Theory and Composition Unit 1, Part 1

Bellwork: Define Terms

Staff: a set of five lines and four spaces that represent musical pitch.

Pitch: the relative highness or lowness that we hear in a sound

Melody: A sequence of notes that make up the theme of a song

Outcomes

Scholars Will:

Grammar: Learn basic terms of musical elements

Logic: Start developing piano skills

Rhetoric: Write a composition

Announcements

HW #1 is due this Monday, August 17th

Test on Unit #1 is on Monday, August 24th

On my way to do somemusic theory…

The Staff- labeling lines and

spaces numerically

Make your own staff

Get into groups of 3-5.

Using the materials in the bags create your own staff

Label the lines and spaces with the numbers provided.

Pitch

The sounds of a tune can move in three ways:

They can go up (ascend)

Go down (descend)

Or stay the same (static)

I will now write out the melody shape of

“Mary had a little lamb”

Pitch as seen in melody shape

Think of the song “Hot Cross Buns”.

I’ll play it first, in case you forgot what it sounds like, then I’ll write it on the board.

If we were to write it out, just the basic melody shape, it would look something like this:

Whiteboards

Choose a song. If you can’t think of one some suggestions are:

Happy Birthday

Jingle Bells

The star spangled banner

This little light of mine

Using dashes, write out the melody in a pattern

Piano Power!

Hold up both hands and wiggle the following fingers:

Piano Patterns

In pairs, go choose a piano.

As you look at the piano, you will notice there is a pattern of white and black keys.

The black keys are arranged in groupings of:

The most important note is middle C.

Middle C is located to the left of the two black keys.

Please find Middle C and play it with your right thumb.

Piano Stairs

In groups of 3-5, create a piano on one of the three staircases outside this door.

Take one pile of keyboard materials per group.

Share the staircase, one group will use the top half of the staircase, the other will use the bottom half.

Sharp (hashtag) and flat (little b)

You will notice two symbols that are placed after the letter name of some notes on the keyboard.

They are a sharp: (draw 10)

And a flat: (draw 10)

We will talk about what these symbols mean more in depth next week. For now, remember that these notes often occur on black keys.

All of the notes on the piano

Please fill in your keyboard to match the keyboard on the board. Feel free to move closer to the board if you need.

WhiteboardsThe clefs- Draw ‘em

Exit Ticket- redo

What are the acronyms for the following:

Treble clef spaces

Treble clef lines

ID the following notes:

Write the following notes: