that is testament to how important it was in my overall musical life as an adult.  I can tell by listening that Lassus probably wasn't a contemporary of Beethoven and his style is most like what I know to be renaissance music.  Intellectually, isn't that good enough for what we want our students to know?

Once your students are well-versed in musical elements, you can discuss style very intelligently.  Play some music.  What style are you hearing?  They are very aware of style - especially within the larger genre of pop music.  They may not put a name on it, but they know.  So this is a good time to start diving deeper into the topic since they know more about the elements of music.  What makes hip-hop different from pop?  What are some artists from each style?  When they realize the topics they've learned about in music are universal, it is a little easier for them to grasp the difference between, for example, the romantic and baroque periods.  Pick what your find meaningful for your students to have successful musical lives - either as consumers or musicians or professionals in a music-related career.

Well, there you have it.  That's my take on elementary music curriculum.  I have no doubt I have probably left out something.  If I realize I have, I will come back and edit my posts.  Feel free to leave a comment if there is something about which you feel strongly.

Until next week...