Pitch, Author(s): Kathy Hubbard, Grade Level: 6, Subject Area: Music, - Watch selected portions of "Close Encounters". Pitch is used in the movie to make contact with the aliens through solfege illustrating both its communicative possibilities and scientific links.

Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
Schools

* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

LU Title: Pitch	Author(s): Kathy Hubbard
Grade Level: 6	School Address: PO Box 67, Madrid, NY 13660
Subject Area: Music	School Phone/Fax: (315)322-5746/4462

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative	Procedural
Music notation symbols for pitch and non-pitched instruments	Compose/read and play treble clef
Score from v. single line music	Read and play rhythm symbols
The piano keyboard	Read and play in score form
Solfege syllables	Use basic hand position and functional piano skills at the keyboard
	Write out melody and rhythm in score form
	Read and sign solfege symbols

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is pitch?
How is the pitch of an instrument determined?
What symbols are used to indicate pitch?
What symbols are used to indicate rhythms?
How is a piano organized/structured?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Watch selected portions of "Close Encounters". Pitch is used in the movie to make contact with the aliens through solfege illustrating both its communicative possibilities and scientific links.

Connection to State Learning Standards

Content Area: Music

Level: Intermediate

Benchmarks: Use current technology.

Benchmarks: Demonstrate basic awareness of technical skills musicians must develop an aesthetically acceptable performance. Use basic scientific concepts to explain pitch.

Standard: Music #2-Intermediate-Students will use traditional instruments, electronic instruments, and a ..to create and perform music.

Standard: Music #3-Intermediate-Students will demonstrate the capacity to listen and comment on music.

Unit Theme:

Pitch

Standard:

Standard: ELA #4-Intermediate-Language for Social Interaction-listening and speaking-reading and writing

Benchmarks:

Benchmarks: Listen to others and build on other's ideas in a group situation. Reflection writing on group experience.

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should e in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Music notation symbols both rhythmic and pitched including clefs and names of notes on the staff, high/low

Recognize and show how pitch is related to the amount/size/volume of object to be played

Piano keyboard organization

ABCDEFG Word formation on staff

Note flashcards for game

A bottle experiment

The keyboard

Collaborative pair testing and review (pairs check)

Bingo game

Collaborative groups

KWL

Students will make up a list of words 3 or more letters in length from the letters of the musical alphabet and write the word under the staff. Students will then trade "tests" and fill in the letter in the proper place on the staff. Papers will be returned to partners and corrected.

Students will make up a bingo board game with the ABCDEFG and play "notes" by recognizing flash cards and covering the correct box.

Using 5 identical bottles, fill each up to get 5 different pitches which are matched to 5 scale pitches on tone bells. If possible check sounds with an oscilloscope and observe differences in frequency of sound wave.

At the keyboard relate what they know about the way the staff is set up with the way the keyboard is set up-then doing a compare GO for specific points.

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Recognize the pattern/logic/and concepts behind note placement on the staff in treble and/or bass clef.

Take simple 5 note melodies of quarter notes and rests and eighth notes, and play it on the piano as well as sing on solfege syllables. With guidance and an outlined chord structure, compose and 8 measure melody using those 5 pitches.

Recognize and show how pitch is related to the amount/size/volume of object to be played.

Recognize the graph like quality of the staff=high and low and write and perform pitched music of various difficulties to reinforce the names of lines and spaces of clefs.

Guided practice on piano keyboards using proper 5 finger position.

Guided practice on Orff arrangement of "Simple Gifts" with group performances.

Bottle experiment and graph.

Given a simple chord structure of a song, write a one line "bass" part and play it on tone bells. Then incorporate a two part alternate bass pattern on one staff using stems "up" and "down" to delineate each line/part. Practice and play it on piano and tone bells.

Six melodies of increasing difficulty will be played on pianos as well as sung using solfege syllables. Students will practice on their own and at their own pace and will be checked off as they meet proficiency level.

