Winnie+&+Sam


 * __Web 2.0 Resources__**


 * __Original Lesson Review:__**

For our first lesson, we taught about different tools that composers use to create music. One of these tools is the use of leitmotifs. We used a piece by Prokofiev called, "Peter and the Wolf" to help illustrate leitmotif. This piece is based on a storyline with several characters. Each character has a musical theme, and one of our Students will be able to relate parts of the music to specific characters within the story.

__**Teaching Reviews:**__

__Music Math__, by Kathleen Collins, is a small book about basic theoretical concepts in music. It goes over simplistic but helpful definitions of musical terminology like //composer, musical notation, rhythm,// and //tempo.// "//Numbers tell us how to count in math, notes tell us how to count in music.//" Explains different note values and their symbols. This book also has pictures of several instruments and their names. Book has helpful diagrams explaining dotted rhythms and different meters. Through this book, students will learn how to basically interpret a piece of music. In our lesson, we discussed different tools that composers use for making music. __Music Math__ is a great resource for teaching young students about beginning theory. Theory is the makeup of composition, so this book will give students more insight into just how composers go about creating their music. Now that we have a theoretical extension of our lesson, we thought that it would be interesting to add a historical perspective. Our purpose for __Do Re Mi__ is to teach the kids how music notation came about. In a way, it is an extension of both our lesson, and the __Music Math__ book.

__Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D' Arezzo__ by Susan L. Roth in association with Angelo Mafucci

We would use this book to follow up on the __Music Math__ book. It focuses on the history of music notation. Before we had our contemporary notation, people used to pass down music orally. This story is about a monk named Guido, who wanted to figure out a way to write down music. His method became known as Solfege. Guido invented the Do, Re, Mi system of struggled for years to come up with a musical system to teach people to read music. Without the work of Guido, we would not have Gregorian chant, or the music of Bach, Beethoven, or the blues. __**Web 2.0 Tools:**__ [|Storybird] : With this free online application, anyone can create stories to go along with beautiful illustrations that are provided. We want the students to understand that both music //and// art can have stories attached to them. Just as Prokofiev's //Peter and the Wolf// featured a storyline that went along with the music, many art pieces have stories that accompany them as well. Students can relate to the concept of "programatic music" using this tool, because they can understand the meaning of "programatic" by planning their own story using the pictures and writing.

[|Purple-Planet]: With this free online application, teachers and students can access different kinds of music that represent different moods and emotions. Teachers can employ the free music links to explore different musical moods. This can be used in an activity where the teacher plays a selection from one mood such as, "sadness," and then follows that up with a selection from the mood, "comic." After listening to both of these moods, the class can have a discussion on how the two sounded different. The class should not be able to see what mood is being played so that they will not have any preconceived notions about what they are hearing.


 * __Hotlinks:__**

[|Peter and the Wolf Cartoon] This video provides a direct illustration of leitmotif and program music. It would be used in the lesson to show the story behind Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." [|Program Music in Video Games] This is a fascinating article about music in video games. Music is a large part of what draws me into some of these games. This article goes into some detail about the program music and leitmotif within video games as compared to standard classical music. [|Looney Tunes: Wiley Coyote] This Youtube video brings us back to the days of old when Looney Toons were popular. This is one of the Wiley Coyote and Road Runner episodes. All of the Looney Tunes are interesting in that they feature music that accompanies the action in the video. For example, in the beginning as the coyote puts up a wall for the road runner to run into, you hear strings working their way up a scale. [|Harry Potter Leitmotif] This video that includes interviews with the composers who compose the music of Harry Potter's films. It is very interesting how they come up with different ideas to project specific moods or scenes. [|Shostakovich Piano Concerto no. 2] This video is a scene from the movie Fantasia 2000. However the scene does not have any speaking; it only has music and video. The background music is Shostakovich's piano concerto, and we can see how the music represents perfectly the story line of the video. [|Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Song] This is a lesson plan from "ArtsEdge." This lesson teaches students how to explore the African spirituals and also understand the hidden messages behind the spirituals. Interestingly, the end goal is also have the students create their own spiritual.

__**Bibliography:**__

Collins, Kathleen. __Music Math: Exploring Different Interpretations of Fractions__. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group's PowerKids Press, Inc. 2004.

Roth, Susan L. __Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido d' Arezzo.__ Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2006.