Learning Theory to Become Better ReadersAs the music program at Franklin has grown over the last decade, music theory has been incorporated into the curriculum to help develop the students' notation reading ability. Through theory instruction and practice, students target the Reading & Writing (and sometimes Listening) domains of language acquisition. The absence of their primary instrument reduces cognitive stress caused by the combination of learning/reading music notation and motor skill development.The overall intention is students will become better music readers as all four language acquisition domains are targeted in the curriculum.
Reaching the TopWhat better way to use all the acquired theory skills than by writing a song! This activity fall into the top category of Bloom's Taxonomy (Creation*), easily providing a representation of each students' knowledge acquisition of western music notation.
*revised version Developing ProcessJust as finding the best practices to inject theory into the curriculum took years to develop, the planning and implementation of this project assignment is continuously in development. Not only must music theory skills be learned, computer skills must be taught, ranging from common digital skills to software specific skills to manipulate the notation software correctly. This is the first year putting students' work on the web through this website. Webpages are currently sparse of text and images, due to end-of-year time constraints....aka....the spring concert.
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Tools for the ProjectTo make this project happen, I use Noteflight.com. Noteflight is an online web-based notation writer. I need a class subscription for my students to have accounts, and for me to have easy access to their work. I pay for the subscription myself, but I do get reimbursed by my school.
Noteflight also allows work to be exported and embedded into other websites using custom </> frames (<-- Web developers can correct me on my terminology). Using this feature I am able to take my students work and publish it to a website creation service, such as Weebly or Wix. I chose Weebly for aesthetic reasons, however both work fine. |
The Project AssignmentThe assignment is currently is scaffold-ed into three stages of development.
Part 1Part 1's goal is for students to establish a tonal template for their songs. Students pick a note, which becomes their tonic. Using the skills taught in class, students find and create the major and minor (natural, harmonic, melodic <-- Only one is necessary) scales as well as the triads for each scale degree.
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Part 2Part 2's goal was for students to create two melodies using the key signatures and scales from part 1. There was some guidance involved, having students emphasize specific tones in specific measure, such as starting and ending on the tonic, and highlighting the dominant in the 4th measure. They had rhythmic freedom, however I frowned upon "busy" melodies, consisting of nothing but 16th and 32nd note patterns (it's happened in the past). I also encouraged the students writing repetitive patterns of quarter and half notes to be more creative.
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Part 3Part 3's goal is for students to add harmony to their melodies. In order to do so, they need to analyze the melodies they created, measure by measure. Then they are tasked with putting in the appropriate triads. 1st and 2nd versions are allowed, and students are encouraged to keep the intervals between the melody ad harmony close to each other. Once again, I provide some guidance designating specific chords for particular measures.
Afterwards, the students work is embedded into the this website. As a late addition, students were asked to write about each process of the project, to reinforce academic vocabulary (Yay Common Core!). Since this project started late in the year, and conflicted with the rehearsals for the upcoming concert AND another writing project, not all students were able to complete the writing aspect of this particular project :-( |