Lesson Plan – Humanities
Renaissance Music and Dance
Outcomes: Students will understand, describe, and perform Renaissance music and
dance. Students will work alone and with others.
Agenda:
1. Students will be given a new seating chart.
2. Students will be put in to small groups to answer designated questions
assigned to them.
- Students may work together to find answers, but must each present one
answer to the class with specific examples.
3. Students will combine into larger groups to learn and perform an assigned
Renaissance dance.
Group 1: Historical Context
Ellis, Samantha, Ben, Simone, Harvey
Group 2: Music (1-4)
Alyssa, Zach, Hailey H., Shayla
Group 3: Music (5-8)
Brennon Emily, Cory, Sugarland
Group 4: Music (9-12)
Caleb, Aspen, Hailey W., Paulino
Group 5: Music (13-16)
Gabriella, Luke, Sunday, Angel
Group 6: Music (17-20)
Cheyenne, Isiaih, Patrick, Hugo
Group 7: Renaissance Dance
Asir, Bailee, Chris, Savannah
Renaissance Music and Dance Questions
A. Historical Context
1. Who is Martin Luther and what was his impact on Renaissance music?
2. What is the 95 “thesis?”
3. Summarize the Protestant Reformation (Who started it? Why? What was
the outcome?)
4. What did the Council of Trent say was wrong with church music?
B. Music
1. Who is Guido of Arezzo and why is he so important to the history of
music?
2. What musical innovations came from the Gregorian Era?
3. Who is Josquin des Prez? Name three of his contributions to Renaissance
music.
4. Name three major advances in Renaissance music from that of the Middle
Ages.
5. Explain the increase in musical literacy within the Renaissance.
6. Define “word-painting” and explain the treatment of words in
Renaissance music.
7. How did Renaissance composers evoke emotion through their music?
(Give examples of specific songs or composers)
8. What does antiphonal mean? Give an example of how this was used.
9. What is imitation?
10. Define the terms “musical borrowing,” and “paraphrasing.” Give an
example.
11. Compare and contrast the terms polyphony and harmony.
12. What is tonality and how did Renaissance composers use harmony to
establish this?
13. What is a madrigal? Who invented it?
14. Why were madrigals written/what were they used for?
15. Who is Palestrina and how did he contribute to Renaissance music?
16. Name three facts about Palestrina’s life.
17. Name and describe each of the five mass parts and how they were altered
in the Renaissance time period.
18. What is a motet?
19. Name and describe the new form of music introduced by the Lutheran
Church in Germany.
20. Summarize the use of instruments in Renaissance music.
C. Dance
1. Name and describe the two types of social dances in the Renaissance.
2. Who were three dance masters of the Renaissance? Why do we still
consider them important?
3. How did dance change music in the Renaissance?
4. What are 4 different dances from the Renaissance? Write a description
for each.