RATIONALE:

This lesson plan was created for my Music Theory class and includes two segments of
instruction to offer varying lengths of class time depending on the students ability to absorb the
information. It was designed to help students understand the mechanics and application of
building a major scale. By relating prior knowledge of intervals with a round robin review,
students: listened to auditory examples, demonstrated on various instruments and voice, related
intervals with songs through eartraining, incorporated movement through Solfege handsigns, and
physically created a major scale with their bodies in front of the class. After direct instruction
using the Smartboard, students used the Musescore application on their laptops to recreate a
major scale. The independent practice extended their understanding my applying the major scale
formula to build multiple scales. There was also an anchor activity added for students at the
mastery level that was linked to my classroom website.
This lesson plan exemplifies understanding of students individual differences and application of
learning theory. By incorporated multiple pathways for students to connect new material with
their varying backgrounds, abilities, and interests the students are able to experience the learning
in a personal yet collaborative way.
To ensure the classroom climate is safe, supportive, and nurturing I have created the A.S.K.
classroom expectation which is a procedure that I refer back to throughout the class. The A.S.K.
mnemonic stands for active listening, supportive audience behavior, and kind reactions. As an
educator of the performing arts I feel that it is the utmost importance to teach society how to be a
positive audience member as a patron of the arts.
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ARTIFACT:
Lesson Plan used for students to understand scales:
Explanation of instructional decisions
In this class students work individually and also in pairs for peer mentoring, as needed. These
pairs were determined by a pre-assessment asking students to demonstrate their understanding of
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Intervals. As a result of the pre-assessment, I realized that a few students did not retain the
Interval concepts so a round robin review was added to open this lesson to help make
connections.
Lesson Plan
Learning Objective and Application:
Understand mechanics and application of building major scales by:
Relating prior knowledge of intervals (half step and whole step)
Applying knowledge to piano, voice, guitar, or other instrument of choice
Creating major scales via Musescore application
(if time allows) Performing a major scale using Solfege hand signs
Required Materials and Equipment:
Laptops
Smartboard
Piano (other student instruments of choice)
Tone bells (full scale sets taken apart for interval review)
Syllable names, definitions, & descriptions Handout
Written Musescore directions, if needed
Solfege hand signs handout, if needed
Written website address on the whiteboard in case someone doesnt have it bookmarked
Wrap-up sticky notes (red/yellow/green)
Anticipatory Set:
Round robin review of Intervals-I will play intervals & point to the notes on the keyboard
displayed on the Smartboard as the questions are posed:
Review: Can anyone tell me the definition of Interval?
Review: Who can define step & half step?
Review: Who can show me the distance between G and A on the keyboard?
A and B? C and D? D and E? F and G? B and C? E and F?
Review: Who can demonstrate for me (on an instrument or keyboard) why the distance
between E and F & B and C are smaller?
Auditory Examples of Intervals-Demonstrate half and whole steps on the piano and
remind students that the half step sounds like the Jaws theme song. Have students sing
along with the repeated intervals.
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Invite students to demonstrate half and whole steps on piano, guitar, voice, or other
instruments. Give students who did not volunteer tone bells to play so they can
experience creating the intervals, if needed.
Remind students of our A.S.K. listening expectations listed on the wall:
~Active Listening
~Supportive audience behavior
~Kind reactions
Prior lesson review-Remind student about the other scales we talked about in the last
class. How songs are created from a bucket of specific notes-or scales. Different
cultures base their music off of a different bucket of notes-or scales.(e.g. a lot of Chinese
music is based from the pentatonic scale). We use the equal temperament tuning
system. Play both types on the piano to let them hear the difference while they see the
notes on the Smartboard. Today we are going to learn how to build Major Scales and
apply them to varying instruments/voice.
Direct Instruction 1:
Perform my short major scale rhythmic rap (embarrassing, but Im not above mortification
for the students sake of memory).
Create the C Major scale on the Smartboard using the Musescore application. Write the
formula for the Major Scale (step, step, half, step, step, step, half) on the whiteboard and
explain application of the procedural task: From the notes C to D is a step-D to E is a
step, E to F is a half step, F to G is a step, G to A is a step, A to B is a step, B to C is a half
step and we ended up on the letter we started with.
Using the Smartboard, demonstrate how students will create a scale using the keyboard
function in Musescore & also show them the direct glossary link on my Website for their
continued use.
Demonstrate how to use the playback function in Musescore for an instant auditory
example of their work (hand out paper version, if needed).
After instruction-keep the written Musescore directions up on the Smartboard for students
to look back on if needed, then walk around and help students who are having trouble.
Guided Practice 1:
Using Musescore, have students apply the Formula for a major scale and re-create the C
major scale as demonstrated earlier.
Students should experiment with the playback controls to check if the scale sounds like
what I demonstrated earlier. Students will also be able to access the audio example on
my website.
Remind students that our goal is to create a major scale.
Students will share their major scales created & others will be the audience to decipher if it
sounds like the C major scale. This is an opportunity for me to assess students that may
need more direct instructions.
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Independent Practice 1:
Using Musescore students will create a different major scale starting with any note other
than C by applying the major scale formula. I will leave the Musescore directions up on
the Smartboard then walk around to assess student application and work with students
needing more guidance.
Anchor Activity-If there are students at the mastery level of creating major scales have
them apply the formula to other instruments or voice then go to my website to work on
other major scale anchor activities listed there.
Direct Instruction 2 (If there is time):
Demonstrate the Solfege hand signs for the major scale. Show the hand gestures on the
Smartboard (hand out paper version, if needed)and ask the students to do it with me
mimicking my gestures (I will use my left hand so students can mirror my movements
using their right hand). Do this a few times and move around the room as needed to help
shape hands if needed.
Handout paper with syllable names, definitions, & descriptions.
Explain that every note in the scale has a representing syllable name and go over the names,
definitions, & descriptions while playing the note on the piano to help them connect the
sound to the definitions of the Solfege names. Have students do the hand signs and echo
while I give names, descriptors, and audible cues.
(Syllable: Actual Name, Definition of name - Description of the notes sound)
Do: Dominus, Home, The Father-as home and a place of rest
Re: Regina de Coeli, Queen of the Heavens the moon-tentative and uncertain
Mi: Microcosmos, small world or a man upon the earth-the surface of a lake on a calm night
Fa: Fata, Fate-tension filled, seeks resolution
So: Sol, the sun head of the solar system-open, free, and joyful
La: Lactea, Milky way our galaxy-a distant and special place
Ti (originally Si): Sidera, star system-filled with a desire to return home to Do
Guided Practice 2:
Using Musescore, other instrument, voice, or tone bells combine the Solfege hand signs
with the production of a major scale.
Anchor Activity-If there are students at the mastery level have them pair with another
student to help with the combination of major scale and Solfege hand signs (possibly
having one student play and the other sign, then trade responsibilities), if needed.
Independent Practice 2:
Remind students that it was our goal to create and apply major scales so now we are going
to do this with the students representing the actual notes
As a whole class, create a visual representation of a Major scale with your collective
bodies: (2 people being half steps-sitting in chairs) and the other 5 representing whole
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steps-standing) in front of the class and give the correct hand sign for your position in the
scale.
Students will switch places & syllables until everyone has had the opportunity to represent
every syllable. If there is a student who does not wish to participate in this activity or
would like to participate in a different way I will trade places with them. That student will
then judge if our scales and hand signs are correct and I will represent a note in the scale
with hand signs.
Closure & Foreshadowing:
Review what we learned as a class and have them fill in the verbal blanks:
Syllable names~while signing
Definitions
Formula for the Major scale
Now we can create different Major scales or buckets of notes to create songs from. Later
on in the month we will spiral this learning and create key signatures.
Please take a minute to grab a corresponding wrap-up sticky note, write your name on it,
and place it on my desk as you leave. Remind class that Green sticky means You got
it!, Yellow mean Still struggling, and Red means Stuck.
For the next class students will create more major scales by choice of computer, voice,
instrument, or manuscript and record them using the Garageband application.
Assessment and Follow-Up:
Next class start with review of syllable names foreshadowed from last class.
Review major scale formula.
Test their ears with a T/F Is this a major scale ear training activity with multiple ways to
respond.
Introduce Garageband application & create more major scales.
Address the wrap-up sticky note data collected from last class individually.
Introduce the major scale degree names (Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Subdominant,
Dominant, Super-dominant, & Leading tone) and create paired associations to the
syllable names, degree names, & notes.
Special Considerations for reaching all students:
Visuals on Smartboard and whiteboard
Audio demonstrations in class and available on the website
Glossary available on the website
Self-assessment with wrap-up sticky notes
Opportunity for pairing and peer mentoring, if needed
Autonomy of sources for demonstration and application
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REFLECTION:
I believe the lesson was explicit using plenty of modeling, guided practice, and independent
practice respecting the development of the whole child . Albeit a little embarrassing, the
formula rap is a pretty good hook. The kids are always appreciative (and thankfully forgiving)
of my creative ways. The multiple uses of technology in the lesson combined with the direct
application to student instruments and voice definitely helped students to find value and increase
motivation while highlighting the individual differences within the student body. The use of
technology also clearly assisted students need to extend learning through multiple anchor
activities. The anchor activities actually became a hook for the many students establishing
applications in learning theory and differentiation. The A.S.K. mnemonic and multiple
intelligence approaches demonstrated in this lesson establishes a safe and supportive learning
environment while employing approaches to the students noncognitive competencies.
In the future I will be incorporating Google docs to help me organize my observational
assessments during this class. Its a great tool to use and the portability of the laptop allows me
to continually be the instructional guide during class and not spend anytime at my desk inputting
data. Another area I would like to improve on in this lesson is to provide even more
opportunities for movement during class. In my professional readings from the Music Educators
Journal I am interested in how this can assist students that may have difficulty sitting for long
periods of time (Price, 2012).
Overall I believe this lesson plan was a success. Even for an eighty minute class the plan was
lengthy; however, I usually like to plan for more and have overlapping lesson plans then to be
caught short. The class only had time to physically represent one scale so I will continue with
this activity in the next class during the opening review section. The students seemed to really
like that section of the lesson. They actually came up with an add-on of having the two students
who were representing the higher and lower Do in the scale be at different heights so there
would be no visual confusion between them.
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References
Price, B. S. (2012). Zero margin for error: Effective strategies for teaching music to
students with emotional disturbances. Music Educators Journal,99(1), 67-72.
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