|
Standards-Based Planned Instruction Template |
Project Title: PA Governor’s Institute for Arts Educators
2001
Teacher Name: Yvonne L.
Thayer
Teacher E-Mail Address: rcthayer@toolcity.net
Your School District or
Diocese: N/A
I Will Pilot This Plan with
Students in Grade: 8
Planned Instruction
Title: Exploring
Alternative Systems of Music Notation, Old and New
Grade Level (Check one):
9.1 Production, Performance and
Exhibition
9.2 Historical and Cultural Contexts
9.3 Critical Response
9.4 Aesthetic Response
Standard Statement: (Write out
from grades 3, 5, 8 or 12 in standards document) (Example: 9.2.8.A. – Explain the historical, cultural and social
context of an individual work in the arts.)
9.2.8
A. Explain the historical,
cultural and social context of an individual work in the arts.
B. Relate works in the arts
chronologically to historical events.
H. Identify, describe and
analyze the work of Pennsylvania Artsits in dance, music, theatre and visual
arts.
I. Identify, explain and
analyze philosophical beliefs as they relate to works in the arts.
K. Identify, explain and
analyze traditions as they relate to works in the arts.
Overview: (A brief
description of your instructional plan) Students
will compare and contrast traditional musical notation with two alternative
forms (one from early Pennsylvania, and one modern).
Keywords: (Key words are search terms that enable other teachers to
locate your plan on the Web.) notation,
singing school, tunebook, hymn, musical alphabet, pitch syllables (do, re, mi,
fa, so, la, ti, do), shape note system, Meloz system, staff, chromatic, major
scale, home tone, John Wyeth, Jerald Lepinski
Learning Objective(s): (What
will students know and be able to do to demonstrate that they have reached the
standard? List student competencies in clear, measurable terms.)
Students will be able to identify, relate, explain,
describe and analyze the reasons for the developments of alternative music
notation systems and how they relate to the need to teach people how to read
music for personal, social and religious reasons.
Assessment-Task
and Criteria: What is the student
performance that demonstrates they have met each objective? Include actual assessment and scoring
tool(s). How will you judge “below
basic,” “basic,” “proficient” and “advanced”?
Do you have a model/exemplar of your expectations?)
BELOW BASIC:
The student has difficulty identifying and comparing/contrasting the
alternative notational systems to the traditional one.
BASIC: The student is inconsistent in identifying
and comparing aspects of the alternative notational systems versus the
traditional one.
PROFICIENT: The student is able to identify, compare and
contrast traditional notation with the two alternative forms of music notation.
ADVANCED: The student can clearly articulate the difference
between traditional and alternative systems.
Materials: (Resources, URL’s, videoconference information, books, works of art, audio recordings, CD’s, videotapes)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/James_Tackett/shaped.htm "Shape Notes" by James Tackett
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/wyeth.html "John Wyeth and the Development of
Southern Folk Hymnody" by David
Warren Steel
http://www.dmamusic.org/meloz/about.html "How & Why We Developed Meloz Music
Tablature"
Warm-Up: "Music
notation is a system of symbols."
On a blank
page for their portfolios, Students will recite and then write, the letters of
the music alphabet and the syllables of the Major scale. (Teacher does same on board.) They will also write "Guido of
Arezzo." Ask students to circle
the letters of the music alphabet found within his name On the same paper off to the side, students
will write the left over letters from his name. (Teacher does same on the board.) Teacher draws a note on the board. Students identify it as all the things it is: type of note, note value, note name, and of
course, identify it as a "symbol."
Students will be told that for the next five days they will be exploring
alternative systems of music notation. . . because, after all, music notation
is a system of symbols.
Instruction: (What will you teach to prepare students to demonstrate proficiency in
mastery of the standard(s) identified?)
Day 1: Students will sing the "music
alphabet" song using a,b,c,d,e,f,g (over and over) instead of a through z,
and review the letter association with the aural and written pitches on a
treble staff. Students will be asked to
discuss why some people give up on trying to learn to read, sing or play music
from notation. Students will learn
about Guido of Arezzo, Medieval monk whose goal it was to create a better
method of teaching singing through pitch syllables that represent the Major
scale. Students will review the Major
scale by singing pitch syllables "do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do,"
and corresponding letter names of the C Major scale. Students will sing the first phrase of "Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star," both syllabically, and from a treble notated line (in key of
C).
Activitiy: In
small groups, students will be given paper with a pre-printed staff on one side
and blank on the other, and be asked to try to create their own
"method" of notation (using invented symbols, wither written on the
staff or the blank side of the paper) which corresponds to the Major
Scale. (These papers will be collected
by the teacher for a later activity.)
Students will be reminded that a music notation is a system of symbols.
Day 2: Ask students to recall that music notation
is a system of symbols.
