Unit Plan
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AFRICA UNIT
Unit level questions: 1. To what extent does the cultural music indigenous to Africa influence American popular music? 2. To what extent has African music within America changed?
Unit Level Objectives: 1. Students will be able to accurately acknowledge distinct musical attributes common in African music. 2. Students will be able to create an accurate representation of an African drum circle. 3. Students will be able to accurately acknowledge elements of African music through history to present day. Skill Objectives: Creating music, performing music, and responding to music as a music course these are primary elements for all units; research skills; critical thinking skills; social skills, many lessons involve cooperative learning.
Lesson 1 Class: General Music Grade Level: 11 Topic: Introduction to Africa
1. Essential Questions: What is the role of music in African culture? 2. Objectives: Students will be able to accurately identify the roles of music within African culture Students will be able to accurately identify the role of music in today’s society. 3. National Standards of Music Education: National Standard #6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music. National Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 4. Transformative teaching context: Transformative 5. Learning experience: Cooperative Learning Initiation: Students will listen to “African Dance: Mali Dununba Dance and Drum Party: Baby naming celebration!” on YouTube (this will be used again later). At the end of the clip students will be informed that they will be looking at the role of music in society. They will be told that they are to examine what the role of music is in their lives and from there examine what the role of music is in the contemporary America. Learning Activities: 1. Students will form groups of four. They will be creating lists of what they use music for in their lives. Students will be given a worksheet with various questions on it to help them form their lists of the role of music in their lives. They will be asked, “When do you listen to music?” “Is there music that is only listened to on special occasions?” etc. 2. Students will use their lists to make inferences on the role of music in contemporary America in a classroom discussion. Students will discover that the primary roles of music in contemporary America are: entertainment, religious ceremonies, festivals, social rituals, and celebration. 3. Students will make assumptions on the role of music in African culture. “Is it similar or different than that of American culture?” This will be done in a classroom discussion. 4. Students will be informed of the roles of music in African culture and that they are very similar if not considered the same as contemporary America (entertainment, religious ceremonies, festivals, social rituals, celebration of all events in a persons life, as well as curing the sick and bringing rain). “Many Africans believe that music serves as a link to the spirit world. Music plays an active roll in the community and music is ultimately tied to the things that are most to the welfare of the people.” 5. Students will then listen to the YouTube video from the initiation of the class and make inferences to what the music is for (celebration, entertainment. religious ceremonies, festivals, social ritual). Students will answer the questions: “What do types of instruments do you hear (percussive, wind, bells etc)?” “Do you hear voices? Are they chanting, singing or yelling?” 6. Students will be discover that this is a celebration song and dance. It is called “Mali Dununba Dance and Drum Party” and it is a celebration ceremony for one of the community dancers that had just had a baby and named them. 7. Students will listen to various types of African music and dance and make similar responses prior to learning what they are about.
Closure: Ask the students: “With what we’ve learned today, to what extent is music used for the same purpose in American Culture as it is in African Culture? How is it used differently?” The students will be informed that in the next lesson they will be learning more about African drum circles. Assessment: Informal assessment will be taken during the class discussion to measure student learning. Lesson 2 Class: General Music Grade Level: 11 Topic: Membranophones and Idiophones 1. Essential Questions: What are the primary instruments within a drum circle? 2. Objectives: Students will be able to accurately identify the primary percussive instruments within an African drum circle and their global origins. 3. National Standards of Music Education: National Standard #6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music. National Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 4. Transformative teaching context: No Transformative Concepts
5. Materials: African Instrument Worksheet (For the students) African Instrument Note Cards (For the various stations) African Percussion Instruments Recordings of African drum circles. (YouTube)
6. Learning experience: Cooperative Learning Initiation: Students will be asked to write down as many percussion instruments they know. (These do not have to be of African origin, the point is to see what they might already know.) Learning Activities: 1. Students will be given a worksheet with the names of each percussion instrument and its classification system written on it (classification systems will be: idiophones, and membranophones). 2. Instruments will be displayed at multiple stations around the classroom. Students will get into groups of four or five. Each group will be assigned a station for the students to examine and play various instruments. 3. Note cards with the picture of each instrument will be placed at each station with the name of the instrument and its description on the back. After exploring the instruments, the students will flip over the note cards and record the information on the cards on their worksheet. They will also write down specific elements that they notice about the instruments (i.e. “What do they sound like?” “What American instruments do they resemble?”) Students will have already had a lesson on American music. 4. The students will then move to the next station and examine the new set of instruments in the same manner. 5. Students will be use their findings to discover the definition of what an “idiophone” and “membranophone” is. The students will be guided to the correct definition through an in class discussion about the specific qualities of the instruments. 6. Students will then listen to examples of African music and write down what instruments they think they heard. This will be done multiple times for practice. Closure: Ask the students: “What qualities does a membanophone have?” “What qualities does an idiophone have?” “What ‘American’ percussive instruments fall into these categories?” Students will be told that next class they will be learning more about African music, and they will be able to play the instruments. Students will also be informed on an upcoming test on the instruments and their origins. Homework: Take the list of instruments that was filled in class, and find their origins within Africa. Assessments: Students will be informally assessed on their ability to define membranophone and idiophone. Students will also be formally assessed on their homework and in the upcoming test.
Lesson 3 Class: General Music Grade Level: 11 Topic: Key Terms and Performance 1. Essential Questions: What are the primary roles of each individual instrument within a drum circle? What do the terms: call and response, call to start, call to stop, syncopation, and improvisation mean? 2. Lesson Level Objectives:
Students will be able to correctly define key terms relative to African cultural music. Students will be able to accurately describe and perform the main elements of an African drum circle and why they vary from tribe to tribe. 3. National Standards of Music Education: National Standard #2: Playing instruments alone or with others and varied repertoire of music. National Standard #4: Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. National Standard #6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music. National Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 4. Transformative Teaching Context: No Transformative Concepts
5. Materials: 1. Recording of “Fanga” 2. African Instruments 3. Drum “Grids" 6. Learning Experience: Cooperative Learning Initiation: Students will enter the classroom and sit in a circle. We will have a whole-class discussion on the instruments that the students had to research for homework. Learning Activity: 1. Students will listen as I explain there are three main roles within any drum circle (Heartbeat, Embellishing, Lead). Students will be told, “The heartbeat role sets up the foundation. It is a very critical role and always a good place to start. The embellishing role provides the color or punctuation of they circle (this is usually done with accents and syncopation). The embellisher finds the spaces between the core heartbeat rhythms. The lead role of a circle is more melodic in nature, and tends to be heard above the other voices.” 2. Students will listen as I explain and demonstrate some key concepts of African Drum circle music, such as “Call to Start, Call to Stop, and Call and Response”. 3. Students will listen to recordings of African drum music and point out the different roles in the music. Students will also point out when, “call to start, call to stop, and call and response” are being played. 4. Students will use their new knowledge to categorize the different instruments into the three main roles that they are commonly used for in an African drum circle (Heartbeat, Embellishing, Lead). 5. Students will watch as the proper way to play each percussion instrument is demonstrated for them. Students will select from various African percussive instruments to play. 6. Students will listen as I explain, "In the African culture written notation for music does not exist. Music is taught from master to student using words and in many cases imitation techniques.” 7. Students will learn the song “Fanga” by rote. FangaSong: One version of the song goes as
follows. Each verse lasts for two measures. Drums:
Notation:
Comments: The break is played on Djembe to start or stop the rhythm.
**Not every student will be playing these exact instruments, however, they will be playing instruments that fit into the same roles. Also because of potential coordination issues, the bell of the Junjun part will be played separately.** **Only one person in the “lead” roll will play the “Break” part (otherwise called “call to start” and “call to stop”).** 8. Students will see the above notation and learn how to read their part.
9. Students will then be divided into groups and each group will have their own song to learn and perform for the class. I will walk around and help each group learn their songs. Giving them each a copy of the “notation” will help them see how the parts line up as I am walking around the room helping different groups.
10. After the students have played their song for the class. In the same groups students will start creating their own African drum circle rhythms containing all the same elements as a traditional African drum circle. Closure: Ask the students: “What are the three roles of percussion instruments in a drum circle?” “What are three instruments in each role?” “How is the culture of African music different than the culture of American music?” - Students will be assigned their group project o Group Project: Students will work together to create an authentic drum circle. They will be required to use their knowledge of syncopated rhythms to compose their own music. Elements such as call-and-response, call-to-start, and call-to-stop must be included in their circles. Each group’s circle will perform for the class prior to Culture Night - Students will be informed of the up coming Culture Night o Culture Night: Will be an event held at school where the students will perform their group project. Everyone from the community will be welcome at this event. After the students perform, Mr. Ketterer will start his own drum circle where anyone who would like to participate from the community is more than welcome.
Assessment: Students will be assessed informally throughout the lesson on their concept development. I will observe to see if the students can accurately place each percussion instrument in its proper role. Formal assessment will be taken during the classroom performance prior to Culture nigh Lesson 4 Class: General Music Grade Level: 11 Topic: African Musical Influence on America.
