Juliana Swanson

Dr. Talbot
Mus_149

History and Culture Lesson

Assignment #4.4: Teach a lesson that uses music to understand a particular historical/cultural
moment
Context: The 5th grade students have begun learning musical instruments, and we are on to more
advanced discussions of the complexities of music; last weeks lessons included different
articulations, different tempo speeds and expressive phrases (vivace, moderato, larghetto).
Students have also learned all basic notation of rhythms and music.
Essential Question: What do polyrhythms add to music?
National Standards:
 MU:Cr1.1.5a Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection
to specific purpose and context (such as social, cultural, and historical).
 MU:Pr4.2.5a Demonstrate understanding of the structure and the elements of music
(such as rhythm, pitch, form, and harmony) in music selected for performance.
 MU:Pr4.3.4a Demonstrate and explain how intent is conveyed through interpretive
decisions and expressive qualities (such as dynamics, tempo, and timbre).
 MU:Re8.1.5a Demonstrate and explain how the expressive qualities (such as dynamics,
tempo, timbre, and articulation) are used in performers’ and personal interpretations to
reflect expressive intent.
 MU:Cn10.0.4a Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal
choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music
Learning Outcomes:
 Students will identify rhythms within a polyrhythmic piece of music.
 Students will define polyrhythms.
 Students will improvise rhythms with an egg shaker to add to pre-existing
polyrhythmic music.
 Students will perform a polyrhythmic phrase within groups.
Key Terms:
 Rhythm - The subdivision of a space of time into a defined, repeated pattern; the
division of music into regular metric portions; the regular pulsation of music.
 Polyrhythm - The use of several patterns or meters simultaneously
Materials:
  Audio/Visual device, preferably Laptop or PC (connectable to internet or data)
 Egg Shaker
Procedure:
1. Students will come into the classroom and be directed to sit in a circle as teacher says
“Kamusta!” This means “Hello!” in Tagalog, or Filipino.
2. When students come in and are settled, the teacher will ask the students “Kamusta
ka?” which means, “How are you?” Teacher will gesture to students to answer, and
after asking one or two students, explain what they are saying, and what the language
is.
3. Teacher will then go over/discuss the Philippines (in a slide presentation format),
discussing where it is, fun facts (like how it is entirely made up of over 7,000
islands!), and the history of music on the islands…
a. The Philippines is on the very opposite side of the world, being made up of
over 7,000 islands. While the country is considered a developing country, and
while historically (with the colonization and overtaking of the Spanish on the
islands, then the English) the country has lost its traditional tribal identity,
there are still certain provinces in the south that practice traditional rituals,
dances, and music.
b. Specifically in the southern provinces of the Philippines, one particular
practice of music is Gong music; music very similar to Gamelan in Bali that is
made with the instrument Kulintang—a long, narrow instrument that is made
up of seven to nine small gongs which, when hit with wooden sticks, produce
sounds of various pitches (Fun fact: the gongs are not tuned, they are simply
produced; gongs are placed from smallest to largest, but there is no tuning,
intervals, staff, etc.) The Kulintang itself is also an instrument mainly base on
improvisation, while the accompanying drums and gongs have structured
patterns.
4. Teacher will then transition to having students watch a 2-minute clip of a Kulintang
performance (https://youtu.be/Czh1oqx0Bpw), telling students to listen closely to the
rhythms, and to see how many they can identify. Students are open to writing down
their thoughts on the music, writing what patterns they identified, any questions they
have about the instrument.
5. After the performance, there will be a quick discussion of thoughts on the music,
questions students have, and how many rhythms were occurring at once in that clip.
Ideally, students will identify that there were at least 3 occurring at one time. Teacher
will then introduce the idea of polyrhythms.
6. Teacher will ask for a volunteer and pull out an egg shaker. Teacher will explain that
they will play the performance again, and simultaneously a student will perform a
rhythm on an egg shaker. This rhythm can be one measure or multiple, with whatever
meter the student thinks fits the music being performed. The teacher will stress that if
students cannot actively engage and properly handle the egg shaker, it will be put
away.
 a. After 30-60 seconds of the performance, the teacher will give feedback to the
student who just performed, and while sanitizing the egg, ask for another
volunteer to improvise and create another rhythm with the egg shaker.
7. This activity will transition to students getting into groups of as close to 4 as possible,
and creating a 2-4 measure 4/4 polyrhythmic phrase (Teacher can mention that
students can all clap, or one can clap while others stomp, pat, snap, etc.)
a. When students are presenting, the teacher can say “Salamat!”, which means
“Thank you” in Tagalog—this can immerse students into the cultural idea of
the lesson more.
8. Students will be instructed to sit, remain in their groups, and to discuss polyrhythms
in music and what they contribute to a piece. Teacher will go around the room and
join conversations, engaging with all students and listening in to the ideas the students
are expressing.
9. Teacher will wrap up the discussion activity in a minute or two, and wrap up the
lesson asking students what their thoughts were on the lesson, opening the discussion
up to any questions students have, asking students if they have anything they would
like to share.
Teaching Assessments
 Teacher will assess student identification of polyrhythms and their importance in the
kulintang performance through discussion.
 Teacher will assess student definitions of polyrhythms through group discussions in
the ending/exit activity.
o If students are understanding and defining polyrhythms correctly and are critically
thinking about what it can add to a piece of music, the students will get a thumbs
up or a yes.
o If students are inaccurately defining polyrhythms and are off topic or not
engaging in critical thinking with groupmates, they get a thumbs down or a no,
and are encouraged to think more openly about the musical idea.
 Teacher will aurally assess students’ improvisations with the egg shaker (adding to
pre-existing polyrhythmic phrase).
 Teacher will visually and aurally assess students’ performances of a polyrhythmic
phrase within groups using a 1-2-3 point system.
o If students are all performing the concept of polyrhythms correctly,
simultaneously performing more than 2 rhythms in the group, and are all engaged,
they receive a 3.
o If students are performing but not accurately demonstrating the concept but are
actively trying to and engaging in the activity, they receive a 2.
o If students are not performing, not trying to comprehend or demonstrate the
concept, they receive a 1.
o Bonus points if the students do any accompanying movements or unique rhythms!
o
Further Learning:
In the lesson to follow, the students will take the idea of polyrhythms and translate it to
polyphonic music—then students will learn of monophonic, homophonic, heterophonic, and
polyphonic music, and how the different types of music sound; students will focus on macro
aspects of music and its composition differences and elements as opposed to micro elements.
(Micro was taught first to enhance the student’s skills in western and modern music as they
develop musical skills through performing, reading, and practicing music on instruments. Now
that students have learned those technicalities, they will be exposed to other forms and
composition styles).
References:

 2014 Music Standards (PK-8 General Music) [PDF]. (2014). National Association of
Music Education. From https://nafme.org/wp-content/files/2014/11/2014-Music-Standards-
PK-8-Strand.pdf
 Harold Andre (Creator). (2018, June 9). Kulintang – Binalig a Mamayug & Sinulog a
Bagu [Video File]. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from https://youtu.be/Czh1oqx0Bpw

 Kulintang. (2018). Retrieved October 20, 2020, from

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/kulintang

 Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2020, from

https://www.britannica.com/art/Southeast-Asian-arts/Malaysia
 OnMusic Dictionary. (2015). On music dictionary. Retrieved October 20, 2020. From
http://dictionary.onmusic.org/

Honor Code
I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic
work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code – Juliana Swanson