Music: Composing a Recorder Piece Lesson Plan

Grade Level: This lesson is designed for younger students, but could be adapted to accompany older ones.

Objectives:

1. The students will be able see the connections between music and emotions.

2. The students will be able to use the resources they have and previous knowledge to make their own composition of an emotion.

Concepts:

Students will be able to use their basic knowledge of the recorder and music to compose their own piece regarding an emotion.

Materials:

For this project you will need for each student: music paper and a recorder.

Procedure:

1. The teacher and class will talk about emotions and their connection to music.

2. The teacher will assign each student an emotion. Students are not allowed to share their assigned emotion with others.

3. Each student will have a couple of minutes to think about the emotion they have been assigned and write down their thoughts about that emotion. (Examples may include situations that they would feel that particular emotion in or words that express that emotion)

4. After the time is up, the teacher will pass out the music paper and ask the students to compose their own music abut that emotion.

5. After each student is done, the teacher will ask him or her to play his or her piece one by one. When a student is done, the class will take turns speaking about how the composition makes them feel. When everyone has spoken, the composer will reveal what emotion they chose and why.

Short term goal: Students will use their skills, both in composing and the playing of the recorder, to write a piece of music describing an emotion.

Long term goal: Students will learn that emotions can be expressed through music. Music is a way for one to express themselves without words.

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their participation. There is no right or wrong answer to this project, but students should be able to support their thoughts sufficiently.