Curriculum Outline

Found Sound Composition Project

Part 1: Is it Music?

Students listen to a variety of music clips, some less familiar than others. The group votes to decide if it is 'music' or not. The class will create a definition of what 'music' is.

Part 2: Journal Question

Part 3: Planning

Students will be placed in groups of 3-4 and given a 'kit' with found materials (paper towel rolls/toilet paper rolls, bubble wrap, bottle caps, etc.)
Students will create a list of 10 sounds they can make with their supplies, and then create a symbol for each sound on the list.
Students will choose an emotion or story they want to express with their music and describe how their music will sound to convey that message.

Part 4: Composing

Students will select sounds from their list to create music that expresses their chosen message, then use the symbols they created to notate their music.
Students will play through the composition and revise it until all group members are satisfied.

Part 5: Reflection

Part 5: Perform

Part 6: Journal Question

Think about the composition your group created. Is it music? Why or why not? Use our class definition of 'music' to inform your response.
How did writing down your music help you in the planning, composition, revision, and performance process?

Part 1: Buckets and Rhythm

Students are reintroduced to a variety of rhythmic values. They then are presented a variety of rhythms for them to count and perform. They are then given the opportunity to compose and play their own rhythms as a class.

Part 2: Guitar/Ukulele

Students are introduced to the guitar or ukulele. Including their parts, how the parts function, and how to hold and take care of the instruments.
Students use their skills from bucket drumming to unlock strumming patterns. They then are presented a variety of strumming patterns to count and play and given the opportunity to compose and play their own strumming patterns as a class.
Students are then introduced to basic and simple chords on the instruments to learn to play a song of their choosing. Students must learn the chords and use an existing strumming pattern or compose their own.
If students used guitar, they are now given a ukulele. If they had a ukulele, they are given a guitar. We discuss the similarities and differences in the instrument and their function, as well as their care.
Students are then introduced to tablature. This includes how to read, play, and write TAB. They will be given a variety of TAB songs to learn independently and have the opportunity to compose their own TAB song.

Part 3: Piano

Students are presented with keyboards and go over the function of its parts and how to care for it.
Students will be introduced to the Treble Clef Staff and learn to read pitches along with their rhythmic knowledge.
Students will be introduced to Middle C and C position and learn to play simple songs.
Students will be given the opportunity to compose their own simple song in Middle C or C position.

Part 1: Notecard Beats

Students are given a notecard with a rhythmic value equal to one beat. Students will place their notecards in groups of four to compose a series of measures in 4/4 time. They will perform the rhythm, switch beats around to revise, and repeat the process again.
Students will place their note cards into groups of 3 to compose a series of measures in 3/4 time. They will perform the rhythm, switch beats around to revise, and repeat the process again.
Students will place their note cards into groups of 5 to compose a series of measures in 5/4 time. They will perform the rhythm, switch beats around to revise, and repeat the process again.

Part 2: Same and Different

Students will be reminded that the song we played on the guitar/ukulele had sections (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.), and that these sections create musical form.
The class-made composition will be divided into A, B, and C sections. The class will perform the composition in ABA, AABA, and ABACA (Rondo) form.
Students will discuss how music has different sections. Students will discuss why composers would want to make different sections to their music and the ways they could do that.
Students will create a list of ways that music can sound different (i.e. fast/slow, loud/soft, etc.)

Part 3: Listening Lesson

Students will listen to the A section of a piece in Rondo Form and identify traits of the music (fast, slow, loud, quiet, etc.) using the list of contrasting words that they created. Students will then predict the traits of the B section of music.
Students will identify the start of the B section of the piece, discuss its traits, compare their hypothesis with their conclusion, identify the return of the A section in the piece, and predict the traits of the C section.
Students will identify the start of the C section of the piece, discuss its traits, compare their hypothesis with their conclusion, and identify the remaining sections of the piece as they are played.

Part 4: Composition

Students will use the Music Snippet software in Google Suites to compose 4 measures in 4/4, 4 measures in 3/4, and 4 measures in 5/4.
Students will then make edits and revise their work.
Students will compose an additional 4 measures in each time signature, totaling 8 measures in 4/4 (A section), 8 measures in 3/4 (B section), and 8 measures in 5/4 (C section).
Students will then decide the instrumentation, dynamic level, and tempo for each section, ensuring that they are all different from each other.
Students will practice their composition in Rondo Form.

Part 5: Perform

Part 6: Perform

Page updated

Report abuse