Getting into The Blues Lesson Critical Learning Students understand ho to create a Blues progression Students practise pitch accuracy Grade 7 Music Guiding Questions What does it feel like to compose and perform an accompaniment? Curriculum Expectations Creating and Performing C apply the creative process to create and perform music for a variety of purposes, using the elements and techniques of music sing and/or play, in tune, from musical notation, unison music in to or more parts from diverse cultures, styles, and historical periods apply the elements of music hen singing and/or playing, composing, and arranging music, using them for specific effects and clear purposes use the tools and techniques of musicianship in music performances demonstrate an understanding of standard and other musical notation through performance and composition Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing C apply the critical analysis process to communicate their feelings, ideas, and understandings in response to a variety of music and musical experiences express analytical personal responses to musical performances in a variety of ays Learning Goals (Unpacked Expectations) Describe personal response to an example of the -bar Blues, referring to the elements of music in the description Sing and/or play the first notes of the scale in a variety of ays Attain pitch accuracy hen singing and/or playing Kno the -bar Blues progression Can rite an accompaniment on manuscript and play it by numbers Self-assess progress toards the learning goals nstructional Components Readiness ability to perform at least the first five notes of the major scale basic understanding of ritten notation experience ith Call and Response basic understanding of elements of music (form, pitch, rhythm, articulation) and the pentatonic scale Terminology Creative Process Challenging and nspiring Exploring and Experimenting magining and Generating improvisation (improvise) major and pentatonic scale pitch play by numbers root note of a chord solfage -bar Blues progression Materials Copy of the Presenting, Performing and Sharing stages of the creative process Copy of first notes for the various instrumentations Reflection Log Self-Assessement Checklist Reflection Log Reflection Questions Performance Rubric
Getting into The Blues Lesson Grade 7 Music Minds On Whole Class Responding to The Blues Tell the students that this Minds On activity reflects the Challenging and nspiring stage of the Creative Process Refer back to the model of the creative process posted on the all, explaining that this model ill be revisited throughout the unit Explain that students ill no learn to perform the kind of music they ve been listening to Play a recording of the -bar Blues as students enter the room, (See Resource List Direct students attention to question prompts displayed on the board Return Lesson Reflection Logs and feedback Replay The Blues music Using a Think-Pair-Share strategy, instruct students to respond individually to of the question prompts in their logs Play the music at least tice Model ho to respond to a prompt, if complete sentences or details are required When done, students share responses ith an elbo partner, looking for similarities and differences olunteers share ith the hole group To underscore the importance of a solid understanding of the elements of music (See p 77 of the Glossary in The Arts, Grades -8, 009), ask students to circle ords in their responses that relate to these elements Narro the focus to the element of pitch, asking students to give an informal definition Note that pitch ill be revisited toards the end of the unit hen talking about melody Students use Traffic Light to indicate their understanding Action! Whole Group Exploring and Performing As a arm-up, students sing and/or play the first notes of a major or pentatonic scale using numbers, solfage, or note names Discuss the Performance Rubric to assist students ith their goal setting and to clarify the expectations for performance n particular, focus students on the descriptors for pitch and tuning and encourage them to aim for pitch accuracy in this lesson Led by the teacher or a student, the class plays the first notes in a variety of ays, eg, play by numbers, or rite a series of numbers or notes on the board, giving tempo (fast or slo) and note value (hole notes, half notes) Point out that the arm-up reflects the Challenging and nspiring stage of the Creative Process Using a Think-Aloud, model ho to create a reference page to use throughout the unit See sample script #, hich shos students ho to record the -bar Blues form in Roman numerals and then to number the first five notes Using a Think-Aloud, model ho to create the accompaniment that ill be used throughout the unit This accompaniment is a Blues progression Students create their accompaniment page on staff paper Remind students to focus on pitch accuracy Students sing and/or play throughout their accompaniment, using hole notes or half notes Split the class into to groups One group plays their accompaniment; the other group follos the teacher, playing by numbers from the reference page Point out that this singing and/or playing activity reflects the Exploring and Experimenting