Music Lesson Plan: Where the Forest Meets the Sea

Stage: One / Year One Repertoire: Where the Forest Meets the Sea (instrumental and songs)
Key Musical Concept(s): Duration and Structure

Syllabus
Outcome(s):

MUS1.1 Sings, plays and moves to a range of music, demonstrating an awareness of musical concepts
MUS1.2 Explores, creates, selects and organises sound in simple structures.


Indicators of Learning: (The students will be able to:)
Performing (Singing/Playing/Moving) Organising Sound Listening
Playing

Students learn about duration through
recognising musical features of the music
they perform. For example

Students will perform a variety of music
through singing, playing and moving


Students will use body percussion (patsching) to
demonstrate their understandings of the rhythm
and structure in song. They will construct sound
individually and in partners (joint construction).
Students learn through listening to, and
responding to, a variety of music. For
example listening to the teachers patsching
movements, and The forest song.

Assessment Strategies (linked to Indicators of Learning)
Performing (Singing/Playing/Moving) Organising Sound Listening
Playing
Teacher will use informal observational
techniques to view how the students use
their bodies to respond to the beats of the
song. Teacher will use questioning to
scaffold how the students use the
patsching technique.
The educator will listen carefully and take notes
when the students are composing their own
patsching routines, keeping in mind the way they
choose to organise it. He/ She will assess how
they organise the sounds based on the beat and
music. The educator will be able to tell whether
or not they understand the concept of organising
sound and how it achieved from the routine they
create. This includes the way it sounds, if there
are any missed beats, and if they are able to
collaborate in order to create a succinct routine.
Use observational techniques to view how the
students respond to the sounds being
produced. Teacher will formally record notes
about how the students have responded
through their practice of the instruments and
the performing of sound.


(L=listening; S=singing; PL=playing; M=moving; O/S=organising sound) (D=Duration; P=Pitch; DY=Dynamics;
TC=Tone Colour; S=Structure)
Performin
g
OS L Teaching/Learning Sequence D P DY TC S Resources/
Organisati
on S PL M
INTRODUCTION:
Students will be gathered and assembled on the floor in a circle. Teacher will
join students in the circle and begin the warm up activity immediately after
settling the students. Teacher will begin to use body percussion (For example:
peck = click fingers, slither = rub thighs with hands, snap = clap hands jump
= bounce hands on floor) in a four beat rhythm until all students have joined
in. The teacher will change up the percussion action every eight counts and
observe how the students respond by following the actions. The teacher will
then ask students to turn to the person next to them and work in pairs. They
are to create a four beat rhythm with their partner. The teacher will explain
that it will involve body percussion and clapping movements explicitly with
their partner. Teacher may give students a couple of examples and use
purposeful roving to assist the students. Teacher will then ask students if
anyone would like to share what they have constructed to the rest of the class.

DEVELOPMENT:
Teacher will brief and reinforce some ideas previously shared about the
sounds of the forest.
Teacher will ask What kind of sounds do we hear in the forest?
In the background, the teacher will introduce them to a few background
sounds from the sea and the forest and ask them some questions about what
they can hear. (Directing the questions about being loud or soft noises)
After hearing some suggestions, teacher will play the YouTube clip
Rainforest Song by David Williams. The teacher will explain to the students
that as they listen to it for the first time they are to think about:
- The sounds they can hear in the music
- To clap and practice some of the body percussion movements to the
beats that they can recognise
Teacher will then ask what rhythm can you hear in the song?
After establishing the beat, the teacher will ask the students to construct
different body percussion movements to the verse of the song.
Teacher will play through the song a few times for the students to practice






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their movements.


As a whole class, play the YouTube clip Rainforest Song by David Williams
Again, this time have the students create one ostinato as a class using the
patsching techniques they have learnt and sing along to the chorus Rain
Forest. Not only will they be learning but will also be given an opportunity
for pure enjoyment.

CONCLUSION:
Review the key elements of the lesson
Begin by asking the students to share different types of body percussion/
patsching that they have learnt throughout the lesson. As a teacher, ask them
some questions about what they learnt about the forest and the sea and what
sounds they established from the clips they heard.
Then go around the circle and ask each child to share with the class what they
have learnt and what they enjoyed most in the lesson.

NB: Expand the plan as required to a maximum of two pages


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f77SKdyn-1Y- sounds of the sea (Play a portion of about 30 seconds)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67QtXZsA2ME Sounds of the forest (Play a small portion when asking questions)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grsx4gAOxlk David Williams Rainforest Song (up until 1:07)