[Note to Teachers: This series of lessons uses songs that address the use of drugs for recreation and escape. If your school policy allows, you might take advantage of opening a discussion on the topic of inappropriate use of drugs. If your curriculum is subject to restrictions on the topic, you should review the videotape before using it in the classroom.]
 |
Takin’
It to the Streets
Lessons for Instrumental or Choral Classes, Middle School and
High School
Family of Musicians
Lesson 2 of 4 |
Objectives
- Students will demonstrate their understanding of their roles as
individual performers and as ensemble members as they perform in a
small ensemble.
National Standards for Music Education
1: Singing alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire
of music..
Materials
- Videotape of Takin’ It to the Streets
- Television
- VCR
- Any instrumental (or choral) small-ensemble ( trio, quartet, quintet,
sextet) composition at the appropriate level
- Audiocassette recorder, microphone, and blank tape
Prior
Knowledge and Experiences
- Students have had some experience performing in a small ensemble.
- Students have been practicing their individual parts for the music
to be rehearsed.
Procedures
Part I
- Tell students they are going to view a videotape about musicians
who make their living performing on the streets. Tell them to pay
special attention to the 12-member Cagle family who sing and accompany
themselves on guitars and percussion instruments.
- View videotape Takin’ It to the Streets.
- Discuss with students any observations they have about the Cagle
family as musicians. [12:50--20:20] Accept any reasonable comments,
but lead them to viewing the family as an ensemble that works together,
listens to each other, and shares the spotlight--no one person is
the star.
- Have students discuss the ways that they act as a team--or an ensemble--when
they are rehearsing or performing music.
- Tell students to hold onto those thoughts about working together
as an ensemble as they arrange themselves with their instruments (or
in vocal ensemble position) and prepare to rehearse.
Part II
- Have students rehearse a section of a small-ensemble composition.
Engage them in a discussion of the interrelationships of the parts
(that is, which instruments or voices have melody, harmony, or particular
rhythmic elements).
- Ask individual students to demonstrate the roles of their individual
parts, based on the discussion, by performing a selected passage of
the music.
- Lead of discussion of how balance, blend, and articulation enhance
the ensemble performance. Have students discuss how their individual
roles differ in a small ensemble from their roles in the band, orchestra,
or chorus. Include some discussion of appropriate behaviors for working
together, such as showing respect for each other's opinions.
- To facilitate students' understanding, record their performance
and play back the tape as needed. Guide them to discuss the improvements
they discern in their performance over previous rehearsals of the
composition.
- 10. Have students
identify what work is needed to further improve the balance, blend, and
articulation of the performance. Ask students to rehearse the composition
again, incorporating the improvements they have suggested.
Indicators of Success
Students demonstrate through discussion and performance an increased understanding
of their individual roles as performers in a small ensemble. Students
demonstrate improvements in balance, blend, and articulation of their
performance of a small-ensemble composition.
Follow-up
Before rehearsing a new small-ensemble composition, have students study
their parts and discuss the interrelationships of the parts and the role
that each part plays in the overall performance.
This lesson is adapted from Strategies for Teaching High School Band,
compiled and edited by Edward J. Kvet and John E. Williamson (copyright
1998, MENC).
VH1, in partnership with Cable in the Classroom, collaborated with
MENC: The National Association for Music Education to develop this series of lessons.
National Standards for Music Education
- Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
- Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
- Reading and notating music.
- Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
- Evaluating music and music performances.
- Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
- Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
|
