Teacher: Lesson Plan devised by Kirsty Martin (see her accompanying film at www.creatingmycambridge.com)

Year:  Suitable for Yrs 4,5,6,7

Subject:

Unit:

TA:

Date:

Time:

No. of children in class:

Notes:  Can take this over two classes in the first instance & followup to help the children learn the concepts & gain in confidence to compose.

Learning Objective:

To explore the use of rhythm, rhyme, pitch, dynamics and cadence in speech creatively.

To use these simple musical structures to create a group written, a cappella melody.

To layer these melodies together as ostinati to create a polyphonic song.

Vocabulary:

Compose / composition

Rhythm

Rhyme

Pitch

Dynamics

Pattern / Ostinato / Osinati

Ensemble

Cadence

Polyphony / Polyphonic music

Key Questions:

How do we turn speech into song?

How do we begin to compose a melody?

How do we create a group written piece of music together?

Resources:

Paper and Pens for breakout group work.

Recording / videoing equipment such as an ipad to record final pieces.

Learning Activities

Starter: COMPOSERS AHOY!

You will need: Facilitator/Teacher or a TA to scribe (ideally on flip chart or equivalent that everyone can see) Children in one big group where they can all see / hear each other. TA could also scribe all the reflections and attribute qualities to each style as they are discussed.

Pick a short and simple phrase or sentence to work with. You can use a school related theme: “Our school is filled with colourful displays” or something from The Listening Lions, such as “We are the Listening Lions” or “What you see is what we know” or it can be anything you like: “Ms /Mr ________ is the best teacher in the world!”  Then, collectively:

1       Say it like a Dalek (Open question / Reflection – do we really speak like that? Why not? etc)

2       Then try saying the sentence in different voice ‘styles’:

      like a ghost, like Father Christmas, like a pixie, like a tearful Reception child, like the Wicked Witch of the West (if they get this reference) like a giant, like it’s a secret...

(Open question / Reflection –– what was different about these styles? What was: louder? (Giant/ Santa) Quieter? INTRODUCE THEM TO THE WORD DYNAMICS. Which sounded higher (ghost/pixie) lower (giant/ Santa)  INTRODUCE THEM TO THE WORD PITCH. Which felt longer? Shorter? Were some words longer than others? Did some sound like they could be ‘played on a drum’?  INTRODUCE THEM TO THE WORD RHYTHM Are there any words that stick out as louder, or more important ?   INTRODUCE THEM TO THE WORD EMPHASIS...

CONCLUSION TO THIS SECTION. Even with SPEAKING, WE HAVE RHYTHM, PITCH, DYNAMICS  - this is exactly the same with singing. So -  making up a tune and singing it is just an extension of talking….!

3       SING IT on one note (any note will do – you choose) which does this sound most like? (Dalek)

     4    Then SING IT on two notes (it doesn’t matter where the notes change. You decide – try and be instinctive about it /don’t worry about a ‘tune’!’) Show where the notes change by using your hand as a pitch ladder’. Ask open questions about the pitch ladder (why are you doing it? which is higher? etc) Then ask for volunteers to come and ‘CONDUCT’  - try a few different conductors for variety. Do any of the conductors want to add a THIRD note? If so, on what word?

EXTENSION ACTIVITY: TO RHYME OR NOT TO RHYME?

Work the phrase (or make new phrases) into some sort of rhyme scheme (this will depend on age and ability of children – they could be split into groups for this, but this is still only the warm up so it depends how much time you have)

Direct (Obvious rhymes) -  our school is cool – and our class rules’

Combination of direct and indirect rhymes:  ‘at school we play together, in every type of weather, every day, there’s a new way to learn and stay cool. (Open question – how is that different? Where are the rhymes? How might we sing it? Where are the emphases? What is the rhythm? Where does the pitch vary?

THIS ACTIVITY TAKES A LOT OF DESCRIPTION BUT ONCE YOU GET GOING IT SHOULDN’T TAKE MORE THAN 10 - 15 MINS!

Main task: ONE WORD STORY – an introduction to group composition. (KS2)

You will need:  The Flip Chart and enough space for 4 or 5 break out groups.

INTRODUCTION: WRITE THIS SHORT STORY UP ON THE FLIP CHART WORD BY WORD AND GET THE CHILDREN TO READ THEM OUT WORD BY WORD IN A CALL-AND-RESPONSE STYLE.

Example: (write) Today (children say) Today (write) I (children say) I etc etc…

Today, I brought my pet kangaroo to school! We went trampolining, he jumped so high that he got stuck in the roof! The firefighters had to come to the rescue!

