East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design

Author: Bernadette Candela
Subject: Music
Grade: 2nd - 5th grades
Course: Music
Title: Tune Up Your Ears! (Lesson on learning about pitch)

Length of Unit: Two to four 55-minute sessions
Materials needed:
Power Macintosh G3 computer
printer
large T.V. monitor
music texbooks (optional)
software:
Music Ace
Making Music

musical instruments (optional)

Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):

Arts Education - Music:

III. Analyzing in Context

Content Standard III, 3: All students will analyze, describe, and evaluate works of art.

9. Use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, musical instruments and voices, and musical performances.

V. Connecting to Other Arts, Other Disciplines, and Life

Content Standard V, 5: All students will recognize, analyze, and describe connections among the arts; between the arts and other disciplines; between the arts and everyday life.

6. Observe and identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music.

Science:

IV. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Physical Sciences in Real-World Contexts

Content Standard IV, 4: All students will describe sounds and sound waves; explain shadows, color, and other light phenomena; measure and describe vibrations and waves; and explain how waves and vibrations transfer energy. (Waves and Vibrations)

Prior Knowledge:

Although prior knowledge is not necessary to meet success with this program, experience with the computer and the software Making Music in earlier grades would be helpful.

Cue Set:

• The teacher writes the word “pitch” on the board. He/she discusses with the students the many meanings of the word. He/she explains to the students that pitch in music has high and low sounds. (The music texbook can be used as needed.)
• The teacher and students listen for sounds in the classroom, hallway, and outdoors. The teacher asks the children to tell what sounds they hear. They then discuss whether the sounds are high or low sounds and compare them with one another.
• The children listen for the high and low pitch sounds made when the teacher plays the piano or sings.
• The teacher asks for a volunteer to come up to the piano, play a key, and then guess whether the sound is considered a high or low pitch sound.

Best Shot Instruction:

• The teacher introduces the software Making Music, Same or Different? if the program was not introduced in the earlier grades. The students listen to two given sounds and respond by stating whether the sounds are the same or different. This program is very easy to follow and moves quickly.
• Next, the children use their voices to create high and low pitch sounds.
• The teacher introduces the software program Music Ace, Learning About Pitch. After the teacher models by following the program directions, students take turns using the classroom computer to complete a given task as others in the room participate by thinking about the appropriate answer quietly or writing the answers on papers at their desks. The class members discuss the answers whenever appropriate.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

• The class continues working with Learning About Pitch until the teacher observes that the students understand and seem comfortable with the concepts presented in this lesson.

Review and Closure:

• Students respond orally when given a sound from the piano, the teacher’s or a student’s voice, or the surroundings. They state whether the sound has a high or low pitch.
• Using the other software program, Making Music, Same or Different?, the teacher gives the children several pairs of different sounds and asks for correct responses. (This activity can be used to measure mastery informally.)

Assessment:

These software programs are helpful for teaching pitch as well as doing individual assessments easily. In a music classroom setting, the programs can be used for a group assessment because the teacher is able to observe students who have difficulty hearing different sounds of pitch. Mastery seems to be met with practice. Music Ace has measurement tools for assessment built into the software to be saved, recorded, and printed in order to show the progress of a class or individual.

For individual assessments in a music classroom with one computer, musical instruments, and a teacher-created test, the students write either “S” for the same sounds or “D” for different. When a child has mastered listening for pitch, the singing voice improves.

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