stage of the Creative Process Students sing lyrics from Lesson over the accompaniment as it is being played by other students Some students may improvise (See p 78 of the Glossary in The Arts, Grades -8, 009) along ith the class singing and/or playing Explain that this is an example of the Presenting, Performing and Sharing stage of the Creative Process Post this section of the model Students hand in the accompaniment page for feedback Pause and Ponder QuickTip Prompts are based on the nitial Reaction stage of the Critical Analysis Process, pp - The same prompts appear in the Reflection Log Checkpoint Solid understanding of the elements of music is crucial to this unit Determine students readiness and scaffold learning as necessary Use Traffic Light throughout this lesson, eg, to indicate level of comfort playing the accompaniment, belo QuickTip f teacher and students are confident ith any kind of scale, hand out The Blues scale instead of the first notes Listen to each note for unison/pitch accuracy Provide peer or teacher support for students singing and/ or playing incorrect notes Provide feedback on the accompaniment Consolidation ndividual Reflecting and Evaluating Students use the Reflection Log Self-Assessment Checklist to reflect on their learning The checklist includes items related to pitch accuracy Students select prompts from the Minds On to respond to more fully Model a sample response Remind students that this reflection is part of the Reflecting and Evaluating stage of the Creative Process Collect the Reflection Logs Provide feedback on understanding of the Bluedemonstrated
Getting into The Blues Lesson Grade 7 Music Minds On Question Prompts What is my first impression? Of hat does this ork remind me? What do like or not like about hat hear? Ho does hat hear make me feel? What do find interesting about hat hear? What puzzles me about hat hear? What do visualize? Think-Pair-Share Bennett and Rolheiser (00) describe Think-Pair-Share as one of the simplest of all the tactics (page 9) As pointed out by Bennett and Rolheiser and Think Literacy (page ), students require skills to participate effectively in Think-Pair-Share, eg, active listening taking turns asking for clarification paraphrasing considering other points of vie suspending judgement avoiding put-dons These skills can be modelled and explicitly taught During group ork, teachers can provide oral feedback and reinforce expectations See Think Literacy Cross-Curricular Approaches, Grades 7-, pages - Bennett, Barrie, and Rolheiser, Carol (00) Beyond Monet: The artful science of instructional integration Ajax, ON: Bookation Traffic Light See Differentiated nstruction Cards, Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting Develop this or a similar strategy as a classroom routine to obtain information about students understanding immediately and efficiently Student responses in class can inform instructional decisions (assessment for learning), eg, hether or not to move to the next learning activity or hether to provide a small group of students ith guided practice See the Strategy mplementation Guide Assessment for Learning Teachers can gather information about learning by: designing tasks that provide students ith a variety of ays to demonstrate their learning; observing students as they perform tasks; posing questions to help students make their thinking explicit; engineering classroom and small-group conversations that encourage students to articulate hat they are thinking and further develop their thinking (Groing Success, 00, p ) L i t e r ac y G a i n s T r a n s f o r m i n g n s t r u c t i o n a l P r a c t i c e S u p p o r t s G r a d e 7 M u s i c
Getting into The Blues Lesson Grade 7 Music Action! Warm-up A arm up activity arms up the instrument, eg, voice, trumpet, as ell as the students body and mind The arm up in this lesson includes the Jazz rhythms in Lesson Using these Jazz rhythms in the first three lessons provides students ith an experiential activity that supports attainment and consolidates learning ntroducing to rhythms in Lesson and to in Lesson means that four Jazz rhythms ill be prior knoledge by Lesson Solfage f using solfage (doh, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, doh) ith your vocal students, substitute solfage for the numbering system See the music glossary First Notes The first five notes vary depending on the instrument: Alto, Baritone Saxophone B flat Clarinet, trumpet, TC Baritone Bass Bells Cello Flute, Oboe French horn Full Band Full string ensemble Guitar Tenor Saxophone Trombone, Baritone, Bassoon Tuba iola ocal, Recorder, Orff Think-Aloud A Think-Aloud is an instructional scaffold that models thinking processes, making the invisible visible n a Think- Aloud, the teacher verbalizes ho to think through a process While teachers can think aloud at any point in an instructional sequence, Think-Alouds are frequent during the modeling phase of the gradual release model and during read-alouds (See the Strategy mplementation Continuum) A Think-Aloud is a form of explicit instruction that requires teachers to be aare of their on thinking processes in order to help students think about their thinking Developing metacognitive aareness