What are the enduring understandings/ essential questions to be addressed? / What important skills/standards will students learn, practice, or apply? / How will you draw on students’ ideas, interests and experiences to connect students to the big ideas? / What is meaningful evidence that students have understood the big ideas and reached proficiency on the skills/standards? / What instructional practices and strategies will support students to meet the standards and grasp the big ideas? / What resources will best convey the big ideas and concepts to support skill attainment?
Music Exemplar
What is a cadence?How are they used in music? / Lesson one:
SWBAT define “cadence”
SWBAT recognize cadences when they hear them
SWBAT name three kinds of cadence
2.6 Compose music, using musical elements for expressive effect.
2.10 Improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.
Lesson two:
SWBAT name three kinds of cadence
SWBAT recognize and define “full” and “half cadence”
SWBAT write out full and half cadences
SWBAT demonstrate understand of music notation by sight-singing
2.6 Compose music, using musical elements for expressive effect.
2.10 Improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.
1.3 Sight-read music accurately and effectively
Lesson three:
SWBAT name three kinds of cadence
SWBAT recognize and define “plagal cadence”
SWBAT write out plagal cadences
SWBAT demonstrate understand of music notation by sight-singing
2.6 Compose music, using musical elements for expressive effect.
2.10 Improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.
1.3 Sight-read music accurately and effectively
Lesson four:
SWBAT recognize and define “deceptive cadence”
SWBAT write out deceptive cadences
SWBAT articulate three important facts about Landini and his music
2.6 Compose music, using musical elements for expressive effect.
2.10 Improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.
3.2 Explain the various roles that musicians perform, identify representative individuals who have functioned in each role, and explain their activities and achievements.
Lesson five:
SWBAT recognize and define different types of cadence.
SWBAT demonstrate their what they have learned relating to cadences, orally and written.
SWBAT demonstrate understanding of music notation by sight-singing.
2.6 Compose music, using musical elements for expressive effect.
2.10 Improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.
1.5 Identify and explain a variety of compositional devices and techniques used to provide unity, variety, tension, and release in aural examples.
1.3 Sight-read music accurately and effectively / Lesson one:
Students share ideas about their knowledge of cadences
Lesson two:
Refer to previous lesson as we cover certain types of cadences.
Lesson three:
Students may relate to any hymn knowledge as we discuss plagal cadences
(Amen)
Lesson four:
Students discuss how certain music forms impact the development of music throughout history, and in particular, Landini’s cadence / Formative:
Class discussion to make sure students are understanding lecture
(1-4)
Sight singing to practice musical skills
(all lessons)
Exercises for homework to check retention; may be revised for better grade if returned before test (1-4)
Summative:
Oral and written test to assess mastery of skills/knowledge (5) / Lesson one:
Play cadences on piano
Discuss associations/ideas about concept of cadence
Define cadence, and name all kinds
Show examples of full and strong/weak cadences
Assign related reading and exercises in Ch. 4 of text. Hand out article to be read for HW.
Paragraph on students’ understanding of “cadence” for HW
Lesson two:
Collect homework: the paragraph on “cadence”
Play various full and half cadences on piano. Discuss differences
Define half cadence for the class. Answer any pertinent questions relating to reading done for homework.
Show on white board examples of a half cadence in different keys, and discuss its voice leading and chord structure. (I, V) Play examples on piano.
Work on sight-singing exercises out of Chapter 3 of text, asking students key, time signature, and scale degree of starting and ending notes.
Work on exercises relating to half cadences in Chapter 4 of textbook.
Lesson three:
Define plagal cadence for the class. Discuss its use in sacred music, namely “AMEN”. While discussing, play various plagal cadences on piano.
Show on white board examples of a plagal cadence in different keys, and discuss its voice leading and chord structure. (IV, I) Play examples on piano
Work on sight-singing exercises out of Chapter 3 of text, asking students key, time signature, and scale degree of starting and ending notes
Work on exercises relating to plagal cadences in Chapter 4 of textbook
Hand out reading assignment on Francesco Landini to be read for homework.
Lesson four:
Start whole-group student-led discussion on Landini, his cadence, and his role in the history of music.
Define deceptive cadence for class. Show on white board examples of a deceptive cadence in different keys, and discuss its voice leading and chord structure. (V, vi) Play examples on piano, and highlight differences between it and a full cadence
Work on exercises relating to deceptive cadences in Chapter 4 of textbook
Lesson five:
Test students on knowledge of cadences, both orally and written.
-- Ask students to orally identify and define different cadences as they hear them played.
-- On paper, have them identify examples of different cadences, as well as complete voice leading on further examples
Work on sight-singing exercises out of Chapter 4 of text, asking students key, time signature, and scale degree of starting and ending notes. / Elementary Harmony: Theory and Practice by Robert Ottman contains definitions and exercises and other information pertaining to music theory. It is the textbook
Article on Francesco Landini excerpted from Grout and Palisca’s A History of Western Music, Ch. 4, pp108-110. details his life and contributions to Western music.
