Lesson Plan Form Mechanicsburg Area School District

Unit Title: 4th Grade Music

Lesson Day(s) #: Cycle 18 Delivery Date(s): Day 2, 3, 4, 5

Principles of Lesson Planning

Results
Learning Goals Music Literacy - Unit 1 Step 2 - Echo Rhythmic Patterns
(know’s, do’s,
“Musicing” (Becoming tuneful, beatful, and artful people) -
understanding, ● Students will define call and response form.
vocabulary) ● Students will perform a call and response song.
● Students will improvise 4-beat rhythms using “du’s” and “du-de’s” and bass
and tone sounds on the drums.
● Students will differentiate between echo songs and call and response songs
through discussion.

Know/”About” -
Improvisation - Improvising
Form
Call and Response Form
Review:
Bass
Tone
Echo Song

Topical Question(s) How do drums function in call and response form?

Lesson Question(s) This section is a specific musical concept question directly related to this lesson.
● How can we demonstrate form on our drums? (through echoing or call and
response)
● What is a call and response song?
○ How are call and response songs different from echo songs?
● What does it mean to improvise music?

Evidence
Assessment of What learning goals from above and related musical skill am I assessing?
learning (may include Is this evidence gathered a(n):
● Informal Assessment:
more than one ○ Checking for correct definitions of “call and response” during class
assessment): discussion
○ Checking for correct definitions of “improvisation during class
discussion
○ Listening for performance of correct sounds (bass or tone) on drums
during echos
 ○ Listening for performance of correct rhythms on drums during echos
○ Listening for performance of unique rhythms on drums during
improvisation

Plan
Series of learning Activator
activities to include
Pair Share: “Turn and talk with a partner and answer the question: What is an echo
assessment for song?” (2)
learning, activator ● Guiding Question (if needed): The song we sang last class “Come Along” is an
and closure: echo song.
● There is a leader and a follower in the form of the song.

Siren Warm-Ups: Spring is coming soon! Tree sirens → Leaf falling to ground (slow and
gradual), twig falling to ground (slightly faster and steeper descend), tree falling down (fastest
and biggest descend of high to low) (1)

Call and Response Song: (10)

“One More Day”
● T: “Today, we’re going to sing something that is a little different than an echo
song. It’s called a call and response song. This is a specific type of folk song
called a sea shanty. There will be a call (the leader’s line) and a response (a
group response). Sea shanties are like work songs in the sense that they bring
people together while working through this call and response communication
form. Listen to how it goes first.”
● T sings whole song to model song for students. The song will be on the board
with calls and responses marked accordingly.
● T: “Now I’ll sing the call and you all will sing the response.”
● T will sing the call part while students sing response part. Once students show
some comfort, T will split students in half and have one half sing the call part
and other half sing the response part.
● S will switch parts so they all get a chance to sing both parts.
○ USE PIANO SUPPORT
● Pair Share: How are call and response songs different from echo songs?
○ Compare and Contrast: Echo Song vs. Call and Response Song
■ What’s similar? → both involve a response of some kind
■ What’s different? → echo songs are an exact repeat of the leader’s
line, call and response has a response that is different from the call

Transition: “We know now that we can sing call and response songs, so now we can try
playing some call and response patterns on our drums.”

Drum Rules: (5)

Review:
● Carry drums with two hands at all times (one hand on handle, other hand
under lid)
● Review positions:
○ At rest
○ Ready
○ Playing
● Students will line up to get drums. Students who have shared before will not
share again.
● Review rhythm patterns using bass and tone sounds while everyone is getting
drums (review slide will be on board)

Drum Warm-Ups: (2)

● T: “Be my echo.”
● S will echo T’s patterns on the drums. Patterns will use “du”, “du-de”, bass and
tone sounds.
 Reading Rhythms: (5)
● T will have rhythms on the board labeled with bass and tone sounds.
● S will work with partners to move through the steps on the board. After S have
time to work through the rhythm, they will join together as a class to practice
playing them.

Improvising Rhythms: (13)

● T: “Earlier, we echoed patterns that I played for you, so we were both playing
the same pattern. This time, I’m going to play a pattern and I want you to play
something different. You can come up with your own 4-beat pattern and you
can use du’s and du-de’s for rhythm, as well as both bass and tone sounds.
The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that the pattern has to be
different than mine.”
● T will play their pattern and each S will take turns sharing their pattern with the
teacher playing in between. Try to stay on the beat!

Transition: At the end of class, S will line up and return drums, then get in line to go to
their next class. (2-3)

If there is extra time at the end of class, students will play a game of Poison Pattern
using the drums (one rhythm pattern that they cannot play)
● For those who are “out”, they can join T in playing the Poison Pattern to try and
trick their classmates

Summarizer

How can we demonstrate form on our drums?

● Guiding Questions:
○ We have played two different types of form on our drums. What were
those? How were they different with our drumming?
■ Have S identify “echo” and “call and response” in answers

Rubrics:

Include them here below for any formal assessments from your evidence section.