TEACHER’S PLANNING TEMPLATE FOR UbD
ARCHDIOCESAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Name of Teacher:
School:
Name of Unit: Creating Variations on a Theme
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
What levels of rigor and relevance are found in this unit?
List all of the standards that are addressed in this
unit.
Application (Stage 1)
What should I be able to do (in another settingtransfer goal) with what I have learned in this unit?
Essential Questions (Stage 1)
What questions focus and guide my thinking?
Assessment (Stage 2)
What will I be expected to do in order to demonstrate
my learning?
Skills (Stage 1)
What skills do I need to have in order to address the
essential questions and apply my learning?
Content (Stage 1)
What content do I need to know in order to address
the essential questions and apply my learning?
Integration of Learning (Stage 3)
How does this learning connect to my other areas
(subjects) of learning?
Archdiocesan Secondary Schools Planning Template
Period:
Anticipated Length of Unit: 10 periods of 40 Minutes
Which 21st Century Skills are woven into this unit?
STANDARDS: (Stage 1)
Course: Music Technology
Quadrant A
Collaboration
Quadrant B
Creativity/Innovation
Quadrant C
Communications
Quadrant D
Standard 2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
Standard 3: Improvising melodies, harmonies and accompaniments
Standard 4: Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
Standard 5: Reading and notating music
Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music
Students will be able to recognize the theme & variations form when they hear it in another piece.
Students will be able recognize music composed in the Classical Period and correlate what
happened in the world during this period.
What makes music “good?”
How does culture affect music?
Why should we learn the historical context prior to evaluating a piece of music?
Why is it important for a musician to learn to read music?
Students will write a report describing what they did to vary their compositions.
Students will play their variations and describe their processes to the class.
Rubric –
10 points for entering “When the Saints Go March In”
12 points for the written explanation of the “Ah, Vous….” Variations
20 points for each of the three variations
8 points for documentation of the variations
10 points for the presentation to the class
Students will know how to play “When the Saints Go Marching In” on the piano.
Students will know the basic elements of music theory.
Students will improve their skill in using music notation software.
Students will discover and write about the many ways that a theme can be varied.
Students will know how to notate music on the computer using notation software.
Students will gain greater insight into the use of melody, harmony and rhythm in musical
compositions.
Students will know the historical context in which the music of the Classical Period was written.
School Year 2011-2012
Revised 11-11-11
Tools for Learning (Stage 3)
Which tools will I use that will assist me in my
learning?
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
What will my teacher prepare for me to do each day
in this unit?
Archdiocesan Secondary Schools Planning Template
Computer, midi keyboard, word processing software, music notation software, projector
Video of Mozart’s theme and variations of “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDMvvelPXj0
Alfred’s All in One Adult Piano Course – p. 45 – “When the Saints Go Marching In”
- The class will discuss what it means to vary something – an outfit that a person wears, etc.
- Students will view a video of a pianist playing a few variations of “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman.”
The students will discuss what Mozart did to vary each of the selected videos.
- Students will discover, through the video, what it means to vary a piece by adjusting the
melody, the harmony, and they rhythm.
- Students will view and listen to the 12 variations and describe on paper what happens in each
variation to make it different.
- Students will enter “When the Saints Go Marching In” using the notation software that is on their
computers.
- Students will make separate files of three variations: melodically, harmonically, rhythmically.
- Students will document their work using Microsoft Word or a similar word processor in
preparation for a presentation to the class.
School Year 2011-2012
Revised 11-11-11