This lesson dives into the concept of melody and teaches your first song on the recorder: Mary had a Little Lamb.
Melody Melody is the tune of a song. Melodies are usually made up of a series of notes or pitches that form a musical shape. The notes in this shape may go up or down, move in steps or leaps and sometimes stay the same. Today you’ll learn your first melody on the recorder, Mary had a Little Lamb.
Dynamics The dynamics of a song describe how loud or soft it is. The musical term for loud is forte and the musical term for soft is piano. As you learn melodies such as Mary had a Little Lamb, experiment with changing the dynamics.
Steps In music, a step is when the melody moves either up or down to its next neighbor note, for example moving from B to A or from G to A. Can you find some musical steps in Mary had a Little Lamb?
Leaps In music, a leap is when the melody moves by a big jump either up or down, for example from G to B or from G to B. Leaps can be tricky to play, so we’ve started with a melody that doesn’t have any leaps.
Tempo The tempo of a song describes how fast or slow the speed is. The musical term for fast is presto and the musical term for slow is largo. Try playing melodies with different tempos and see how that can change the mood of a song.
1.0 Artistic Perception Listen to, Analyze, and Describe Music 1.4 Describe music according to its elements, using terminology of music.
2.0 Creative Expression Apply Vocal and Instrumental Skills 2.2 Use classroom instruments to play melodies and accompaniments from a varied repertoire of music from diverse cultures, including rounds, descants, and ostinatos, by oneself and with others.
3.0 Historical and Cultural Context Diversity of Music 3.3 Sing and play music from diverse cultures and time periods.
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing Analyze and Critically Assess 4.1 Use specific criteria when judging the relative quality of musical performances. Derive Meaning 4.2 Describe the characteristics that make a performance a work of art.
5.0 Connections, Relationships and Applications Connections and Applications 5.1 Identify and interpret expressive characteristics in works of art and music. Careers and Career-Related Skills 5.4 Evaluate improvement in personal musical performances after practice or rehearsal.
Creating • MU.CR.2.4b. Use notation to document personal or collective rhythmic, melodic, and simple harmonic musical ideas (e.g. chords). • MU.CR.3.4b. Present the final version of personally or collectively created music to others and explain their creative process.
Responding • MU.RE.7.4a. Explain how music listening is influenced by personal interest, knowledge, purpose, and context. • MU.RE.7.4b. Demonstrate and explain how musical concepts and contexts affect responses to music. • MU.RE.8.4a. Demonstrate and describe expressive attributes and how they support creators’/ performers’ expressive intent. • MU.RE.9.4a. Apply teacher-provided and collaboratively-developed criteria to evaluate musical works and performances.
Performing • MU.PR.4.4aDemonstrate and explain how the selection of music to perform is influenced by personal interest, knowledge, purpose, and context • MU.PR.4.4c. Read and perform using notation (e.g. syncopation). • MU.PR.4.4d. Demonstrate an understanding of musical concepts (e.g. physical, verbal, or written response–understanding of musical concepts and how creators use them to convey expressive intent). • MU.PR.5.4b. With an appropriate level of independence rehearse to refine technique, expression, and identified performance challenges. – • MU.PR.6.4a. Perform music with appropriate expression, technique, and interpretation. • MU.PR.6.4b. Demonstrate performance and audience decorum appropriate for the occasion.
Connecting • MU.CN.10.4b. Describe the roles and impact various musics plays in one’s life and the lives of others. • MU.CN.11.4a. Explore and describe relationships between musics and other content areas (e.g. dance, visual art, dramatic arts, literature, science, math, social studies, and language arts). • MU.CN.11.4b. Describe how context (e.g. social, cultural, and historical) can inform a performance
Creativity and Innovation
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Communication and Collaboration
Flexibility and Adaptability
Initiative and Self Direction
Leadership and Responsibility
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
Productivity and Accountability