CEClang.38


TITLE:    Mix N' Match

AUTHOR:   Jimmy Lazenby, Casady, Oklahoma City, OK

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:  2-4;  Music/Language Arts
          (This is a Level IV ICE lesson)

OVERVIEW: The students know that melodies/tunes move up
or down by steps or skips, or stay the same.  They also
know that the notes may be identified by letter names
or numbers and that most songs are made of patterns.
It may be helpful to review the melodic patterns in a
familiar song as well as what a syllable is.

OBJECTIVE(S):  Using only the first five tones of the
major scale eg. c,d,e,f,g or 1,2,3,4,5; the students
will put together many, different and unusual melody
patterns, writing the patterns with either the letter
names or number names (3 to 5 notes in each pattern).

RESOURCES/MATERIALS: The students need only paper and
pencil.
Optional: resonator bells and mallets.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.   Review the directions that melodies may go.
2.   Students choose a short poem that they like.
3.   Establish syllables by clapping as the poem is
     recited.
4.   In 15 minutes or less, invent many, different, and
     unusual melody patterns with the first five notes
     of a major scale.
5.   Categorize all the patterns. (The students may
     decide on several ways to categorize: the way they
     move, the way each student chose to write the
     pattern, the number of notes in each pattern,
     etc.)
6.   Say: "you have found a poem you like and have
     decided that it might make a nice song.  Write a
     song that will fit the poem, using patterns from
     the composite list to fit the poem and write it
     over the appropriate syllable (Each syllable must
     have one note; it may more.) so that another
     person or group could perform it without hearing
     it first.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Academic concepts include:
1. songs are often made of combinations of melodic
   patterns,
2. songs must have at least one note for every
   syllable,
3. words are divided into syllables that can be
   identified by clapping as they are articulated.

Evaluation:
Many - Total number of patterns invented.
Different - Number of categories of patterns ie. up
     by steps, up by skips, etc.
Unusual - patterns that are alone in a category.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES: Have the students decide which
syllables in their poem are strong, sound louder, as it
is recited.  Combine this activity with a similar one
with rhythm patterns (long-short). Invent or use
traditional musical notation to write the melody of the
poem.