is an important aspect of learning (See Metacognition Guide) Reference Page A reference page shos the first five notes of a major scale ith the Roman numerals underneath Sample script # shos ho to guide students through the creation of a reference page Tell students to rite the first five notes of the scale (hichever scale applies to their instruction) in hole notes on the staff paper Give each note its on measure Then model ho to number the notes Script # am also going to rite the -bar Blues pattern across the top of my scale page as a reference Demonstrate, eg, on an overhead or the board Then, rite the Roman numeral corresponding to each note underneath am riting the Roman numeral, or one, under the first note put the Roman numeral under the second note, and so on Continue for the first five notes This can be used as as a reference page hile learning about the -bar Blues Feedback As part of assessment for learning, teachers provide students ith descriptive feedback and coaching for improvement Teachers engage in assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be independent, autonomous learners ho are able to set individual goals, monitor their on progress, determine next steps, and reflect on their thinking and learning (Groing Success, 00, p 8) L i t e r ac y G a i n s T r a n s f o r m i n g n s t r u c t i o n a l P r a c t i c e S u p p o r t s G r a d e 7 M u s i c
Getting into The Blues Lesson Grade 7 Music Action! -Bar Blues Form The -bar Blues harmonic root progression is as follos: Suggestion: f orking ith beginning vocal/instrumental students, use only the first note (the root) of The Blues harmonic progressions (,, ) The root notes of The Blues harmonic progression are the bottom notes of a three note chords that make up the form Make each note a hole note, ie, one hole note per measure f orking ith more advanced students, begin to add harmonies by looking at The Blues form as chord sequences Create harmonies ith the third and fifth of the chord To add interest, use a simple Jazz rhythm that is repeated for each bar See -bar Blues Accompaniment files: Alto saxophone -Bar Blues Form Bass -Bar Blues Form Bells -Bar Blues Form Cello -Bar Blues Form Clarinet, trumpet, B flat instruments -Bar Blues Form Flute, oboe -Bar Blues Form Full band -Bar Blues Form Guitar -Bar Blues Form Horn in F -Bar Blues Form Strings -Bar Blues Form Tenor Sax -Bar Blues Form Trombone, baritone, bassoon -Bar Blues Form Tuba -Bar Blues Form iola -Bar Blues Form iolin -Bar Blues Form ocal soprano record of -Bar Blues Form nstructional Components and Context Root Note of a Chord The root note of a chord is the first note at the bottom of a chord in its home position, eg, C is the root of a chord that begins on the note C Play by Numbers The teacher or a student directs the class indicating notes by the number of fingers raised or by numbers ritten on the board Each note in the scale is numbered from to 7 Regardless of the instrument, students can play the first, second, third notes, etc, of the scale Numbering makes large group improvisation easier The teacher or a student holds up the appropriate number of fingers (or rites a progression on the board) Explanation is simplified hen students are playing a variety of instruments in different keys because they don t need to transpose Focusing students on the numbers bridges to the performance stage, here numbers are also used The difference is that Roman numerals are used in performance Shoing a note s number representation prepares students to learn numbered chords in the future
Achievement Category Application of knoledge and skills () Application Transfer of knoledge and skills (application) () () ve Got The Blues! Performance Rubric: -bar Blues Criteria Level Level Level Level Singing and/or playing in tune from musical notation: being in tune, performing pitches and rhythms Performing a composition in - bar Blues form Performing musicianship techniques, eg, tempo, articulation, posture and position Sings and/or plays in tune ith limited accuracy Performs pitches ith limited accuracy Performs rhythms ith limited accuracy Performs a partially balanced melodic line in -bar Blues form ith limited effectiveness Performs ith an unsteady/inconsistent tempo Articulates Jazz rhythms (staccato, accent, tenuto) ith limited effectiveness Sings and/or plays in tune ith some accuracy Performs pitches ith some accuracy Performs rhythms ith some accuracy Performs a balanced melodic line in -bar Blues form ith some effectiveness Performs ith a some steady/consistent tempo Articulates Jazz rhythms (staccato, accent, tenuto) ith some effectiveness Sings and/or plays in tune ith considerable accuracy Performs pitches ith considerable accuracy Performs rhythms ith considerable accuracy Performs a somehat balanced melodic line in -bar Blues form ith considerable effectiveness Performs ith a considerable steady/ consistent tempo Articulates Jazz rhythms (staccato, accent, tenuto) ith considerable effectiveness Sings and/or plays in tune ith a high degree of accuracy Performs pitches ith a high degree of accuracy Performs rhythms ith a high degree of accuracy Performs a balanced melodic line in -bar Blues form ith a high degree of effectiveness Performs ith a highly steady and consistent tempo Performs articulation (staccato, accent, tenuto) found in Jazz rhythms ith a high degree of effectiveness Performs ith limited correctness posture and instrument playing position Performs ith moderate correctness posture and instrument playing position Performs ith considerable correctness posture and instrument playing position Performs ith a high degree of correctness posture and instrument playing position Communication () Application of the elements of music hen performing an improvised melody over a Jazz rhythm Applies elements (Blues form, pitch, rhythm, articulation) ith limited effectiveness Applies some elements (Blues form, pitch, rhythm, articulation) ith some effectiveness Applies some elements (Blues form, pitch, rhythm, articulation) ith considerable effectiveness Applies elements (Blues form, pitch, rhythm, articulation) ith a high degree of effectiveness
G Major (B b Major Concert) First Notes Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone #
C Major (B b Major Concert) First Notes Bb Clarnet, Bb Bass Clarinet, Bb Trumpet, TC Baritone
Bass D Major Scale - First Notes * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings? # #
B b Major Concert First Notes Bells bb
Cello D Major Scale - First Notes * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings? # #
B b Major First Notes Flute, Oboe bb
Horn in F F Major (B b Major Concert) First Notes b
???? b b b b # # b b b b b b b b b b b Flute Oboe Clarinet in Bb Bass Clarinet Alto Sax Tenor Sax Baritone Sax Bassoon Horn in F Trumpet in Bb Trombone Baritone Tuba Bells B b Major Concert First Notes
B?? # # # # # # # # iolin iola Cello Bass * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings D Major Scale - First Notes
Guitar G Major Scale - First Notes * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings #
C Major (B b Major Concert) First Notes Tenor Saxophone
Bassoon, Trombone, Baritone B b Major Concert First Notes? b b * The numbers above the notes are not slide positions
B b Major Concert First Notes Tuba? b b
iola D Major Scale - First Notes * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings B # #
iolin D Major Scale - First Notes * The numbers above the notes are not fingerings # #
ocal, Recorder, Orff C Major Scale - First Notes * ocal: Sing each number
The -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone # # 9 #
Bass -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment)? # #? # #? # # 9
Bells The -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) bb bb 9 bb
The -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) Bb Clarinet,Bb Bass Clarinet, Bb Trumpet, TC Baritone 9
Flute, Oboe The -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) bb bb bb 9
???? b b b b # # b b b b b b b b b b b Flute Oboe Clarinet in Bb Bass Clarinet Alto Sax Tenor Sax Baritone Sax Bassoon Horn in F Trumpet in Bb Trombone Baritone Tuba The -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment)
iola -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) B # # B # # B # # 9
iolin -Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) # # # # 9 # #
-Bar Blues Form (The Accompaniment) ocal, Soprano Recorder, Orff 9 ocal: Sing the numbers
Name: ve Got The Blues! Reflection Log Self-Assessment Checklist ndicate progress ith a coloured sticky dot (beginning- red; approaching - yello; achieving - green) Update progress on learning goals throughout the unit When you have completed this log, hand it in to your teacher Lesson Learning Goals Progress Dots can identify/sing and/or play a rhythm can rite my on lyrics in an AAB form am playing /singing my notes accurately can identify scale degrees and and play them in the context of the blues progression can play/sing the first notes of the major scale can identify/sing and/or play in a scale can improvise using notes ith a Jazz rhythm have explored various rhythms in my improvisations am beginning to use articulation that is stylistically appropriate to the Blues form -7 have tried improvising using all the notes of the Blues scale kno the -bar Blues form Write form in Roman numerals on the line kno the notes (,, ) on my instrument in -bar Blues form Write form in note names for your instrument on the line rote bars of melody and it as checked by (partner) rote 8 bars of melody and it as checked by (partner) rote bars of melody and it as checked by (teacher)
ve Got The Blues! Reflection Log Reflection Questions Name: Date: -------------------------- Lesson : Getting into the Blues page of What is your initial reaction to the -bar Blues? Jot notes in response to four of the prompts in the space provided as you listen What is my first impression? Of hat does this ork remind me? What do like or not like about hat hear? Ho does hat hear make me feel? What do find interesting about hat hear? What puzzles me about hat hear? What do visualize?
ve Got The Blues! Reflection Log Reflection Questions Name: Date: -------------------------- Lesson : Getting into the Blues page of Write - sentence responses to to of the prompts on the previous page Write complete sentences ith details nclude part of the question in your first sentence Prompt #: Response: Prompt #: Response: