Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Alex Meek
Alexander Meek
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Unit Outline 4
Pre-Assessment 6
Post-Assessment 6
LESSON PLANS
1 7
2 9
3 11
4 13
5 15
6 17
7 19
8 21
9 23
10 24
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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this unit is to provide a series of lesson plans, rationale, and assessment
tools to properly introduce the I-IV-V chord progression to my fifth grade class. Given that
students will have previously learned about the I-V progression, we will expand on that through
use of improvisation, playing instruments, movement, and singing. Lessons in this unit will also
expand on my students’ knowledge of solfege, song forms, meters, and rhythm. While this is the
final step in terms of formal chord analysis and function, students will use the knowledge they
gain here to aid them in their comprehension of 12-bar blues, which will be covered in sixth
grade.
Apart from engaging with the I-IV-V progression at a deep level, students will also be
using this unit to practice skills intertwined with good musicianship. These skills can be found at
various points throughout the lesson plan sequence. They include identifying the mood, timbre,
form, and meaning of the piece of music being utilized. The unit also seeks to develop individual
skills related to performing, such as learning the history/context of the song, how to make
creative decisions, and how to collaborate. Students will also receive extensive practice in
regards to singing and performing on instruments (namely ukulele).
Finally, this unit provides multiple opportunities for cross-curricular connections, the
main one being history. Many of the songs used here have a notable historical connection, so
taking the opportunity to discuss them will expand students’ overall conceptualization of various
historical timelines and how that particular song is relevant. This also provides a chance to
explore the music of other cultures, along with their language, beliefs, customs, and the like. This
is important to developing well-rounded, informed students. Through this unit, I believe students
will develop a more comprehensive understanding of the structure behind most music, how it
applies to them and the music they identify with, and how it connects to the world around them.
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UNIT OUTLINE
PREPARE
1. Simple Simon—For this lesson, students will identify what role chords have in making a
song sound the way it does. They will be asked how certain chords make them feel, first
in the context of a spoken word story, then underneath a melody. They will also identify
the fact that there are three different chords in this song using Dalcroze-style movements.
Simple Simon was first published as an English nursery rhyme in 1764.
2. Oh When the Saints—Students will be using this lesson primarily to differentiate between
the three chords. After reviewing what was covered last lesson, students will identify
what chords are which (G, C, and D) by holding up representative cards as they are
played on the piano. Students will identify the tonic of each chord, and learn the solfege
that correlates with each of them. This song originated as a black spiritual, but has been
covered widely by jazz bands across the globe, so we will also delve into this history
through discussion.
3. Teach Your Children—Students will become more familiar with the differences between
the I, IV, and V chords (in this case, C, F, and G) through the context of a rock ‘n roll
song. The beginning of the lesson will be structured similarly to the previous one, but the
majority of the class will be devoted to creating an accompaniment to the song. Students
will be split up into groups and offered Orff/various percussion instruments in order to do
this. Teach Your Children is a song by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and is a prime example
of the class rock genre.
PRESENT
1. Teach Your Children—In this lesson, students will analyze the structure of this song even
further. To begin, we will go through as a class and mark points in the music where a
chord shift occurs. After doing this, their attention will be drawn to the IV chord, as they
are already familiar with I and V. We will discuss the importance of the I-IV-V
progression, and draw conclusions as to why that progression exists. We will then listen
to the recording a second time, stopping at each chord shift and identifying what it is in
terms of chord name and Roman numeral. To solidify this, students will be presented
with another verse of Teach Your Children and asked to find the chord structure with
minimal teacher intervention.
PRACTICE
1. Amazing Grace—The effectiveness of the I-IV-V progression will be stressed again in the
warm-up, using Dalcroze-style movements and teacher demonstration. Students will then
be split up into groups and assigned to Orff instruments. Each group will be tasked with
creating an original chord progression to Amazing Grace, using a printed copy of the
melody and their Orff instrument for reinforcement. Each group will perform their
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progression. Afterwards, a discussion will take place on what kind of decisions were
made in their creative process, and what it was like to work in a group.
2. Dayenu—Students will begin by exploring the Jewish culture surrounding Passover, of
which this song comes from. They will be shown a video containing Dayenu sung in
different styles (traditional, hip hop, rock, etc.) and asked how the chord structures
varied, if at all. They will then be split up into groups and tasked with creating their own
arrangement of the song, using instruments around the room, found sounds, and singing.
They will compile this all using GarageBand, play it for the class, then justify their
creative decisions.
3. Roll Over Beethoven—Students will be led through an exercise that applies the concept of
I-IV-V to the different keys. Students will then explore improvisation over this chord
progression, using call-and-response and volunteer performance as methods of teaching
this concept. Roll Over Beethoven will also be used as a means to explore early rock n’
roll, as this is a prime example of this point in the genre. This discussion will also be
compared to more current rock n’ roll, so that students can see that progression.
4. Dayenu—The lesson will begin with learning how to build chords in various keys.
Students will receive cutouts of an ice cream cone (separated into the cone, ice cream,
and a cherry), and will be tasked will building their “ice cream chords” (I, IV, and V) in
the given key. This activity will start off with heavy teacher intervention, but eventually
will dissipate. After this, students will then be presented with boomwhackers, each
student receiving one. Using paper copies of the melody and chord analysis, they will be
taught how to read it and expected to play the tonic of each chord as we come across it.
Students will eventually perform this while singing the melody so that they can hear that
connection.
5. I’m Yours—Students will initially be tested on their understanding of the I-IV-V
progression by responding to a given chord (played on the ukulele) with what comes
next. They then will be taught the importance of instrument care, and how to perform the
three chords used in Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours on the ukulele. We will go through the
entire song, learning the chord shifts and melody primarily by rote. The lesson will end
with a class performance of the song. I’m Yours was decided upon due to its simple chord
structure, prominent place in the pop music genre, and its overall engaging nature.
6. Independent project—Students will play through a verse or two of I’m Yours on ukulele
to get them back into the swing of things. Afterwards, they will be given the rest of class
to compose a short song, displaying correct usage of the I-IV-V progression and a
cohesive melody. After recording them using iPads and submitting them, students will be
led through the self-assessment process using a teacher-provided rubric. This will likely
happen the following class period.
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PRE-ASSESSMENT
Sequence:
Ss will learn the melody to “Naughty Kitty Cat” with no chord backing. This will be
taught by call and response.
T will play a I-V chord backing while Ss sing the melody the second time. Ss will stop
singing when they feel a change in the song (triggered by a change in chords).
o Ss will briefly discuss what they noticed/felt as a class. T can ask leading
questions such as, “did the melody change or was it something else?”
Ss will listen to T play and sing all the way through “Naughty Kitty Cat”, raising hand
when they notice a change in the song.
Assessment: Students will be able to detect a I-V change in the background of the song prior to
learning about chords and chord structures.
POST-ASSESSMENT
Description:
The post-assessment correlates directly with the project described in Lesson Plan 10. I
will be using a checklist to assess whether or not students have met the criteria described in the
lesson, and consequently, the whole unit. Students will use a more descriptive rubric in assessing
their own projects. After results are compiled, each student will be graded on a “pass/needs
improvement” basis, which is reflected in the attached checklist.
3. Review what notes are contained in the I chord. Use solfege hand symbols to
represent do, mi, and sol. Have Ss sing those notes and write them down on their
notecards.
a. Do the same with the other two chords.
4. Split the class up into four or five pre-determined groups. Have each group come
up with a “line” to sing, consisting only of the solfege syllables discovered in the
previous step.
5. Ss will perform their lines as a class, underneath a recording of “Oh When the
Saints”.
Assessment: Student-created lines will consist entirely of solfege syllables and pitches
established in the context of each individual chord. Students will perform their lines
simultaneously, and each line should fit within each other (as they all are based off the same
chord progression) with one or two mistakes.
