Lesson Plan- M100B #1; Autumn
Name: Taylor Quimby
District: Los Angeles Unified School District
School: N/A (UCLA m100B)
Subject: Beginning Choir
Grade Level: 6th-7th Grade
Date of Lesson Taught: 1/29/15
Lesson Plan No: 1
National Standards for Music Education
1- “Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.”
5- “Reading and notating music.”
6- “Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.”
California Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards
1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION
1.1 Read an instrumental or vocal score of up to four staves and explain how the elements of music are
used.
1.4 Analyze and describe the use of musical elements and expressive devices (e.g., articulation, dynamic
markings) in aural examples in a varied repertoire of music representing diverse genres, styles, and
cultures.
2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION
2.1 Sing a repertoire of vocal literature representing various genres, styles, and cultures with expression,
technical accuracy, tone quality, vowel shape, and articulation written and memorized, by oneself and in
ensembles (level of difficulty: 4 on a scale of 1-6).
2.2 Sing music written in three or four parts with and without accompaniment.
3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT
3.5 Classify, by genre or style and historical period or culture, unfamiliar but representative aural
examples of music and explain the reasoning for the classification.
4.0 AESTHETIC VALUING
4.1 Develop specific criteria for making informed critical evaluations of the quality and effectiveness of
performances, compositions, arrangements, and improvisations and apply those criteria in personal
participation in music.
4.4 Describe the means used to create images or evoke feelings and emotions in musical works from
various cultures.
Equipment and Supplies
-Autumn, Andy Beck, Alfred Choral Designs(SSA). Copies for each student.
-Pencils for score marking
-White board/markers? If applicable
Objectives
1. To teach the concept of Word Painting and apply it in singing the song Autumn.
2. To develop musical expression through dynamics and artistic changes to the text based on word
painting in Autumn.
Procedure
1. Warm-ups
a. Paper Airplanes, Darts, Bow & Arrows/ Posture & Stretching
Explain that we will be breathing in with a relaxed breath and proper posture; when we exhale, we will
pretend that we are sending out a paper airplane, and our air is propelling it across the room. Repeat
this with the concept of a dart, and bow and arrows as appropriate, adjusting the amount of air and
articulation accordingly. The purpose of this exercise is to increase movement of air, and to get the lungs
warmed-up in order to sing with a full tone.
b. Sirens “Oo”
Ask the students to imitate a fire truck siren, but with the “Oo” sound, going from low to high, then back
to low; afterward going from high to low, then to high. This exercise helps to warm up all parts of the
vocal range, and works on range extension.
c. Mi Me Ma Mo Mu
Sing the syllables listed above, explaining that we are going for the most resonant, warm, lovely sound
we can. Also explain that we are aiming for each vowel to be just as resonant as the last. If necessary,
explain that the resonance of the vowel should not change with the change in vowel. This exercise
works toward a full tone, and resonant sound.
d. Dynamics Exercise- pp-ff-pp (ff-pp-ff)
Sing with solfege “Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Fa, Me, Re, Do”. On each note going upward, we will grow louder,
until we reach “Sol”, the loudest note. Then on the way down, we will grow softer. Then, trying
opposite, we will start at our (comfortable) loudest, growing softer until “Sol”, then returning to loud as
we move back down the scale to “Do”. This exercise works on dynamic expression and expansion of the
students’ volume while singing. It aims to get out of the “box” of mezzo dynamics that the choir tends to
be in.
Alt. Version-
2. Autumn
a. “Take a deep breath in, now out, and let’s get ready to sing from the beginning of the song”
[Review/rehearse measures 1-20]
Anticipated Problems: Pitch, Confidence, Tone through Vowel Sounds
Possible Solutions: Ask for smiles while singing, keeping the mouth shape the same despite the
difference in vowels.
b. Briefly discuss the meaning of the text. How does the speaker seem to feel about Summer? How does
the speaker seem to feel about Autumn? Does the music seem to indicate the speaker’s feelings about
Autumn?
Discuss the concept of word painting, and its origin in the renaissance. Possibly mention artistic liberty?
Keep this section short as to not lose the attention span of the students.
c. Point out five different specific instances of wording, and ask how we might be able to sing the notes
differently in order to reflect the wording.
Instances- m. 6 “shorter”, m. 8 “long”, m. 13 “floating”, m. 18 “breeze”, m. 19-20 “down”.
-For one example of word painting, try drawing on the chalk/white board in order to show how it should
be drawn. Another example can be drawn by a student in order to incorporate student input and
creativity. Use if necessary to keep class interested.
d. Ask students to identify how loud we are supposed to be when we start singing in measure 4 (mp).
Ask if there are any changes in our volume at any point. (Yes; crescendo m. 12).
e. Sing entire section from mm. 1-20 including all the new changes and discoveries in musicality and
dynamics.
f. Sing entire song at end of lesson(if time is available), in order to review the song in its entirety. Remind
students that there are more dynamic changes in the song, and identify the major changes in mm. 24,
32, 40, and 47.
Assessment (Underlined= Old Assessment)
Overall, I was rather satisfied with how my lesson went; I found that it was much more enjoyable than I
expected, especially considering that choral music is something I do not have much experience in. Of
course, it was a bit straining on the lesson to have less time than expected, but I don't think it took too
much from the overall flow and presentation of the lesson. As professor Chen pointed out, it would have
been much smarter to try to plan exercises that were directly connected to the concept I was teachingin this case word painting being the subject, it would've been helpful to utilize exercises focused on
expression and possibly specific techniques. The piano portion of the lesson went much more smoothly
than I had imagined, which I am very thankful for, and I feel that while the conducting portion was not
as good as I would like, I was glad to see improvement. I felt much more confident while teaching in
general, regardless of the portion in question, which was very helpful. In terms of objectives, the
concept of word painting was clearly expressed and understood. In the execution of changing parts in
the music, I felt that the process was at an acceptable pace to keep the students engaged, but I’m not
sure how this would apply to middle school students. With real middle school students, it might be wiser
to have either a faster pace, or more mini-activities to disperse the monotony of the lesson. The
students certainly seemed to understand the word painting concepts I presented whenever we changed
a part in the music; however, I’m not sure that I can fully know whether the students each individually
have an understanding of word painting, or whether they were simply copying whatever the rest of the
class was doing . As my objectives have changed for my lesson plan to become more precise and
sensible objectives, I did not “achieve” the specific objective #2 listed above.
Extension
The next lessons would focus on sealing the concept of word painting into the minds of the students, as
well as continued expression of the previously rehearsed sections and dynamics. To expand on the idea
of word painting, we would focus on the following sections:
-“disappear” mm.27-28,
-“near” m. 32
-“floating down” mm. 47-50
I would ask the students about how they think the music should be represented by word painting
through changes in the music. This would get the students to individually think about how they think it
should be addressed in the music. Following on that concept, I would remind students to observe the
dynamic changes throughout the song, asking them to physically look at measures 12, 24-25, 32, 40, and
47 especially. This could be done by asking kids to raise their hands and point out an instruction that the
composer gives for dynamics in the piece, or instead by myself pointing them out.