Unit Overview of Lessons
These lessons help introduce students to a much-lauded living American composer, Joan Tower, and her composition for solo small percussion entitled Small, written in 2016. Since most music classrooms are equipped with classroom percussion, students can identify many of the instruments used in this piece.
This unit is comprised of four lesson plans. There are two lessons for grades K-2 (Lessons 1A and 2A) and two lessons for grades 3-5 or 3-6 (Lessons 1B and 2B, respectively).
The lessons provide students the opportunity to move, sing, play instruments, and create, based on the listening experience. The National Standards and Objectives listed for each lesson facilitate experiences in creating, performing, responding, and connecting the listening experience other topics and daily life. Conceptual and Contextual Understandings are listed to highlight the musical and contextual learnings, in addition to Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions. Simple assessments are also included. A section at the end of the lesson plans labelled “Extensions” can be entire stand-alone lessons, in some cases.
A song for identifying tone colors called the “Listen Game” provides elementary students a fun opportunity to discern the timbres of instruments, objects, or voices. A YouTube video of Small performed by Alex Garde of the New England Conservatory of Music allows students to see the percussion instruments up close. An audio-only recording features Evelyn Glennie, the famous percussionist for whom Joan Tower dedicated the work.
Teachers can choose the components of the lesson plans that best meet their instructional needs and the developmental levels of their students. Teachers should get any permission needed prior to using YouTube videos in the classroom, and cue videos past all ads before class.
Underlining indicates hyperlinked lesson components.
The lessons plans are:
Grades K-2
Lesson 1A: Move to the Sound
Lesson 2A: What’s That Sound?
Grades 3-5/6
Lesson 1B (Grades 3-5): What’s That Sound?
Lesson 2B (Grades 3-6): Compose a Percussion Score
