Grade 1 Lesson 1

Objectives/Understanding Statements
• Students will identify and define piano, pianissimo, forte, and fortissimo dynamics.

Standards
Virginia Standards of Learning
1.1 The student will read and notate music, including
3. identification of basic music symbols.
1.2 The student will demonstrate various uses of the voice, including
3. demonstrating expressive qualities of music, including changes in dynamics
and tempo.

Procedure
• Introduce dynamics
• Is music always the same volume? Always loud or always soft? Can you tell when it
changes?
• Play Beethoven 5
• Stand when loud, sit when soft
• How do musicians know when to change volume?
• Pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo, crescendo, descrescendo/
diminuendo (full names and symbols)
• Italian terms (show Italy on map)
• Dynamics video
• Stand when forte, couch when piano, sit when pianissimo, arms out when fortissimo
• Play Music Madness review game, Dynamite Dynamics
• “I Have Lost My Purple Frog”
• Teach song by rote
• Explain game
• One student hides frog, one student is the finder
• Once frog is hidden, class sings “I Have Lost My Purple Frog” singing louder as the finder
gets closer, and softer as the finder gets further away.

Assessment
• Teacher will asses students’ abilities to identify and define piano, pianissimo, forte, and
fortissimo dynamics by evaluating student responses to review game questions and through
informal observation of the hiding game.

Materials
• Dynamics video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9LA60BtTw
• Purple bean bag frog
• Music Madness DVD
• Beethoven 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7pQytF2nak
Adaptations
• Size: N/A
• Color: Different colors can be used for each dynamic marking
• Pacing: teacher will monitor class comprehension by asking questions for understanding and
adjusting pacing accordingly.
• Modality: Games on Smart Board and written symbols (visual), listening to sound examples
(aural) and movement along with dynamic changes (kinesthetic)

Extensions
This lesson could be extended by playing the “Pizza Dynamics” game on the Interactive Now
volume 5 DVD.