Music for Sight Singing by Robert Ottman is a book of singing exercises that are progressively more difficult as the students work through the year
“Cadence” article from Encyclopedia Britannica online defines the term.
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Rationale
This class is the eleventh grade Honors Music Theory course. There are fifteen students in the class. The course covers all aspects of music notation relating to three- and four-part harmony. The students study major and minor scales, key signatures, intervals, triads, rhythm, and fundamental terminology required to discuss aspects of music theory. It also includes a broad survey of the development of music throughout history, and practice in reading and sight-reading music to improve the students’ music reading skills. They will also learn about the different instruments of each family.
Students are starting a new unit on cadences. They have already learned the basics, which include recognizing pitches, intervals, chords, durations, and time signatures in staff notation and on a keyboard. After the students master cadences, they can move on to other part-writing skills in voice-leading and four-part harmony. These will include harmonic progression, non-harmonic tones, more complex chords and harmonies, and contemporary composition practices. Occasionally during the unit the students will practice their sight-singing skills as on-going preparation in their music-reading skills, and for some students, the AP Music Theory test.
My essential question for the unit is “what is a cadence”? While this can be defined, the question of “how are they used in music” is rather more open-ended. How a cadence is used depends on the type of cadence, the era in which is what used, and how composition has developed throughout music history. The essential question does get to the heart of what I want my students to learn during this unit. My students must analyze cadences to understand how they work and to use them in their music properly. These questions should provoke student interest as long as they are interested in learning music theory, as cadences are an integral part of this subject.
The content standards have come straight from those written for high school music in California. The objectives are aimed to help the students meet those standards. These objectives and standards are linked to the essential question in that they help students understand the subject matter and make them better able to answer the EQ. The standards are written on somewhat of a broader level than the essential question, but being able to discuss how parts of music theory work with each other will help them understand how cadences are used in music. The skills and standards may not be as transferable outside of the performing arts, but within them they have much transferability. The standards focus on artistic and creative expression, historical context, and relationships with other disciplines and the world. They are certainly durable and easily utilized, since they are not so specific that it is impossible to include them all. They provide a basic skill that should be learned, and the teachers have the freedom to implement that the best way for their particular students.
The students may come from already musical families, which will make learning about part-writing and theory easier, if they have been hearing it already as they grow up. However, I don’t assume that my students have any prior knowledge unless I have assessed it. Whenever possible I try to link concepts to music they may be listening to at home or in other social situations, such as church, camps, traditional music, popular music, and other musical occasions. At the beginning of the unit we have a discussion to see if any one has any prior knowledge on cadences to I can teach them appropriately and not repeat anything they may already know. I can also clear up any misconceptions they might have about them, such as if they are confusing the term “cadence” with another musical term. As the students work on the skills they need to master the concepts I will tie in their prior knowledge to help them make connections and retain the information.
I believe the assessments are well aligned with the skills, standards, and essential questions. All my assessments require my students to show me they know what a cadence is and how it used in music. Discussion shows me what they are thinking about them at the moment, and the exercises that are done for homework show me they can create and use them properly in part-writing. If the students make mistakes on their homework, they may revise their work to show me that have figured out what they did wrong and can correct it. The test allows to me ascertain that my students have mastered the concepts before we can move on to more complex concepts later in the course that will utilize the material we have just covered.
I believe my assessments are reliable because I am continually assessing my students in different ways so I can observe different aspects of their learning processes over time. All my assessments relate to showing understanding of cadences, so the assessments are valid. The final unit test is standardized, as all the students take it at the same time in the same way, and I would have given the directions to them all at the same time. The homework assignments are very standard, as they are exercises from the book, with directions that are all the same. The rest of the assessments are more subjective. The assessments may not be practical for anyone other than a music teacher, as a certain amount of musical knowledge is required to know whether the students have the skills correct. Some of the listening exercises may not be practical without a piano, as a teacher cannot sing more than one part at a time, and not many schools have string quartets at their disposal to play when asked.
In much the same way as the assessments, the instructional strategies are aligned well with the skills, standards and essential questions. The practices adequately prepare the students for assessments because they ask the students to do the same things they will be asked to do on the test. All of the strategies provide opportunities for me to assess student learning, because I can monitor their progress with all the activities. The materials are also all directly related to learning about cadences and understanding their use in music theory.
The CIAS model is also well represented here. All instruction is geared toward students to show what they can do. Different kinds of assessments are used to ensure all students are learning. The varied instructional strategies also ensure this. The music curriculum is constructed in a logical manner so that students can learn more about music by building on what they already know and have been taught. The curriculum also relates to the music standards described by the state of California so that the students are being taught concepts that they are expected to know by the state.
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