Teaching Through Listening Lesson Plan Logan Bloom 1) Grade Level: Sixth Grade 2) Indiana Standards: a.

Standard 3: Reading, interpreting, and notating music i. Students will observe the meter and rhythms the teacher writes on the board conveying the specific meter as it is found in the song, and in general. b. Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music i. Students will listen to the song and answer questions posed by the teacher about the time signature and the number of beats in a phrase. c. Standard 7: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts i. The analogy of walking and heartbeat relates to human physiology. 3) Materials: a. Audio recording: Oh Darling by The Beatles b. A board to write on 4) Procedures: a. Ask the class to listen and try to find the strong beats, or the beginning of each measure. b. Play the recording of Oh Darling from the beginning until 0:34 (through the first verse). c. Prompt the class to listen to what the piano is playing in the song and play the same passage of the recording again. d. Ask the class to quickly put up their hands and lower them at the start of each measure, then play same passage of the recording again. e. Ask the class to clap the pulse of the song. Ask how many beats are in a measure. f. Write a measure with two quarter notes on the board, do not specify a time signature. g. Ask the class, Did you hear any faster notes that the piano was playing? How many in between each beat?

h. Write two physically smaller notes to the right of each of the two quarter notes. i. Ask the class, Did it sound like this? Erase and write a measure of 6/8 time with 2 sets of 3 eighth notes, making beats 1 and 2 slightly larger. j. Count the beats one and two out loud in time, pointing to the larger beats on the board. k. Say Now you try and have the class count the same way, still point to the larger beats. Have the students clap when you count. l. Count the eight notes out loud in time saying ONE and a TWO and a while pointing to the respective beats on the board. m. Say Now you try and have the class count the same way. Keep pointing to the beats while counting. Have the students clap when you count. n. Explain that counting the smaller beats in between the larger beats is called subdivision. o. Play the same passage of the song as before and have the students count out loud first in groups of 2, then pause after 1 verse and instruct the class to count and subdivide this time. p. Teach the students a basic 2 beat conducting pattern (down/out, up) and a basic 3 beat conducting pattern (in, out, up). q. Divide the class in half. Explain that I will instruct the whole class and the two groups separately to conduct either a 2 beat pattern (indicated by 2 fingers) or a 3 beat pattern (indicated 3 fingers). r. Play the song from the beginning and instruct the students to conduct a 2 beat pattern in time with the music. Instructs the whole class to conduct a 2 beat pattern for 4 bars. Then hold up 3 fingers for a 3 beat pattern. s. At the next verse, instruct one group to conduct a 2 beat pattern and the other group to conduct a 3 beat pattern at the same time. Stop the song after a full verse of this. t. Ask the students how many large beats are in a measure and how many small beats are in a measure. Then ask what the word for counting the small beats is. 5) Assessments: a. Listen for the correct response when asking the class questions throughout

the lesson. b. The teacher will watch students conducting patterns to make sure the 2 beat pattern is distinguished clearly from the 3 beat pattern. c. Listen for correct responses to the review questions at the end of the lesson. 6) Accommodations for students with disabilities: a. Students with hearing disabilities can participate in conducting and still learn the difference between the 2 beat and 3 beat patterns visually. They can even stomp their feet accordingly so they feel the difference in pulse. b. Students with visual disabilities can clap or stomp their feet instead of conducting so they can feel the difference between the two pulses. c. Students with a physical disability can count the beats out loud do they can understand the difference between the two pulses. 7) Integrated Arts Extensions: a. Students learn about human physiology from the heartbeat analogy. b. Conducting is a function of dance and leadership. Students experience both when conducting the different patterns along with the song. c. The numerical counting and notation is closely related to mathematics. 8) a. Auditory Learning: Students listen to the same song several times. The repetition will force them to process and learn it. They are instructed to listen for something specific (the piano) which engages them in the music. Eventually they are listening for the beats and counting along with them. The students are actively listening in this lesson. b. Visual Learning: The teacher writing the measure of 6/8 on the board with the beats drawn in gives the students a visual to complement what they are hearing and feeling. It is important for the students to see how the musical concept they are learning translates to music notation. This stimulates their music reading ability. c. Kinesthetic Learning: The students conducting two different patterns requires them to be engaged in different movements and know when to switch between them. This gets their brains in tune with their bodies. It requires a high level of physical skill inner communication for the students. 9) 21st Century Skills a. Communication: The students are communicating musically by counting and subdividing along with the recording. They are actively interacting with a song. b. Critical Thinking: The students think critically when asked about the large or small beats at the beginning of the lesson. They have to listen and decipher the meaning of that for themselves before it is written on the board.