QC MUSIC EDUCATION LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Name: Mitchell Guido

Date: May 20th, 2014
Location/School:
th
Grade Level: 4
Music Specialty Area: Jazz Band
Lesson Plan Supporting Information:
IEP/504/ELL/Gifted (and other
accommodations):
Students have heard jazz before,
Students with hearing disabilities
but are not too familiar with it.
can be provided with wireless
Students are familiar with standard
Bluetooth headsets so that they
musical notation (not necessarily
can hear the music better.
able to fluently read it, but they
should be able to follow it).
Instructional Resources and Materials: Technology: (check all that apply)
An itunes playlist of the appropriate
N/A
selection of music.
Doc Cam
A hand out with the list of music
and musicians on it that will be
Audio Player/Recorder
used as examples.
Video Recorder
Learning Environment Preparation:
Chairs/desks with enough chairs for
Room/Personal Computer
all the students, in either an open
DVD Player
square or an open circle formation
with the open end facing the
Smart Board
teacher.
Projector

Internet Connection
Adapter(s)
Central Focus:
Students will be
introduced to jazz,
and learn about all
the different subgenres of jazz.

Do Now:
What sounds and
images do you
generally associate
with jazz? What type
of movie would you
imagine having a
jazz soundtrack?

Aim:
Why do so many
people play jazz?
What exactly is
jazz?

National Standard(s):
1. Singing, alone and with
others, a varied repertoire
of music.
5. Reading and notating
music.
6. Listening to, analyzing,
and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and
music performances.

State Standards:
Common Core
1. Creating, Performing, and Standards:
Participating in The Arts
Reading for
information
2. Responding To and
Reading
Analyzing Works of Art
foundational skills
Reading for
4. Understanding The
Literature
Cultural Dimensions and
Language
Contributions of The Arts
Number and
operation fractions
Counting and
cardinality

9. Understanding music in
relation to history and
culture.
Academic Language (Review/Introduction):
New Vocabulary:
o Jazz
o Indo-jazz, Hebrew Jazz, dance-music, latin jazz.
o Meter (even and uneven)
o Swing
o Groove
Learning Objectives: As a result of this class students will have a better
understanding of the world of jazz and its multifaceted repertoire.
Motivation: What is jazz? Why is it so popular among in so many different countries?
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks (Procedures):
Review:
Task one:
Listen to When the Saints come marching in by Louis Armstrong.
o Is the beat straight, or does it seem uneven? (Define swing)
o This creates a groove: a form of musical phrasing that allows the
different musicians to play together.
o What different instruments do you hear? (Clarinet, drums, trumpet,
bass, trombone, saxophone, etc.)
Medial summary:
What is the groove of most jazz called?
Task two:
Show the students the melody to When the Saints come marching in on
the board. Have them sing it (teach it to them by call and response).

o Use your finger to follow the melody on the board as you

sing.
o This is how most jazz players used to learn melodies: by
listening to someone else and copying them. Thus, changing
the melody and adding extra notes to it, like they do in the
recording, comes naturally. Traditionally, jazz musicians didnt
use written music: many of them couldnt even read!
o If time allows, split the class in half and do a call and
response arrangement of the tune for the first half of it.
Medial summary:
How do jazz artists learn songs?
Task three:
Activity:
o Play excerpts from the itunes playlist containing a variety of
jazz.
For Save Your Love For Me, The Jazz Police, and Cuban
Dance, have the students clap and dance to the music.
o Let them move however the music makes them
feel.
o Where would you imagine this music being played?
For Seven Seas: have the students count to seven (7/4)
o Help the students hear the 7/4, but do not make a
big deal out of it. It will come naturally to them.
o Use the learning device: 1, 2, 3, 4, wait for it.
(5) (6) (7)
For Call Me Nige: have the students count to seven, let
them dance also.
o Even though the last two pieces are both in 7/4,
they sound very different, because they have
different grooves.
Ask the students what sounds different about Snake!
Compared to the rest of the music. (it is indo-jazz).
o Look for timbre, texture, instrumentation and
musical inflection.
Medial summary:
Does jazz always have to include trumpet or does it always have to
swing? (no, it is a diverse genre of music that has been
incorporated into various cultures around the world)
Formal and Informal Assessments:
Refer to the questions previously listed under the medial summaries.
Homework (Formal Assessment): Each student should go home and find the artists
presented in class, on youtube. If they dont own a computer, they can use the library

computer. They should then find and bring in a song that they like and that they think
is jazz.
Summary:
The students will understand that there are many different versions of jazz that
exist and that there is always more to music than meets the eye.
Extension:
More excerpts can be played for the students in the last activity.
Lesson notes:
Young students should be introduced to as a wide a variety of music as
possible so they keep an open mind. Keeping an open mind is essential to
being a good musician, as it allows the musician to play more music and
understand more music, thus connecting with more people.

Hand out with playlist information:

Beneath each piece, write what we focus on in class, such as meter or style, as
well as anything you personally find interesting about the music.
Save Your Love For Me, by Jose James on the album Black Magic.

The Jazz Police, by Gordon Goodwins Big Phat Band, on the album Xxl.

Cuban Dance, composed by Johannes Brahms arranged by the Klazz Brothers,

on the album Classical meets Cuba.

Background Music, by Rafiq Bhatia, on the album Yes it Will.

Seven Seas, by Avishai Cohen, on the album Seven Seas.

Just Call Me Nige, by Brad Mehldau, on the album Mehliana.

Snake!, by Rudresh Mahanthappa, on the album Kinsmen.

Bossa de Link (Legend of Zelda), by the One-ups, on the album Volume 1.

Homework:
______________, by the ___________, on the album _______________.
I found this piece interesting because: