This unit is comprised of 5 lessons consisting of these following Lesson plans
Lesson 1 – Creating With Text
Lesson 2 – The Melodic Line
Lesson 3 – The Harmonic “Environment”
Lesson 4 – Text and The Creative Process
Lesson 5 – Drama in Music
This lesson opens up the expressive world of text-setting and performance. How do vocal nuances of dynamic, articulation, range, inflection and timing affect our sense of the “meaning” of the words? Activities include improvised interpretations of a simple line of text to cover the entire range of emotions. Students are then given short lines of engaging metred and unmetered text to set for solo voice using graphic and standard notation. The results are then performed and discussed.
amc_12M_lsn1_creating with text
amc_12M_lsn1_BLM1A_Rhythm Grid
In this lesson, we ponder the question: When is line of music a “melody?”
Beginning with the class’ favourite melodies, we consider shape, form, internal structure and try to write a well-loved one down (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star) by ear. Then we study this melody’s form, motivic structure.
amc_12M_lsn2_TR2_Compositional Devices
amc_12M_lsn2_TR3_Twinkle Twinkle_no_analysis.mus
In this lesson, we consider the “chicken and egg” question of melody and harmony: which comes first? In what ways do they work together? Through analysis of classic exemplars, students come to see that great melodies exhibit consistent harmonic characteristics and that harmonic progressions are the products of scalar connections. Students build harmonic progressions with harmonic rhythm and phrase structure. Students then graft a vocal setting of the whimsical text of The Walrus and the Carpenter onto their harmonic progression, following a few simple steps.
amc_12M_lsn3_the harmonic environment
amc_12M_lsn3_BLM4_Harmonic Environment.mus
amc_12M_lsn3_BLM5_The Harmonic Support
Using a poetic text as inspiration for a new composition, we examine the creative process (as illustrated in the OMEA Anchor chart), offering questions and answers that may arise as we move through each of its 8 stages. Whether the poem is set as a song, or used as the scaffold for instrumental music, the experience of envisioning, generating, gathering, developing and editing is similar. Students learn to Brainstorm, use Concept Formation, generate a Compositional Plan, apply compositional devices, and use a form of notation to record you ideas, build musical phrases and notate your composition with an appropriate notation.
amc_12M_lsn4_text and the creative process
amc_12M_lsn4_TR7_Vocal Character
As the culminating lesson of this Unit, students bring together several layers of knowledge and skill:
• text-setting for voice; melodic writing to convey character;
• harmonic writing to set mood and support emotional situation;
• use of the creative process to generate and develop ideas; and
• applications of notation to record the composition and communicate intention to musical interpreters.
Students study musical “character” as found in leitmotivs by Wagner or Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Students also watch dramatic scenes from opera, to listen for shifts in character and situation and how these are expressed through the vocal writing and its instrumental accompaniment. Students then select an excerpt from a play and set it as a short scene of musicdrama. Finally, these new compositions are presented and discussed.
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