"Simple Gifts" (published tune) will be given to practice and play. The melody includes 8th notes and there are two parts for non-pitched instruments.

After making observations about bottles and volume of water, graph this information with a simple picture graph. This will be guided and graded by rubric. (See Appendix A)

Learning Experiences

Extending and Refining

What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe what will be done.

Single line melody v. score form

Know/Don't Know on "Simple Gifts"

Bottle experiment and graph -journal observations

Skill development on instruments and music playing

Comparing

Classifying

Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

Error Analysis

Analyzing Perspectives

Constructing Support
Abstracting

Other:

COMPARE-Using two examples-one of a single line melody and one of music written in score form-compare using a GO to specific terms/areas.

CLASSIFY-Looking at the written music arrangement of "Simple Gifts", list what you KNOW and what you DON'T KNOW about the music and the symbols used INDUCTIVE REASONING-After you have gotten the 5 pitches on the bottles and matched them to 5 scalewise pitches on the tone bells, graph the information and make observations about what you have seen and what the information tells me about pitch and size/volume.

ERROR ANALYSIS-During all practice of music on instruments (including your voice) continually monitor your mistakes in order to improve your skills and successfully play, independently, your assignments.

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated?

Are the identified elements of equal importance or will they be weighed differently?

	Element #1	Element #2	Element #3	Element #4
Elements Scale	PITCH	RHYTHM	SCORE FORM	NEATNESS-"COPY READY"
Weights	25%	25%	25%	25%
4	All pitches and stems are accurate on the staff	All rhythms are "built" correctly-pitch and non-pitch	Melody is transferred properly into score form and beats are lined up	Copy ready for the rest of the ensemble
3	Mistakes total 5 or less	Mistakes total 5 or less	The melody has been accurately transferred for the most part but the beats are not lined up=score form	--
2	Mistakes total 10 or less	Mistakes total 10 or less	The beats are mostly lined up but the melody has not been transferred into the proper parts	--
1	Mistakes total 11 or more	Mistakes total 11 or more	The single line melody has not been arranged into score form	Not copy ready and needs to be redone or fixed

NOTE: Rubric or other performance assessment instruments may be used.

Constructing a Holistic
Scoring Tool
(Rubric or Activity Specific Key)

Key Questions:

* How many score points are needed to discriminate among the full range of different degrees of understanding, proficiency, or quality?

This response, product, or performance provides evidence of understanding of concept/principle/generalization or proficiency in skill/process/strategy.

Score Point 4	Score Point 3
[ ]All pitches and stems are accurate on the staff	[ ]Mistakes total 5 or less
[ ]All rhythms are "built" correctly-pitch and non-pitched	[ ]Mistakes total 5 or less
[ ]Melody is transferred properly into score form	[ ]The melody has been accurately transferred but not lined up=score form
[ ]"Copy ready" for the rest of the ensemble	[ ]--

Score Point 2	Score Point 1
[ ]Mistakes total 10 or less	[ ]Mistakes total 10 or less
[ ]Mistakes total 11 or more	[ ]Mistakes total 11 or more
[ ]The beats are mostly lined up but the melody has not been transferred into the proper parts	[ ]The single line melody has not been arranged into score form
[ ]--	[ ]Not copy ready and needs to be redone or fixed

Have You Considered These Yet?

Learn to Learn Skills:

Students will enhance their leadership, team compromising, and cooperation skills when working in groups practicing their compositions. Peer tutoring will occur in these same groups.

Assessment Modifications:

Individual instruction is afforded when learning the keyboard segment of the project. Different abilities will be taken into consideration when putting the performance groups together. Differences will also be acknowledged forming the groups for the bottle experiment.

Unit Schedule/Time Plan:

The unit will take an extended period of time because it extends and integrates material from a rhythm unit. The tentative schedule is about 4 weeks - 5days of 42 minute periods.

Written Overview:

Brief overview can be obtained upon request.