Analyzing&Describing+Music+(all+ages)

This lesson can be used for any age level. The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand how to better describe/analyze music. If anyone has any thoughts/comments/changes, please make them! Thank you.

Students are given a warm-up exercise that requires them to analyze/describe something a little more concrete than music. In this lesson plan, I used food, but another idea could be to use art, or two different objects (and pass them around the room for students to feel, etc.). The warm-up exercise serves to get students hooked as well as a way to get them comfortable thinking of descriptions. After the warm-up exercise, students are required to describe a piece of music, first using words, then using pictures, then using movement. After that, students are invited to share and engage in discussion about what they heard and why they described it as they did. The lesson ends with an explanation of the piece and an explanation as to why analyzing/describing music is an important skill to have.
 * A brief overview of the lesson**:


 * ** Concepts/Skills/Values: ** || Analyzing and describing music (and why it is important!) ||


 * National Standards (check all that apply): **
 * || ** 1. Sing ** || || ** 2. Play ** || || ** 3. Improvise ** || || ** 4. Compose/Arr. ** || || ** 5. Read/Notate ** ||
 * ** x ** || ** 6. Listen ** || ** x ** || ** 7. Evaluate ** || || ** 8. Related Arts ** || ** x ** || ** 9. History/Culture ** || || ||
 * ** x ** || ** 6. Listen ** || ** x ** || ** 7. Evaluate ** || || ** 8. Related Arts ** || ** x ** || ** 9. History/Culture ** || || ||

// (This is a ten minute lesson that could take place within the context of a 40 minute class period, or that could be stretched out to 20-30 minutes if used with another song—compare and contrast the pieces, or if used with contrasting artwork (potentially from the time period of each piece of music)). // ||
 * ** Behavioral **
 * Learning **
 * Objectives: ** || Students will demonstrate their ability to critically analyze and describe music (Buddy Rich’s //Big Swing Face//) verbally, pictorially, and kinesthetically.

Worksheets for students Snacks—one sweet, one salty (crackers/fruit snacks, or Goldfish/oreos, etc.) ||
 * ** Materials: ** || iPod/Computer and amplification

1) Give each student worksheet and a snack, and ask them to describe the snack. Is it salty? Sweet? Crunchy? Smooth? Yellow? Chewy? (give them practice in describing and also in identifying fact/fiction—“remember, ‘good’ is an opinion”). 2) Why is it important to know how to describe different types of food? It helps us to know why we like or don’t like things, and helps us to compare different foods.
 * ** Sequence of **
 * Activities and Assessment: ** || Preliminary Set:

Main Set: 1) Today we are going to get some practice in describing and identifying types of music, just like we described the snacks (or artwork) 2) Tell everyone to get out a writing utensil (have extras if necessary). 3) “In the spot provided, write down five (or more) words to help you describe the piece of music that you are hearing.” 4) Play the music. 5) “We will play the music again, but this time, turn your sheet of paper over and draw what you hear.” 6) Play the music. 7) “Now you have 10 seconds to quietly find a space in the room to move around a little.” 8) “We will play the music one last time, and this time, close your eyes (depending on how comfortable the class is with on another) and come up with an action(s) that describes the music that you are hearing.” 9) Play the music. 10)“Now you have 10 seconds to quietly come back to your seat.”

Evaluation: 1) What words did you come up with? (Do people agree/disagree?) 2) What pictures did you come up with? (Do people agree/disagree?) 3) What motions did you come up with? (Do people agree/disagree?) 4) Did anyone come up with the same words/pictures/motions? 5) Share the composer/title of song/band. “What type of music is this? How did you know?” 6) Why is it important to know how to describe music? **(KJust like the snacks/art, it helps us know why we like/don’t like things and helps us compare different types of music).** ||

Move around the room Make sure that everyone gets a chance to share (require them to?) DON’T forget to talk about WHY describing music is an important skill. Keep the pacing quick (lots to cover) but allow time for creativity! ||
 * ** Teacher **
 * Effectiveness **
 * Reminders: ** || Don’t forget to do a “fact or opinion” check

Students could compare/contrast two pieces, using the same three mediums (words, pictures, movement), and could talk about the ways in which their descriptions either varied stayed the same. This lesson could be done with several different types of music as a way of learning the difference between certain musical genres. If art is used in the warm-up exercise the students could use all three descriptors to describe the art (instead of just one), and then could describe the music. It would be even cooler if the art came from the same time period as the musical pieces.
 * Variations of the lesson:**

Don’t forget to encourage students toward using musical descriptors—ask them what instruments they hear, what kind of dynamics, what kind of tempo, what modes, what time/feel; of course, using non-musical descriptors is also important (how do you feel, what are you thinking of, what kind of texture does it have…), but musical descriptors are sometimes overlooked. Facilitating discussion is also important as it provides a way to evaluate student understanding, and also allows the students to see the ways in which they perceived the music differently/similarly to their classmates. Discussion is especially important in comparing two different styles of music.
 * Tips for teachers:**

Below is an example of a worksheet to accompany the lesson:


 * Write down 5 (or more) words to describe the music that you hear.** Be creative! What instruments do you hear? Does the music have an emotion? There are no wrong answers (and spelling doesn’t matter)!


 * 1) __________________________________________**


 * 2) __________________________________________**


 * 3) ___________________________________________**


 * 4) ___________________________________________**


 * 5) ____________________________________________**

6) __________________________________________

7) __________________________________________

8) __________________________________________

9) ___________________________________________

10) ___________________________________________


 * Use the back of this page to draw something that describes or represents the music that you hear:**