Dan+&+Dave

Dan and Dave Lesson Summary: For our lesson, we focused on intertwining creative writing with composing, and our students perception of music. We took the story, "Peter and the Wolf," by Prokofieve, and based their efforts around this story. The end product of this lesson would be them writing a modern day, "Peter and the Wolf," and write new music for each character they create. Their modern day stroy will follow the basic plot of "Peter and the Wolf," but, students have room to change the characters and where it story takes place.

Lesson Extension: 1. "What Charlie Heard," is a children's book by the author, Mordicai Gerstein. The book follows the childhood of Charles Ives and how he was exposed to music at a young age by his father. Unlike most people, Ives was introduced to tone clusters and atonal harmony, which became his foundation for his later works.

Dave and I have agreed this book will help further our students concepts of what is and isn't music. We will tie in literacy to this lesson by having them read the book out loud and then listen to a piece by Ives. Next, we will have the students create their own story and compose a short piece of music in the style of Ives.

Another book we could include in our lesson is titled, "Jazz," by Walter Dean Myers. The book explains all aspects of Jazz through poetry. The book covers history, styles, and musicians, such as Louise Armstrong. The book also contains a glossary for certain Jazz lingo and a time line of events in Jazz.

For our lesson extension, we would use this book to teach the history of Jazz, new vocabulary, and introduction to improvising. We would start off the lesson by having the students read the book out loud, and write down at least ten words they have never heard of. Using the glossary in the back, students will then identify the words and use them in sentences, which they will share with the class. The improvising part will consist of playing a minor pentatonic scale over a twelve-bar blues progression. Students will play a melody they create on the spot.

2. “UJam,” is a recording program that will take any sound track and create a professional –sounding piece of music. This program will harmonize and auto-tune any and all tracks put into it. Through personal experience, you can create disco tracks, reggae tracks, rock tracks, and put any effect you want on your voice. This program is great for getting students to compose quickly and get introduced with using computer software.

“UJam” can be used in multiple ways to teach music. For our lessons, we believe the compositional aspect of “UJam” would benefit our students the most. When students write their motifs/short pieces of music, they can record them using “UJam,” which will add more depth to their composition. Through this we can talk about types of accompaniment and styles we could compose with, as well as introduce the concept of recording.

Another web resource we have decided to incorporate is called, “Noteflight.” This program allows students to notate and compose their own works. This is similar to “UJam,” but will be included as the next step for our students’ compositional process, due to its more challenging criteria. The students will have to have a better understanding of harmony, melody, and notation. Though the “UJam” recordings will sound better, the “Noteflight” is more rewarding to students due to its challenging nature.

Like “UJam,” “Noteflight” can be used in multiple ways. Since our original lesson focused on the compositional process, this addition will be very accessible. Students will have a day of introduction to the program where I will run them through how to use “Noteflight.” The next step, will involve students creating their own works of multiple measures in length, notating them, and then applying them to “Noteflight.” The end project will consist of an “UJam” track the students created and recorded them selves, along with the melody notated using “Noteflight.”

3. []:

[]: This is a link to a youtube video about jazz history. This video covers where its roots began, what influenced jazz, and how it grew into what it is today.

[]: This is another link to a youtube video that deals with jazz history. Unlike the previous one, this focuses more on individuals rather than jazz itself. It covers Miles Davis, Coltrane, and even Ornette Coleman.

[]: How to improvise, article

[]: UJam tutorial

[]: How to use note flight for the first time. Step by step walk through that would be very beneficial to my students and myself.