1. Essential Questions: How did Africans carry their culture of music and community to the Americas? 2. Lesson Level Objectives:
Students will be able to accurately trace the path of African musical and cultural elements into the Americas.
3. National Standards of Music Education: National Standard #6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music National Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 4. Transformative Teaching Context: Transformative 5. Materials: a. Negro Spirituals: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TWH/Higg.html b. Slave Songs of the United States: http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.html c. Denoting Difference: The Writing of the Slave Spirituals: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344020 d. Influence of Africans on American Culture: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1035320 e. Video of “Amazing Grace History” f. White board and markers. g. Computer Lab / Library
6. Learning Experience: Cooperative Learning
Initiation: Students will be told that they are going to be learning something today that goes a long with what they’ve been learning in their American History class.(which is covering the history of America pre-Civil War). Students will be asked to write down some ideas they have about how African musical and cultural influence had spread into America. After the students have had time to brainstorm ideas, the class will then share their ideas in a classroom discussion.
Learning Activities: 1. Students will participate in a classroom discussion requiring them the critically think about how African music and culture was transferred to America. Students will be lead to the discovery that slavery is how the African Culture influenced America. Students will need to answer the question, “How were the slaves able to influence American music?” 2. Students will get into groups of three or four and they will be required to research to find the answer to the questions, “How were the slaves able to influence American music?” 3. After the students have had time to research we will meet as a class and discuss their findings. The students will participate in a classroom discussion and all their findings will be written on the board. The teacher will clear up any misconceptions the students may have about their findings. 4. Students will be asked if they have ever heard the song “Amazing Grace”. The students will then listen to the song and participate in a classroom discussion about what the song is about, and where they think it came from. 5. Students will then watch the video “Amazing Grace History” by Wintley Phipps. Students will answer the questions, “Where did “Amazing Grace” come from?” “What notes make up most of the African tonal music?” “Who wrote the words to “Amazing Grace”, and what was his role in slavery?” “Who wrote the melody to “Amazing Grace”? “What is the name of the scale Africans used to create tonal music?” This will lead to a discussion about power. The students will discover that music was one of the only things that slaves had from their culture. 6. Students will form groups of three or four and look at the slave culture that was present on the plantations. Students will use the following sources to answer the questions: “To what extent did living on a plantation influence the slaves music?” “To what extent did living on a plantation influence American music?” Sources: Negro Spirituals: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TWH/Higg.html Slave Songs of the United States: http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.html Denoting Difference: The Writing of the Slave Spirituals: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344020 Influence
of Africans on American Culture: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1035320 7. Whole-Class discussion: Discuss each group’s findings. Closure: Ask students: “With all of our findings, what inferences can we make about slavery’s influence on today’s American pop culture? To what extent has slavery contributed to today’s popular music? We will be exploring this idea next class. Lesson 5 Class: General Music Grade Level: 11 Topic: Contemporary Influences
1. Essential Question: What influences has African tribal music had on popular music? 2. Lesson Level Objectives:
Students will be able to accurately trace the path of African musical influence through contemporary popular music. 3. National Standards of Music Education: National Standard #6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music National Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 4. Transformative Teaching Context: Transformative 5. Materials: “Family Tree of Influence” Projector White board and markers Computers Lab / Library
6. Learning Experience: Cooperative Learning Initiation: Project my “Family Tree of Influence” on the board. Students will analyze the tree and discover the relationship of all the artists on the board. This will be done in a classroom discussion. Learning Activities: 1. Student will discover that the relationship between each person on the “Family Tree” is connected by music influence. I will explain, “Every current day popular artist has musical influences that can be traced in one way or another back to Africa. 2. Individual activity: Students will research one of their favorite artists. They will find his influences, and then the people that influenced them. This will be repeated until they cannot find anymore. This will take them to either a jazz center, or in some cases a soul center. 3. When students have finished their “Family Tree of Musical Influence” they will then put the last artist that they found under a magnifying glass and examine the music that they composed. This can be done through listening (if available) and written documentation. 4. Students will record their findings and participate in a classroom discussion. All students will share their findings and write their “Family Tree of Influence” on the board. Closure: Ask the students: “Thinking about what we uncovered today, to what extent do view the music you listen to differently? To what extent does the cultural music indigenous to Africa influence American popular music? To what extent has African music within America changed?” Students will be assigned an essay to write answering these questions; the essay will also include their “Family Tree of Musical Influence”. The essay must also contain an analysis of what African musical elements are present in the initial (their favorite artists) artists music. Assessment: Students will be formally assessed on their essay. Students will be informally assessed on their findings during the class discussion.
CALENDAR APRIL 2010
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