This is a 30 word sentence (based on 30 in a class but it doesn’t matter how long it is – your sentence will be as long as the class is big)

(Open question / Reflection ––  Some words are exciting nouns and verbs - which are they? (kangaroo / trampoling / firefigthers / rescue) some are connecting words (to, that) Some are pronouns / possessive (I / my / he) –(cross curricular literacy!)

And then make your own ONE WORD STORY – each child is responsible for one word that helps to tell the story. There are a few rules to follow:

ONE WORD STORY - RULES:

1    Follow the sentence round so you know when your turn is! Don’t just say Ummm, errrr and look surprised!

2    Don’t decide your word before it gets to you! It might not be relevant! Listening to what the person / people before you says and choose a word that would help to make the story funny / interesting / believable (whatever you are going for!)

3    Think about the SHAPE of the story – give it a BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END!

4    Some people might naturally get the chance for an interesting, describing word (kangaroo etc) and some people might get conjunctions, prepositions etc – ALL ARE IMPORTANT!

To tell the story, either decide on a theme or a starting word (the example is ‘today’ as a starting word.) and then have a go - this will probably result in a small amount of chaos, and a very silly story will unfold!

(Open question / Reflection ––  what worked well? How could we have improved that as a group activity?)

Then just work with the first phrase “Today I brought my pet kangaroo to school” (8 words – preparing them for smaller group work) – say this several times until there is a rhythmic consensus – you should be able to hear this happening / lead it slightly! Get them to clap the rhythm, and then think about other elements (emphasis, pitch, dynamics etc as explored in the starter.)

Once you have finished exploring and reflecting as one big group, the children will need to be put into (or choose) smaller groups – 7-8 people per group is a good number for this exercise.

The groups then write their own ‘one word stories’: CAMBRIDGE SOUNDSCAPE.

THEY MUST INCUDE SOMEWHERE IN THEIR STORY THE WORD ‘CAMBRIDGE’ (This means that one person must have Cambridge as their word – and try not to leave it until the end!)

(eg Last Saturday I went to Cambridge City Hall) (8 words)

Once they have written their phrase they go through the following process:

(NB – all of their work is now done ENSEMBLE – it is only the writing that is one word per person)

1    Say their phrase repeatedly until they have a group established rhythm (clapping the rhythm)

2    Try singing it ‘like a Dalek’ on one note (all together)

3    Think about the important words – where might they want to put more emphasis / volume?

4     Where will they take their melody from there – add a second and even a third note?

5     Then when they have their rhythm and melody, they should rehearse ready for performance!

PERFORMANCE:

Each group performs their little phrase to the rest of the class – to resounding applause!!

EXTENSION TASK: MAKING POLYPHONIC MUSIC:

Then let’s put all the pieces together. Warning - this could be either chaotic or heavenly!! Every time is different. What they will have is the opportunity to find a specific entry point into their music. Each group will repeat their pattern (Ostinato) as their layer in the music.

They should think of this exercise like the whirring of a machine – all the little cogs and wheels working together but at different times to come up with a soundscape about Cambridge.

Group 1 starts singing their phrase as an OSTINATO and when they have sung it 2 or 3 times, Group 2 comes in AT THE POINT WHERE GROUP 1 REACHES THE WORD ‘CAMBRIDGE’. Group 3 comes in AT THE POINT WHERE GROUP 2 REACHES THE WORD ‘CAMBRIDGE’ etc.

(G & T EXTENSION TASK – COULD BE FOR JUST 2 OR 3 GROUPS)

Do the same ostinato machine exercise but using ‘Cambridge’ as an entry point, but when the second group comes in, they come in on THEIR OWN ‘Cambridge’ – so we get 2 ‘Cambridges’ – possibly in harmony  - simultaneously. This is much much trickier, because the ‘Cambridge’ of the 2^nd and 3^rd groups might not be at the beginning of their phrase, so they might have to start their phrase in the middle, or at the end – wherever their ‘Cambridge’ is. It will help the groups to have the words in front of them so they can scan through from wherever their ‘Cambridge’ is in the phrase.

Differentiation:

Support:

Core:

Extension:

As detailed

Success Criteria:

Children individually and/or in groups have learnt how to compose phrases using rhyme, rhythm, pitch, dynamics.

Lesson plan written by Kirsty Martin -  kirstymartin@me.com

Assessment Opportunities:

Constant formative assessment

Could lead towards performance depending on time restraints.