Lesson Plan From Student Teaching

 Class Title: Spring Hill Middle School 6th Grade Beginner Band

Age Level: 6th grade

Executed: Fall 2008

Focus: Teach the students about time signatures

Instructional Goals: To teach the students to identify time signatures, and play in 3/4

    time. Play #88 “3/4 Chorale” in their lesson books.

Behavioral Objectives: The students will be able to identify and count any time

    signature. They will understand what each number of the time signature means. They

    will be able to effectively play #88 “3/4 Chorale” in their lesson books.

National Standards Met: Standard 2: Performing on an instrument, alone or with

    others, a varied repertoire of music. And Standard 5: Reading and notating music

Materials and Equipment Needed: Whiteboard, marker, teacher’s edition of lesson

    book, and each child will need their individual lesson book and instrument.

Procedure:

1. As the class is coming in and putting instruments together, allow mouthpiece

    playing and buzzing

2. Once all instruments are assembled, do warm ups

        ¯ Bb scale, 4 beats, 2 beats, 1 beat

        ¯ Step drill

        ¯ Skip drill

3. Draw a 4/4 on the board. And ask if anyone can tell me what it is. The answer is

    time signature.

4. “What do the numbers mean?” Explain the top one means how many beats per

    measure. And that the bottom one means what note actually gets the beat.

5. Draw a fraction over the bottom number to make it look like 1/4. “What fraction is

    this?” The answer is one‐fourth. “What’s another name for one‐fourth?” The

    answer is a quarter. This tells us that the QUARTER note gets the beat.

6. Explain that if there was a two on the bottom, when you draw the fraction over

    it, making it 1/2, you know that the HALF note gets the beat. You can use this on

    any number on the bottom and you will get the fraction that tells you what note

    value gets the beat. “I bet you didn’t know you’d need math in music!”

7. “Turn to number #88 in your lesson books. Today we will be playing a piece in

    3/4.”

8. They have never seen or played 3/4 time before. Use “Happy Birthday” and

    “How Much is That Doggy in the Window” as examples.

9. Have them just count and clap in time and together “1‐2‐3, 1‐2‐3, 1‐2‐3” while

    introducing the conducting pattern.

10. “How do the note values change in 3/4 time?” Answer is that they DON’T! The

    quarter note still gets the beat, and there are still two eighth notes per quarter

    note.

11. Clap and count #88 as a class

12. Play/buzz #88 on their individual mouthpieces

13. Play #88 on their individual instruments

14. Fix any errors and answer any questions

15. Play #88 again, fixing errors as we go, until the end of the hour

Evaluation: The main test will be if they can play the song in 3/4, making sure all

notes get the right value. I will also give an exam on time signatures where the

students will be asked to identify and explain different time signatures. They will

write what each number of the time signatures mean. After which they will clap

and count small excerpts with different time signatures.