I and V chords to choose from, so musicians put the IV chord in between them to
spice things up.”
o T plays root of each chord consecutively to give Ss an idea of what the
progression sounds like. Ss sing the progression back to T by themselves,
then T pairs their singing with the full chord progression.
o T assigns a different color marker for each chord of the song (for instance,
green for I, red for IV, and black for V), then plays the recording again.
Ss will stop the teacher when they hear chord being played and state if the
chord is different from the previous one or not. T and Ss will color-code
the entire first verse this way.
T projects a copy of the full sheet music onto the white board. The music will
have both roman numeral and chord name (C, F, G) analysis.
o T will play each chord on the piano, assigning chord names to them. Ss
will describe what they hear/how each chord makes them feel. T then
describes the the I-IV-V progression, and how it is used in TYC, pop
songs, Western music, and mass-produced music in general.
o T and Ss go through and assign roman numerals to each chord marking
made in the previous step, adhering strictly to the color they used.
o T will play the chord progression they created on the piano. Ss will go
back and correct any errors they may have made.
Activity 2
Ss will be split off into pre-assigned groups of three to four.
T will hand each group a copy of the melody from another verse of the song. T
will explain that the objective is to lay out the chord progression like we had just
done as a class. Ss will be encouraged to use the same process we had just used.
T plays the verse four times total, giving the students 1-2 minutes of deliberation
in between each repetition.
Ss and T will reconvene to do as we had done before—create a jointly-compiled
chord progression based on each group’s findings.
o Ss will be asked where they heard chords play. T will mark up a projected
recording of the melody with this information.
o T will then go through each chord systematically and poll the groups to
see which chord was played where.
o After our structure is built, T will play and sing the verse at the piano,
using only the information provided by the Ss.
o If there are any inaccuracies, Ss will be asked to identify and correct them.
At the end of the activity, groups will hand in their papers to the teacher.
Assessment: Students will recreate the chord progression from verse two of “Teach Your
Children” with zero to one error(s).
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o Ss will be asked to create a chord progression for the given Amazing Grace
melody, using the accepted chord progressions (discovered in Activity 1) listed on
the board as a basis.
o Ss will be given 5-7 minutes to do so. Each group will be asked to notate their
progression on a handout of the melody, and then play it for the class.
o Very little teacher feedback will be given, other than praise for creating an
original chord progression.
After every group performs, T will ask the class about the creative process. Question
examples include: “How did you begin the creative process?”, “Did you come across any
problems while composing?”, “Did you do anything outside of the box?”, etc.
Ss will hand in their papers to conclude this lesson.
Assessment: Students will create an original chord progression that accurately follow the
guidelines established earlier in class and make sense within the context of the piece, with zero-
one mistake(s).
Activity 2
Ss will be split into groups of four or five and told to create a new arrangement of
“Dayenu” using GarageBand. They will only need to cover one strain of the song
(ENACTIVE LISTENING).
o One student will handle one instrument/track in the song. For example, one could
record vocals, one could set the chord structure in the rock organ, one could take
charge of the rhythm section, etc.
o Ss will have about 10-15 minutes to work on this.
After the time period is up, each group will present their work to the class.
T will ask questions regarding their creative process (INTEGRATING).
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o “Why did you choose this instrument?”, “What chord progression did you use?”,
etc.
Assessment: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the song “Dayenu” and its role in
Jewish culture by contributing to a discussion with valid musical and non-musical comments.
Students will also create an arrangement of “Dayenu” using the correct melody and chords,
while taking creative liberties through a GarageBand loops project.
Ss will eventually add the melody, first sung by T then sung by Ss.
Activity will end with a full run-through of “Dayenu”, completely run by Ss.
Assessment: Students will correctly identify correctly which notes are in which chord through
construction of paper ice cream cones and playing them on boomwhackers. Students will also
perform “Dayenu”, both the melody and chords, with a maximum one or two mistakes.
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Assessment: Students will sing through the entire song with one to two chord mistakes per
person. This will be judged by a voluntary hand raise to determine what percentage of the class
passed the assessment.