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Justin Mitch
Talbot
MUS_CLAS 149
10 February, 2020
Assignment 4.1: Ostinato Lesson Plan
Context: 3rd Grade Classroom
Prior Knowledge: Students have learned to read, write, and perform half, quarter, eighth,
sixteenth note rhythms in the previous lesson.
Essential Question: How are accompaniments formed and what purposes can they serve?
Learning Outcomes:

• Students will compose ostinati in 4/4 time using quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note
rhythms.
• Students will perform ostinato rhythms in 4/4 time with quarter, eighth, and sixteenth
note rhythms.
• Students will define ostinato.
• Students will describe how different stylistic elements (tempo, dynamics, accents) of
ostinatos change their interpretation of music.
Key Terms & Resources:

• Ostinato: a short, constantly repeated rhythmic pattern.

(Ostinato. 2013, September 20. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from:
https://www.britannica.com/art/ostinato)
• Holst, Gustav. “Mars.” The Planets, 1914-1916. YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q.
• Leontovych, Mykola. “Carol of the Bells.” 1914. YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZ0bKBBKVk.
Standards:

• MU:Cr1.1.3a Improvise rhythmic and melodic ideas, and describe connection to specific
purpose and context (such as personal and social).
• MU:Pr6.1.3a Perform music with expression and technical accuracy.
• MU:Re8.1.3a Demonstrate and describe how the expressive qualities (such as dynamics
and tempo) are used in performers’ interpretations to reflect expressive intent.
• MU:Cn10.0.3a Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal
choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.
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Materials:

• Open space for students and teacher(s) to form a circle

• Chalkboard / Whiteboard
• Chalk / Dry-Erase Markers
• Speakers connected to the internet via computer, phone, etc.
• Blank paper for each student (Extension Only)
• Pencils for each student (Extension Only)
Procedure:
1. Teacher draws a quarter note, a pair of eighth notes beamed together, and four sixteenth
notes beamed together on the board.
2. Students stand in a semicircle facing the board.
3. Teacher begins to stomp a beat, and gestures for the students to join in, and points to the
quarter note.
4. Teacher claps four quarter notes in time with the stomping beat, and gestures for a
student to come up and point to the note value that was clapped.
5. Teacher claps eighth notes, then sixteenth notes with this same process.
6. Teacher points at 3 students at a time, then to a rhythmic value on the board, and cues
them to perform it (Assessment #1)
7. Teacher improvises two measure rhythmic patterns in 4/4 and gestures for students to
repeat them.
8. Teacher gestures for students, two at a time, to come up to the board and compose a
similar two measure rhythmic pattern in 4/4 time using at least 2 different note values,
each student composing one measure.
9. The students who composed the rhythm will perform it together (Assessment #2), and the
class with perform it after.
10. Teacher will improvise a 1 measure ostinato rhythm in 4/4 and repeat it until the entire
class claps it together with the teacher 4 times.
11. Teacher writes ostinato on the board, and gestures for students to discuss with another
student next to them about what they think it means.
12. Class comes up with a definition for ostinato (Assessment #3).
13. Teacher plays recording of Gustav Holst’s “Mars”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q) and “Carol of the Bells,”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZ0bKBBKVk) gesturing for students to listen for
the ostinatos.
14. Teacher gestures for students to talk to a different student than they did before and talk
about what the ostinatos were in the recordings.
15. Students share with the class what they thought the ostinati were, and how they filled the
role of musical accompaniment.
16. Students write their answer on a sticky-note and put it on the board (Assessment #4).
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Extension:
1. Students will compose their own ostinato and write it on paper.
2. Students will switch papers with the student next to them.
3. Teacher begins to stomp a steady beat.
4. Teacher cues students one at a time to begin performing the written ostinato on their new
paper until every student is simultaneously performing their written ostinato.
5. Students reflect on their experience of hearing and performing different ostinatos at the
same time.
Assessments:
1. Teacher will visually and aurally assess students performing quarter-note, eighth-note,
and sixteenth-note rhythms with technical accuracy on a +, - scale. (Procedure Step 6.)
+: Student correctly performed indicated rhythm.
-: Student incorrectly performed the indicated rhythm.
2. Teacher will assess students composing ostinati using quarter-notes, eighth-notes, and
sixteenth-notes on a +, - scale. (Procedure Step 9.)
+: Student composed a one-measure ostinato using at two different rhythmic
values.
-: Student composed an ostinato with a length other than four beats, and/or only
used one rhythmic pattern.
3. Teacher will aurally assess student’s understanding of the term ostinato by listening to
their discussions and from the class’ collective definition of the term (Procedure Step
#12).
4. Teacher will asses student’s understanding of the contribution of ostinati in the
accompaniment role by examining their responses to the question, “How are ostinati used
in the accompaniment role of music?” written on sticky-notes and put on the board
(Procedure Step #16).

I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic
work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code.
Justin Mitch