Subject Music Course/Year Group 8 Topic Jazz and Blues Threshold Concepts What big ideas must they understand? How to perform as a soloist or ensemble player with appropriate genre technique and ensemble awareness. How to identify, explore and make creative use of musical devices found in blues and jazz. They will also discover the importance of the Blues in popular music and trace its history from the slave trade to the beginnings of rock and roll. Powerful knowledge What content must they know? They will learn to develop blues scale motifs within a 12 bar blues structure, improvise using chord/scale relationships and apply that understanding by developing patterns in a diatonic sequence. Students will understand the basic structure of chords (triads and 7 th chords as an extension). Fundamental Skills How will they develop understanding? Students will learn some basic approaches to improvisation and will demonstrate this skill on their chosen instrument. They will analyse and develop riffs aurally, and begin to understand the importance of improvisation to jazz genres. Literacy Focus Numeracy Focus Habits of Mind Number Use of number and fractions connected with understanding notation in music. Shape and space Understanding shape and space in terms of musical structure Statistics Some understanding of the growth of the African American culture from the slave trade onwards. Inquisitive Discovery of the origins of popular music through the Blues genre. Collaborative Students collaborate on performances of Blues pieces and share feedback. Persistent Students have to discover resilience through continued practise of techniques involved with this genre e.g. blues scale in improvisation and the use of 7th chords. Disciplined Students discover that they have to improve certain instrumental techniques in order to improve in this unit. Imaginative Students will use need to make connections with the genre and how it relates to so many other genres in popular music. Scheme of Learning and Assessment Overview Learning objectives Threshold concepts Powerful knowledge Fundamental skills Teaching and learning (pedagogy) Teaching strategies and activities Stretch, challenge and differentiation AfL, feedback and DIRT Outcomes & Resources Assessment opportunities Extended enquiries Homework
Habits of mind Habits of mind 1 2 To discover the history, origins and development of Blues music. To perform the primary chords featured in a 12 bar blues structure. To perform the bass line, chords and walking bass line parts of the 12 bar blues chord sequence. Starter Activity Play a selection of Jazz and Blues music asking pupils to identify musical features and instrumentation in an activity such as a card sort. 1. Explore the history and origins of the Blues listening to appropriate examples and exploring the subject matter of the lyrics to Blues songs. 2. Teach pupils the structure of the 12 Bar Blues through clapping, clicking and stamping activity. Students hear and recognise chord changes before they learn to play them. 3. Teach pupils the 12 Bar Blues single finger bass line, then as chords. Allow pupils to perform each on keyboards and encourage accuracy in pitch and repeating the sequence. Assemble this into a class performance. Peer Plenary (AfL) review learning of Jazz and the Blues through class questioning. Starter Activity Briefly revise Chords and Triad construction by asking pupils to complete missing notes in the chords of C, F and G, then revise the 12 Bar Blues Chord Progression/sequence from lesson 1. 1. Teach pupils how to perform the walking bass line through reading bass and/or treble clef notation. Students will learn how to read accidentals such as B flat on the keyboard. 2. Students work in pairs to perform the walking bass line in conjunction with the 12 bar blues chord sequence. Repetition of the task is needed for improvement. Assemble this into a class performance. Peer Plenary Peer to peer feedback. Class performance. Peer assessment through positive feedback. (www and ebi) Extended Enquiry (TBC) Class performance. Peer assessment through positive feedback. (www and ebi) 3 To understand the difference between straight and swing rhythms and Starter Activity Explore Swing Rhythms by clapping a regular pulse, then a swung rhythm on top. Musical examples needed. Class performance. Peer assessment through (www and ebi)
perform the melody of In the Mood in a swing style Modelling: Model the melody line of In The Mood, first as a straight rhythm and then as a swing rhythm by clapping and then melodically on the piano. 1. Allow pupils time to perform the melody line of In The Mood in Swing Rhythm, then adding the 12 Bar Blues Bass Line, Chords and Walking Bass line parts from lesson 1. 2. Students continue to develop their performance of In the Mood in pairs at the keyboard. Students will choose their part according to playing ability. Assemble this into a class performance. Peer Plenary Peer to peer feedback. Extension more able students to learn the introduction to In the Mood as an additional element to the melody line. 4 5 To perform of a piece of jazz with improvisation sections, using the notes of the blues scale. To perform In the Mood within a small ensemble (pairs). Starter Activity Listen to two contrasting examples of improvisations using the Blues Scale discussing effectiveness. 1. Explore the Blues Scale and how Improvisation is used in much Jazz and Blues music. Students learn how to perform the blues scale in C on keyboards. 2. Invite pupils to improvise using various notes of the Blues Scale to while the rest of the class perform the 12 Bar Blues Bass Line, Chords and Walking Bass Line parts as an accompaniment. 3. Students continue to develop their performance of In the Mood in pairs at the keyboard. Students will choose their part according to playing ability. Most students will add an improvised section to their performance. Assemble this into a class performance. Peer Plenary Peer to peer feedback. Starter Activity Student assessment sheets handed out and names written on. Teacher Class performance. Peer assessment through (www and ebi) Teacher summative assessment. Formative self assessment.
6 To learn about seventh chords, how they are constructed and to perform seventh chords in a twelve bar blues chord sequence. leads a whole class warm up to focus the group. 1. Students continue to develop their performance of In the Mood in pairs at the keyboard. Students will choose their part according to playing ability. Most students will add an improvised section to their performance. 2. Teacher walks around the pairs and listens to performances to award attainment level for this unit. Summative assessment and effort level logged on student assessment sheets. Plenary logging effort levels on student assessment sheets. (green pen marking) Starter Listen to a popular song based on Jazz, Blues and including Improvisatory sections e.g. My Baby Just Cares for Me by Nina Simone identifying musical features and the influence of Jazz and the Blues on popular song genre. 1. Explore the construction of Seventh Chords through some musical theory allowing pupils to add missing notes to Seventh Chords and discuss the effect of using Seventh Chords over normal triads in the 12 Bar Blues including the effect on the texture. 2. Perform a piece using Seventh Chords e.g. Honky Tonk Blues modelling how the piece is made up of different textural layers 12 Bar Blues Chord Progression using Seventh Chords, Walking Bass Line and a Boogie Woogie part based on a Riff. 3. Allow pupils time to rehearse and combine parts to work towards a performance in lesson 7. Class performance. Peer assessment through (www and ebi) 7 Learn about the lyrics of Blues songs and write own lyrics to turn a group instrumental blues piece into a Blues song, complete with improvisation sections and different textural layers. Starter Analyse the lyrics of a Blues Song e.g. Thinking Blues by Bessie Smith in terms of themes and subject matter discussing the repeated structure of the lyrics in each verse and its AAB form. 1. Pupils create their own Blues style lyrics for Honky Tonk Blues (from lesson 6) by revising the melody line and using words, phrases and themes from the starter activity to Class performance. Peer assessment through (www and ebi) Student rehearsals or performances to be recorded. Student self assessment sheets.
create an effective set of lyrics using the AAB structure. 2. Set the challenge: pupils work in groups to put together a performance of Honky Tonk Blues using different textural layers from Jazz and The Blues and lyrics created during this lesson. Allow pupils time to rehearse performances before allowing each group to perform and then evaluate each performance in terms of effectiveness of lyrics and how textural layers have been used and combined Plenary fill out self assessment sheet based on effort levels within this unit.