Lesson Plan

Date: Year Level & Learning Area: Time: 17:30 18:20

02/05/2017 Year 8 Music Room: EDUC: [G26] Computer Lab

Topic: Imitation in Popular Music

Curriculum Links: Specific Objectives/Learning Goals:

Identification, description and comparison of music and
music practices across a range of cultural, social and
historical contexts (ACAMUR098)
Selection and use of criteria to make informed opinions,
observations and evaluations about music, and
identification of personal preferences, articulating the
reasons for them (ACAMUR097; ACAMUR098)
Analyse and visualise data using a range of software to
create information, and use structured data to model
objects or events (ACTDIP026)
General Capabilities:
Literacy
Critical and Creative Thinking
Personal and Social Capability
Intercultural Understanding
Ethical understanding
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Capability
By the end of this lesson, students will be able
to:
Identify personal preferences in the
music students listen to and give
reasoning
Assess popular music and connect it
to classical and early music and
rationalise why
Compare and contrast excerpts from
different songs and analyse results
Demonstrate knowledge in a think,
pair, share exercise presented on
Padlet

Prior Learning: Resources/Materials Required:

Students have completed prior lessons Laptop for Prezi and Padlet activities (USB backup)
analysing both popular (contemporary) Projector and screen
music, and classical and early music. Speakers (either in-built system or portable
backup)
One example of Folk music Computers (or Personal Devices) for each student
One example from the Romantic Era (in pairs if necessary)
One example of Classic Rock music Whiteboard markers
One example of Pop music Whiteboard

This lesson is aimed to develop analytical

thinking, where students are encouraged to
not only analyse the individual pieces, but
look at them contextually and compare
them with each other. Example excerpts
have been chosen to encourage links to be
made between pieces. This is a wonderful
way to introduce classical music to a modern
student who has had little to no Western Art
musical experiences prior to these lessons,
in a context that they will understand.
Lesson Steps
Time: Procedure: Comment:
Pre-Lesson
Have the classroom set up so that the screens
can be easily monitored by the teacher. Four
rows where the middle rows are facing each
other and the outside rows are facing the walls,
where the students can still see the whiteboard
and projector screen easily. Make sure that all
hyperlinks work, assure that the students have
access to them all. Make sure that the speakers
work, or there is a way to listen to the examples.
Check volume on the speakers as examples vary
in volumes.

Lesson Steps

1 min Roll call

9 mins Brief recap of prior lessons. Teacher to ask

questions to inspire thinking along the lines that
they were thinking at the end of the last lesson
and promote this analytical thinking for this
weeks lesson.
Key questions and answers: Write keywords on whiteboard:
What instruments were used in the pop Mood, Tempo, Rhythm, Dynamics,
song? Expression, Melody, Tone, Timbre,
o Guitar, Keyboard, Synth, Voice. Instrumentation.
What mood was the Romantic Era piece?
o Sad. (Why?) Minor key.
How can we tell it was a folk song and
not classical?
o Instrumentation, upbeat tempo,
not as polished/refined, texture
of the instruments.
What characteristics of rock music can
be seen in other, non-rock style
contemporary music?
o Fast drumming, electric guitar,
slow sections focussed on
showcasing the voice/solo
instrument (mainly guitar).

10 mins Introduction to todays lesson. Prezi presentation Prezi

used as a visual way for students to connect the
different topics.
Get students to think about their own musical
influences. Open questions to be discussed as a
class:
How do these affect your own
preferences when listening to music?
 Do you have any biases based on music
that you have been exposed to in the
past?
(variety of answers with these questions)

5 mins Padlet Activity 1 Padlet Activity 1

Pose this question:
What is your personal preference in
music genre?
Allow students time to think about the question
without discussing it. The result should be
personal and not influenced by peers. Encourage
students to think outside the box and be creative
with their answers. Suggest that they dont just
say pop or rock or classical, to think about
the characteristics that they like and branch into
subgenres even if it is not strictly correct musical
terminology.
Homework: Students to use this Padlet and flesh
out their answers. Provide a YouTube link to the
song that they have chosen.

5 mins Discuss the open questions posed earlier but

aimed at individual students to improve a
teacher-student connection.
Example question:
Do you think that your personal
preference of listening to alternative
punk rock makes you more able to find
the mood of any song/piece that you
have heard?

5 mins Listening Activity

Teacher to play excerpts from two songs:
The Globalist Muse (6:58) https://youtu.be/4qagaaZfwXA?t=6m58s
Enigma Variations (Nimrod) Elgar https://youtu.be/NhnMd1Jl7SA
Set up the listening task by asking the students
to think about how they make them feel. Get the
students to have active listening by getting them
to make connections between the two pieces of
music.

10 mins Padlet Activity 2 Padlet Activity 2

Think, Pair, Share Activity.
Students have already completed the think
during the listening activity.
Get students to partner with their neighbour
(three if there is an uneven number).
Tell them to analyse the music with respect to
the other piece and their own context. Let the
students know that the Muse song was written
in 2015 (Contemporary music) and the Elgar was
written in 1898-99 (the Romantic Era).
 Get students to write down on the Padlet their
ideas about how these two pieces can be
connected compare and contrast.

5 mins Discuss students results. They should have Refer to headings on the whiteboard.
noticed that the melody was the same/similar
(imitation), instrumentation was different (voice,
guitar, keyboard, drums vs. full Romantic
orchestra), mood was different (anti-
disestablishment powerful vs. singing beautiful
sweet)
Homework: Give students the example of the
pop song Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran.
Students to find their own musical counterpart.
What style of music has he used (besides
pop)?
o Irish Folk Music
If students are struggling, lead them in the
direction of folk music but ask them to figure out
which culture it could be from.

Evaluation of Student Learning:

Self-Evaluation/Reflection: