Name: Bryce Nicastro

District: LAUSD
School: Nora Sterry Elementary School
Subject: General Music
Grade: Kindergarten
Date: October 19th, 2017
Lesson Plan Number: 1

National Standards for Music Education

CREATING - Imagine - Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.
MU:Cr1.1.Ka With guidance, explore and experience music concepts (such as beat and
melodic contour)
RESPONDING - Analyze - Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works
inform the response.
MU:Re7.2.1a With guidance, demonstrate how a specific music concept (such as beat or
melodic direction) is used in music.

California Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards

1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION - Processing, analyzing, and responding to sensory information
through the language and skills unique to music.
1.2 Identify and describe basic elements in music
2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION Creating, preforming, and participating in music
2.3 Play instruments and move or verbalize to demonstrate awareness of beat, tempo,
dynamics, and melodic direction.
2.4 Create accompaniments, using the voice or a variety of classroom instruments.

Objectives:
1. To recognize different percussion instruments and their functions in an orchestra.
2. To be able to keep a steady beat with altering rhythms through clapping and playing
classroom percussion instruments.
3. To encourage expressive creativity through improvisation games.
4. To identify how the beat relates to a songs tempo (fast/slow).

Equipment and Supplies:

Computer
Speakers
Projector VGMI to MacBook connector
Power Point with photos and videos of percussion instruments as well as a video
recording of Cesil Milners Percussion on Parade
Classroom percussion instruments for each student
Recording of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor op. 23 no. 5

Procedure:
1. Form a circle, sit, and sing the Good Morning Song to greet each other.
 2. Play the Pass the Beat Game where each student will mimic two pats on the knees
followed by two beats of rests to practice keeping a steady beat. During the rests, the
children will take turns responding to a question.
a. Start off with tapping two beats on my knees and two beats with my palms up (for
the rests) and ask the children to imitate.
b. In a clockwise order, the children are asked to take turns and to say their name in
the two beats of rest.
c. The second round, the children are asked to take turns and to say their favorite
color in the two beats of rest.
d. The third round, the children are asked to take turns and to say their favorite food
in the two beats of rest.
3. Discuss rhythms and percussion instruments.
a. Ask the children if they remember last week when Ms. Lily talked about the
different families of the orchestra.
i. What is an orchestra?
ii. What are the four families?
1. Strings
2. Woodwinds
3. Brass
4. Percussion
b. Ask the children if they know what instruments keep the beat in the orchestra.
c. Use Power Point presentation to show pictures and videos of different percussion
instruments.
d. Ask the students if they can identify the difference between the bells and a drum
to distinguish that percussion instruments can make a beat but also play a melody.
e. Show a clip of an orchestra playing Cesil Milners Percussion on Parade and ask
the children if they could identify the different instruments.
4. Pass around the classroom percussion instruments and let the students pick one each.
5. Play rhythms while counting a beat out-loud for students to repeat on their instruments.
a. Improvise different rhythms for the children to imitate.
b. The children are asked to go in-order around the circle and improvise a rhythm of
their own.
c. Ask the children to identify the difference in my beat.
i. Increase and decrease tempos.
ii. The children are asked to stand up, follow the leader, and stay in-sync
with me while walking and playing their classroom percussion instrument
to the beat, no matter how fast or how slow I go.
iii. Use the speakers to play Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor op. 23 no. 5
and ask the children to keep following the leader but to follow the tempo
of the song.
6. Sing the Goodbye Song.

Evaluation:
1. The students displayed their understanding of keeping a steady beat while playing the
Pass the Beat Game by keeping the same rhythm steady and in unison while saying
their names during the rests. More direction with introducing a beat and rest would
 have been helpful for the understanding of the game and comprehension of the activity.
The first time we went around the circle, the first half of the students were a little timid
and uncertain of the instructions but when we got to the second half, there was a better
understanding of the game and more excitement in their voices. On the second time
around, we switched directions. The stronger start of the first half helped the second half
to finish almost just as strong.
2. The children demonstrated retaining their lesson about different instruments of the
orchestra in the previous weeks lesson by highlighting the violin and tuba. The
PowerPoint presentation was well-received in that the students enjoyed hearing the
different sounds of percussion instruments and were able to differentiate bigger (louder)
sounds versus smaller (softer) sounds. After viewing Percussion on Parade, the students
demonstrated listening and learning about how the different sounds of the percussion
family function in an orchestra by recalling different instruments from the excerpt.
3. The rhythm imitation activity was successful in demonstrating the childrens ability to
identify different rhythms by repeating varying rhythmic selections. Unfortunately, the
class had a late start and we had to cut this activity short.
4. The children demonstrated understanding of varying tempos when playing our follow the
leader activity by remaining steady with my accelerandos and ritardandos, as well as
when we sang the Goodbye Song with a slower tempo. We unfortunately ran out of time
before we could incorporate the follow the leader activity with the recording of
Rachmaninoffs piece.

Extension:
1. Introduce the concept of beat and a rest through teaching that a beat is when you hear
sound and a rest is when you hear silence. Incorporate this into a listening exercise and
ask the children if they can identify how many beats and how many rests I play in a
measure.
2. Incorporate solfege into a rhythm exercise to teach the childrens that notes and rhythm
go together to make a melody. First, the children will start off with imitating a two-
measure rhythm. Once the children have perfected the rhythm, the students repeat a
sequence of notes in solfege. Once both are repeated back correctly, the children will
combine the rhythm and notes to create a melody. The children are asked what they
noticed about the relation of the notes and the rhythm to demonstrate their understanding.