Overview and Background: Unit: Fun Phrasing

Theresa Walker : Cheney USD 268

Art, Drama, Music. : Art, Drama, Music. : Art, Drama, Music.

Cheney : Grades 4 - 4 : Aug. - Jun.

Title:	Fun Phrasing
Topics:	Music, Musical phrasing
Time Frame:	5-8 days of 20-25 minute sessions
Start Date:	-
Status:	Revised
Date Revised:

Other Designers:

Summary:
This unit will teach children about phrases and knowing where to properly take breaths while performing. It also touches on time/meter signatures and measures (which are two of the important components that help make up phrasing).

Print Materials Needed:

Resources:
Evans, Robert. "Music in the Elementary School." Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957.
Kamien, Roger. "Music: An Appreciation." New York : McGraw-Hill Co., 1996.
"Share the Music-3rd grade." New York : McGraw-Hill School Division, 1998.

Resource Attachments:

Internet Resource Links:

Notes:

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

State:	KS       1,5,6
Title:	Music
Standard(s):	1.Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 5.Reading and notating music. 6.Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

Understandings:

Overarching
Elements combined in different ways create different effects.

Unit
Musical elements are combined in various ways to create different sounds and shapes.
Phrasing in a song (made up of measures and beats) creates a sense of direction and variety to a song and also helps groups to breath together.

Essential Questions:

How does combining elements differently change the effect?
How does changing the phrasing affect the music?

Knowledge and Skills:

K
-Phrase is part of a melody.

What is a phrase
What is a measure
What is a time signature

-Measure is a rhythmic group set off by bar lines, containing a fixed number of beats.

-Time signature (meter signature) is the two numbers, one above the other, appearing at the beginning of a staff or the start of a piece, indicating the meter of a piece.

-In time/meter signatures, the upper number tells how many beats per measure; the lower number tells what kind of note gets the steady beat (2=half note, 4=quarter note, 8=eighth note).

S
The letters and numbers in front of each of these are the MENC Content Standards broken down into Achievements:
1a. Students sing independently, on pitch and in rhythm, with appropriate timbre, diction, and posture and maintain a steady tempo.

1b. Students sing expressively, with appropriate dynamics, phrasing, and interpretation.

1e. Student sings in groups, blending vocal timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor.

5a. Students read whole, half, dotted half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter signatures.

5b. Students use a system (that is, syllables, numbers, or letters) to read simple pitch notation in the treble clef in major keys.

5c. Students identify symbols and traditional terms referred to dynamics, tempo, and articulation and interpret them correctly when performing.

5d. Students use standard symbols to notate meter, rhythm, pitch, and dynamics in simple patterns presented by the teacher.

6c. Students use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances.

6e. Students respond through purposeful movement to selected prominent music characteristics or to specific music events while listening to music.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Assessment Summary:
The students will take a piece of music that they have not previously sung, and insert the appropriate phrase markings. After they have finished that part, they are able to hear the music once through to listen to the melody, rhythm, and beat to make any final changes. The last part is that they need to perform this (This will be done individually for the teacher only since they don’t have much time to practice singing and learn the tune. The most important part of the performance is putting the phrasing in the correct places.)

Task/Prompt: Phrasing

Type: Performance Task

Topics: Musical Phrasing

Summary:
The students will take a piece of music that they have not previously sung, and insert the appropriate phrase markings. After they have finished that part, they are able to hear the music once through to listen to the melody, rhythm, and beat to make any final changes. The last part is that they need to perform this (This will be done individually for the teacher only since they don’t have much time to practice singing and learn the tune. The most important part of the performance is putting the phrasing in the correct places.)

Print Materials Needed:

Resources:

Resource Attachments:

Internet Resource Links:
Link 1:
Link 2:
Link 3:
Link 4:
Link 5:

Notes:

Student Directions:
You have been hired to help a rock star decide where she needs to break in her latest hit song to take a breath. Listen to her song and then insert the appropriate phrase markings. After you have finished, listen to the music once through to check to the melody, rhythm, and beat to make any final changes. Then you need to perform this song for the rock star so she can decide if she likes your version.

Other assessment evidence to be collected:
Process check
	-The students will sing several songs together, finding the time signatures, number of beats per measure, and finally filling in the appropriate phrasing. -The students will show the number of beats per measure through body percussion of two, three, and four beat patterns to figure out the time signature.

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

Learning Activities:

1. Have the students sing a song, raising their hands when they are breathing. Sing the song for the second time, this time, have them watch the teacher (conductor) for the cues to breathe, and continue to have them raise their hands each time.
2. A melody is what is sung in simple forms of music. A group of singers should breathe together, and it doesn't make sense to breathe in the middle of a thought, just as it doesn't make any sense to stop in the middle of reading a sentence.
3. The students will sing several songs together, finding the time signatures, number of beats per measure, and finally filling in the appropriate phrasing.
4. Create 2, 3, and 4 beat patterns of body percussion (example: pat, clap for 2 beats; pat, clap, snap for 3 beats; and pat, clap, snap, thumbs backwards for 4 beats per measure). Use these beat patterns to figure time signatures for new songs.
5. The students will sing "One, Two, Three" by Maurice Gardner (page 178-179) and use the beat patterns learned above to figure out what the time signature is of this song.
6. Read several poems, including "Rope Rhyme" by Eloise Greenfield (page 1), "Alphabet Stew" by Jack Prelutsky, and "The Postman" by Anon (page 217). Talk about how sentences have phrases, the same way a song does. We could read through a song before we even sing it to find out where the phrases may be.
7. The students will sing "We're Off to See the Wizard" by Harold Arlen (page 140-141), moving their arms across their bodies to show the phrases (in half moon-type movements). Talk about phrases and their length. Then listen to the Recorded Lesson, "Phrase Games" to reinforce learning the phrases of this song.
8. The students will sing "There's a Hole in the Bucket" (Traditional German Melody) (page 180-181), figure out what the time signature (using the beat patterns already learned above), then figure out where the phrasing goes. Then listen to the Recorded Lessons, "Finding the Phrases" and "Echoing in Three Meter".
9. The students will listen to "Mabel, Mabel" by Carl Withers (page 196-197) spoken in 3-beat and 4-beat measures, clap the rhythm, and then speak them together. They will discuss the differences and decide which one they like best and why.
10. The students will reflect on the placing of their phrases in the music. They will remember all the points that we talked about and the importance of each before making their final choices.
11. The students will take a piece of music that they have not previously sung, and insert the appropriate phrase markings. After they have finished that part, they are able to hear the music once through to listen to the melody, rhythm, and beat to make any final changes. The last part is that they need to perform this (This will be done individually for the teacher only since they don't have much time to practice singing and learn the tune. The most important part of the performance is putting the phrasing in the correct places.)