Unit Overview
Content Area: Music
Unit Title: Music and Movement and Aesthetic Response/Critique
Target Course/Grade Level:
First
Timeline: School year
Unit Summary
Experimenting with movement, first given then improvised, is the gateway to musical
composition and improvisation. In this unit we will first use our bodies and then our words to
express how music makes us feel and what it leads us to think about. We will also begin to
understand how to critique music we are listening to and performances we are watching in a
constructive way.
Primary interdisciplinary connections:
Art, Physical Education, and Language Arts
21st century themes and skills:
Creativity, Innovation, Communication, and Collaboration
Unit Rationale:
As the students become more comfortable with music and movement an environment where it is
safe to experiment and volunteer information will be created. This will make creating music,
improvising, and critiquing performances or even just answering questions easier and more fun
for everyone. Also the discussion of the feelings brought on by a piece of music or dance helps
to facilitate language development in the young musician as well as musicality.
Learning Targets
Standards:
1.1 The Creative Process: All students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements and
principles that govern the creation of works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
1.3 Performance: All students will synthesize those skills, media, methods, and technologies
appropriate to creating, performing, and/or presenting works of art in dance, music theatre, and
visual art.
1.4 Aesthetic responses & Critique Methodologies: All students will demonstrate and apply
an understanding of arts philosophies
9.1 21st-Century Life & Career Skills: All students will demonstrate the creative, critical
thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills needed to function successfully as both global
citizens and workers in diverse ethnic and organizational cultures.
Content Statements:
Related content statements for Standard 1.1
 Original movement is generated through improvisational skills and techniques.
 Musical and non-musical forms of sounds can affect meaning in choreography and
improvisation.
 Ear training and listening skills are prerequisites for musical literacy
Related content statements for Standard 1.3
 Creative movement/dance is a means of self-expression.
Related content statements for Standard 1.4A
 Each arts discipline offers distinct opportunities to observe, experience, interpret,
appreciate, and respond to works of art and beauty in the everyday world.
 Active listening with focus, intent, and understanding is an important component of full
appreciation of the performing arts and the foundation for language development.
 Each arts discipline (dance, music, theatre, and visual art) has distinct characteristics, as
do the artists who create them.
Related content statements for Standard 1.4B
 Relative merits of works of art can be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed using
observable criteria
 Constructive criticism is an important evaluative tool that enables artists to communicate
more effectively.
Related content statements for Standard 9.1A
 The ability to recognize a problem and apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to
solve the problem is a lifelong skill that develops over time.
Related content statements for Standard 9.1B
 Brainstorming activities enhance creative and innovative thinking in individual and group
goal setting and problem solving.
CPI #
1.1.2.A.2
1.1.5.A.3
1.1.2.B.1
1.3.P.A.1
1.3.P.A.2
1.3.P.A.3
1.3.P.A.4
1.3.P.A.6
1.4.P.A.1
1.4.P.A.2
1.4.P.A.3
1.4.P.A.4
1.4.P.A.5
1.4.P.A.6
1.4.P.A.7
1.4.2.A.3
Cumulative Progress Indicator (CPI)
Use improvisation to discover new movement to fulfill the intent of the
choreography.
Determine how accompaniment (such as sound, spoken text, or silence) can
affect choreography and improvisation.
Explore the elements of music through verbal and written responses to diverse
aural prompts and printed scores.
Move the body in a variety of ways, with and without music.
Respond to changes in tempo and a variety of musical rhythms through body
movement.
Participate in simple sequences of movements.
Define and maintain personal space, concentration and focus during creative
movement/dance performances.
Use movement/dance to convey meaning around a theme or to show feelings.
Describe feelings and reactions in response to a creative movement/dance
performance.
Describe feelings and reactions in response to diverse musical genres and
styles.
Describe feelings and reactions and respond in an increasingly informed manner
to stories and dramatic performances.
Describe feelings and reactions and make increasingly thoughtful observations in
response to a variety of culturally diverse works of art and objects in the everyday
world.
Begin to demonstrate appropriate audience skills during creative movement and
dance performances.
Begin to demonstrate appropriate audience skills during recordings and music
performances.
Begin to demonstrate appropriate audience skills during storytelling and
performances.
Use imagination to create a story based on an arts experience that communicated
1.4.2.B.1
1.4.2.B.2
9.1.4.A.1
9.1.4.A.5
an emotion or feeling, and tell the story through each of the four arts disciplines
(dance, music, theatre, and visual art).
Observe the basic arts elements in performances and exhibitions and use them to
formulate objective assessments of artworks in dance, music, theatre, and visual
art.
Apply the principles of positive critique in giving and receiving responses to
performances.
Recognize a problem and brainstorm ways to solve the problem individually or
collaboratively.
Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills in classroom and family settings.
9.1.4.B.1
Participate in brainstorming sessions to seek information, ideas, and strategies
that foster creative thinking.
Unit Essential Questions
Unit Enduring Understandings
 How can we move our bodies in a way
 We can respond to different tempi and
that reflects the music to which we are
meters with locomotor or non-locomotor
moving?
movements.
 What does silence look like?
 Beat, meter, and duration can be
represented with movement.
 How does music make you feel?
 What makes a musical piece like a
 Music can help the listener feel a certain
story?
emotion.
 What is mood in music?
 Music is an art form which can lead the
listener to have their own feelings and
experience.
Unit Learning Targets
Students will ...
 Perform simultaneous imitation using movement, instruments, and vocal sounds.
 Distinguish faster from slower tempi.
 Distinguish louder from softer dynamics.
 Perform beat (speak, pat, clap, play, and step).
 Explore speech material for inflection, improvisation, and rhythm.
 Imitate movement motives in place; later in space.
 Imitate rhythmic motives.
 Distinguish higher from lower pitches with movement.
 Perform the beat simultaneously with a spoken text.
 Sing melody and play the beat simultaneously.
 Show mood of music, and emotions felt with movement, given then improvised.
 Critique given pieces of music in a constructive fashion.
Evidence of Learning
Summative Assessment
Pre-assessment, participation, performance and observation, self and group assessment,
question and answer, classroom discussion, and games.
Equipment needed:
Folksong CD’s, piano or keyboard, rhythm sticks, various hand percussion instruments, poly
spots, mallet percussion instruments, various supplemental materials, books, and music.
Teacher Instructional Resources:
Music Express Subscription
Music K-8 Subscription
Tempo Magazine
Kodaly in the Classroom by Linda Rann
Discovering Orff by Jane Franzee
Orff-Schulwerk Applications for the Classroom by Brigitte Warner
Formative Assessments
Self and group assessment and concerts.
Integration of Technology:
Smart Board
Technology Resources:
Click the links below to access additional resources used to design this unit:
www.classicsforkids.com
www.musick8.com
www.menc.org
www.acda.org
www.sfskids.org
Opportunities for Differentiation:
Differentiate by student need, interest and readiness level.
Teacher Notes: