Form+lesson

This is a lesson I developed as part of a brief unit on musical form. The lesson could be adapted for almost any age group in elementary or middle school simply by changing how in-depth you break down form. A great follow-up lesson is applying the form concepts they learn in this lesson to popular music. This helps students apply what they’ve learned to something they know and use everyday. I used this lesson for a high-school class containing many students with learning, mental, and physical disabilities, and it went over very well. Every student was able to participate. For normally developing students, however, I think this lesson would work best for middle school students.

Teacher: Jessie Beran

Recommended grade: 6th grade general music Focus Concepts/Skills: Form identification, creative description of sound

National Standards: 6 (listen), 7 (evaluate), 8 (related arts), 9 (history/culture)

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to identify musical sections in Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca. Students will demonstrate understanding of this skill by breaking down the form together and identifying/expressing the form in groups.

Materials: A recording of Mozart’s Piano Sonata no. 11, mvt 3, “Rondo Alla Turca,” several pieces of posterboard, markers

Sequence of Activities: 1.  Play the recording for your class. Ask students to listen carefully for sections of the music that repeat themselves. 2.  Explain to the students that in music, there are many sections of a piece that sound different, and some that sound the same. Form is how those sections fit together. Different sections of a piece can be described using numbers or letters. When a section repeats itself, we use the same letter or number we used the first time we heard it. 3.  Together, sing a simple children’s song, such as Twinkle, Twinkle, and together, come up with its form (a b a). 4.  Replay Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. As the music plays, use posterboard or a dry erase board to write down its form. Work together as a class. Ask often, “Is this section new, or have we heard it before?”  i.  (simple) A B C B A B Coda  ii.  (complex, for advanced or older students) aababa cc ddeded cc aababa cc Coda For most cases, the simpler form is probably best 5.  Once you’ve completed the written form, divide the class into groups, one group per section (for the simple form, use 4 groups for A, B, C, and Coda) 6.  Explain the activity BEFORE you pass out materials! Each group should write the letter of their section in the center of their poster. Around the letter, each group member should draw one or more pictures showing what their particular section of music makes them think of. There are NO wrong answers! Pass out one poster per group. All groups share markers. 7.  While they work, play the piece again so they may listen as they work. For group C and Coda, you may need to fast-forward to their sections after the piece is done so they may hear their part again if necessary.
 * Depending on age level, you could break it down into just 3 different repeating sections (A, B, and C with a coda), or you could break down further. Examples:

Assessment: When everyone has finished, have each group sit in a different area of the room with their poster. Play the piece. When they hear their section, each group should stand and raise up the poster, and they’ll lower it and sit when their section ends. Do not signal the different groups.

//Jessie, One thing that jumps out at me about this lesson is its conciseness. There aren't too many frills or fireworks, but it's to-the-point and effective. I'm sure kids would enjoy this lesson in general music classes from kindergarten to about 6th or 7th grade -- if anything, for the drawing and sitting/standing part of it. I wonder, though, if it wouldn't be more effective to have you start with a popular song in your first lesson and then move to the less familiar classical piece (of course, you'd have to dig a little to find a song that is unique in form). That way, the students can grasp on to the concept with music they're more accustomed to, and then apply the knowledge to the Mozart easier (and possibly make the music that more interesting if it seems more like a pop song). I also would suggest adding movement to the pictures they made, especially for younger classes. Maybe instead of having them drawing their impressions, you could have them come up with a dance or act out a scene that fits with the music. An example from the top of my head would be people riding bikes for the A section, and a royal procession for the B section. The only edit I made was a grammatical error in the Learning Objectives (I replaced "they" with "and" at the end of the sentence). There are a lot of creative possibilities here...hope my advice helps! ~Doug Bo//