Chapter 11 Two Paths

A lesson plan I found on musictechteacher.com is displaying how to get ready for a Christmas performance with a piano class. Students were not only expected to recall information from the beginning of the year like changing sounds on the piano but they are also working independently towards and ensemble piano performance. They are being taught correct rhythms and notes for the performance pieces but also are being given an alternate project assignment in noteflight to compose phrases in C major. The project drew my attention more than the performance requirements because I never thought using notation software could be so simple as to give them 8 notes and say compose something. With some nudging and guidance students could easily come up with melodic phrases to share with the class. Teaching them the pattern of the C major scale and letting them work with sound hands on.

A rubric I would use in my classroom for the melody jumble assignment would include several things. In the melody jumble assignment students are being taught how to copy and paste in muse score, identify do or tonic in the piece, identify the tune that is being manipulated, and create their own ideas using the measures laid out for them. Students could be expected to not only follow those instructions but to varying degrees.