Students will
be given background on the historical and cultural climate of early America,
and the uniqueness of Pennsylvania as a haven for all types of people, many
seeking freedom of worship and expression (much of that expression was through
music). Given the frontier nature of
life and the fight for survival, there was often little time for artistic
pursuit. People with a musical interest
or with or without musical knowledge, sought to find ways to not only involve
everyone in the musical particpation in religious worship and in social
settings, but to improve the singing by teaching all to read notation. (Remind students there were no technological
forms of entertainment such as they have today so singing was important and fun.) An alternative system of "shape note
notation" found its way into Pennsylvania from the New England area via
Philadelphia, and then Harrisburg, where John Wyeth, a newspaper publisher,
began to collect tunes and eventually published a book of hymns for Protestant
religious use. His publication was
called, "Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music," (The first and working
title was "Harrisburgh Repository of Sacred Music.") and was
published November 24, 1810. (The
system of shape note notation he used was somewhat different from that which
will be explored in these lessons.
There were several different varieties.
The students will explore only one.)
In shape note notation, the traditional round melodic notes of the major
scale on a treble staff are replaced with specific and different geometric
shapes representing each of the syllabic pitches, do, re, mi, fa, so, la,
ti. With shape note notation,
"do" is always represented by a specific kind of triangle,
irregardless of what line or space it is found on (i.e. what key the song is
in). Shape note notation uses the
regular five line staff.). Shape note
notation is also sung using Guido's syllables and then, after the tune is
learned, the lyrics are added. The singing
school was one way to teach the shape note system of notation, and became an an
important part of frontier social life.
Young people particularly enjoyed singing schools. (Laura Ingalls Wilder and husband, Almonzo,
went to such a singing school during their courting period.) `
Activites: Students will sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
from shape note notation with syllables and then with lyrics.
Discusssion
Question: "Are there any
limitations seen in this notational system?"
Remind
students that music notation is a system of symbols.
Day 3: On the previous day, students, again, heard
that musical notation is a system of symbols.
A second type of alternative notation system (called Meloz) is currently
being developed by Jerald Lepinski. He
is trying out the system with elementary students in Littleton, Colorado. So far, whether young people or older
adults, it is getting a postitive response!
He developed the system because he believed that the names of the black
keys were entirely too "relative" for the average person seeking to
learn to read, play or sing music.
(Students will recall that all black keys have two names, a sharp and a
flat, e.g. F-sharp/G-flat.) Rather than
use traditional sharps and flats to name the black keys, he renamed them
utilizing the remaining letters from Guido's name (gUIdO of aRreZzo) which results
in Z, R, I, O, U. (Students refer to
their warm-up page when they first wrote Guido's name.) A Chromatic scale is a scale of all the
keys, white and black. In traditional
notation, it reads: "C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C."
going up, and "C, B, B-flat, A, A-flat, G, G-flat, F, E, E-flat, D,
D-flat, C." In Mr. Lepinski's
system the same pitches read: "C,
Z, D, R, D, I, E, F, G, O, A, U, B, C," and coming down, they just read in
reverse. With the Meloz system, the top staff has seven lines and 6 spaces
compared to the traditional staff with five lines and four spaces. In Meloz, the white key notes are always
represented by round notes on the spaces and the black key notes are triangels
on the lines. And each pitch of the
chromatic scale has only one name, not two.
Activity: Students will complete a corresponding
worsheet to better understand this idea.
Discussion
Question: Are there any limitations
seen in this notational system?
Remind
students that music notation is a system of symbols.
Day 4: Ahead of time, teacher will have viewed and
selected one of the alternative notational systems created by one of the
student groups on the first day, and then will solicate the help of the
students from that particular group to "teach" the system to the
class.
Activity: Teacher will guide all students in exploring
the possiblities and limitations of that system as a class on the
board/overhead projector.
Discussion
Question: Are there any limitations in
this notational system?
Remind students
that music notation is a system of symbols.
Day 5: Students will review in small groups
(comprised of a cross-section of below basic and basic students and proficient
or advanced students) by participationg in an overview discussion of some of the
main points of these lessons. Groups
will cooperatively formulate questions and answers with assistance of
teacher. Use this time for correctives
and for releasing advanced students to do any of the creative extensions listed
below.
Correctives: (Activities for
students who have not met the objectives at proficient or advanced level)
#1: During
the day 5 review, the teacher will use the small group format to draw in Below
Basic and Basic students focusing on the areas of the lesson with which they
still struggle, and using the question and answer format to encourage them to
realize what they do know, and reinforce it, and to get lesson information to
them in a non-threatening setting.
#2: Because students are encouraged to actively
coverse about the comparisons and contrasts being drawn, it is simple to pair
below basic or basic students with proficient or advanced during discussion and
exploration times to ensure inclusion in the process of comparing and
contrasting these notational systems.
Extensions: (Enrichment activities for students who have
met the objectives at a proficient or advanced level)
Advanced
students may try transposing a familiar tune (i.e. child song) into one of the
alternative forms of notation.
Advanced
students may also wish to try composing a melody in traditional notation and
then transpose their original composition into an alternative notational system
of choice.