Xu 1
Canon in D Listening Lesson Plan with Teaching Strategies for Two
Types of Exceptional Students
Effie Xu
Listening Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives:
Students will demonstrate phrase structure through singing, moving and drawing (NS 1,
NS 3, and NS 6).
Listening Sequence:
Prepare:
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The teacher will first demonstrate the melodic theme on singing
The students will be asked to echo after the teacher
For mentally retarded (MR) children:
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I will ask the students to keep a beat when I first demonstrate the melodic theme
on singing
I will write out the ostinato on a piece of paper with color highlighting the
notated melodic patterns to help them to improve the problems with focusing
attention.
I will ask the students to read the written ostinato on the paper and reproduce the
ostinato on singing
Listen:
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The teacher will play the recording of Canon in D (piano version)
The students will be asked to move in some way to the music, but only with their
upper bodies; the teacher will move with the students to give them some guidance
on the movements.
For mentally retarded (MR) children:

I will teach them specific, simple movements to help them to feel the phrase
structure of Canon in D instead of having them to interpret and come up with
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something new. I will break them down into small units and teach with simple
directions.
For gifted and talented children:

The class will be divided into several groups. The gifted students will be assigned
to be the leaders of the groups. Their tasks will be to help their group-mates to
come up with creative movements that go along with the music.
Activate and Participate:
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The teacher will play the recording again
The students will be asked to draw lines to show the phrase structure of the song
in their own interpretation on a piece of paper with different stars representing the
notes
Question and Discuss:
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The students will be asked to identify the mood of the piece
The students will be asked to sing the melodic theme with the corresponding
expression
For mentally retarded (MR) children:

I will demonstrate several possible ways to express the melodic theme instead of
asking them to apply the corresponding expressions into singing on their own.
Listen Again:
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The teacher will play the recording once again
The students will be asked to show the teacher the number of phrases that they
draw on their pieces of paper
The recording will be played again
The teacher will draw lines into the air from left to right to show where the phrase
ends and where it restarts while the recording is playing
The students will repeat the movements after the teacher
For mentally retarded (MR) children:

I will give them each a copy of music charts that come with music series that
highlight and review the concept of phrase structures.
For gifted and talented children:
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The gifted students will be asked to compose a rhythmic piece with the same or
similar phrase structure as Canon in D.
The gifted students will be asked to play their compositions on an assigned nonpitched instrument.
The gifted students will be asked to compose a melody with different phrase
structure than Canon in D.
The gifted students will be asked to play their composed melodies on an assigned
instrument.
To expand their study of various musical ideas, the gifted students will be asked to
compose a variation of their previous composed melodies.
Extend the Listening:
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The students will be asked to sing the melodic theme while doing their movement
that they created before
The students will listen to Pachelbel’s Toccata in E minor to contrast the
different mood and phrase structure with Canon in D