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**MOODS OF MUSIC** **CREATING SOUNDSCAPES IN THE ELEMENTARY MUSIC PROGRAM** **KNAER Project: Engage to Create website**

 **Project Title: ** Moods of Music - Creating Soundscapes in the Instrumental Music Program **Group Members: ** Andrea Spoltore (Leader), Lisa Dal Bello, Tracy Fewster, Tina Giannopoulos **PART A: The Action Research Plan **

 **Reconnaissance: ** Music impacts our students in a variety of ways. We hope to increase student awareness about how music is used to create moods or emotions in all areas of their life (i.e. video games, movies, commercials, etc.) Through the modeling and experimentation of improvisational techniques, students will develop the ability to match improvised sounds with a visual stimulus or a written scenario.

 **Research Question: **What instructional strategies are necessary to allow students to create improvised music that evokes a particular mood or emotion? Grades: Grade 7 and 8 strings and band classes (1 strings, 3 band) Timeline: 6 weeks starting in February (due to semestered music programs in 3 of our schools)

 **Action Plan: ** Step 1: A variety of improvisational activities that will allow our students to experiment and understand the nature of improvisation.(e.g. Counting By Zen, Passing Names in a Circle, Revolving Trios, and other activities based on Doug Friesen's workshop)

 Step 2: Listening Activities where we can deconstruct pieces of music focusing on soundscapes (i.e. Vivaldi "Four Season", Beethoven "Pastoral Symphony", Holst "The Planets", Debussy "La Mer",Smetana "The Moldau", John Cage 4'33",Stockhausen "Simmung", etc.)

 Step 3: Experimenting with different sounds - focusing on pitch, rhythm, tempo and dynamics. Give students an emotion/mood and have them create different sounds on their instrument.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Step 4: Organization of sound - create an improvised class soundscape using a 2 bar structure.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Step 5: Create an original soundscape - use pictures, movie clips, or written scenarios as the basis for our students to create an improvised soundscape.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Classroom Learning Goal: We are able to use instrumental improvisation to create a soundscape that evokes a mood or emotion.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Achievement of our classroom learning goal includes a summative evaluation of the final soundscape project using the following success criteria: complexity of rhythms and techniques, variety of sounds, ensemble work, level of completion, use of the elements of music (ie. high/low, fast/slow, loud/soft, long/short) and the extent to which the music clearly evokes the chosen emotion or mood.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Connection to Ministry Curriculum: ** C.1.2 Apply the elements of music when playing, composing and arranging music for a specific effect and clear purpose C.1.3 Create a musical composition for a specific purpose and audience C. 1.4 Use the tools and techniques of musicianship in musical performances C.2.1 Express analytical, personal responses to musical performances in a variety of ways. C. 2.3 Identify and give examples of their strengths and areas for improvement as composers, performers and interpreters

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Implementation and Monitoring includes: ** 1. Anecdotal observation of participation in group activities: teacher circulates during practice time in class 2. Peer review: students listen to soundscapes and determine the mood or emotion 3. Teacher checkbric

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Analysis and Reflection includes: ** a narrative summary of student learning based on the following: 1. Diagnostic Assessment Activity 2. Diagnostic Assessment Survey 3. Self-assessment/Group Reflection at the end of the project (with a focus on - what did we do well, what can we improve, what did we learn?)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PART B: The Professional Learning Plan **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Goals: **Our professional learning goals include: - Working collaboratively with other music teachers - Observing and learning from experts in the field of improvisation and composition (Peter Wiegold, Doug Friesen, etc.) - Using new improvisation techniques that we haven’t tried before in our classroom - Changing teacher and student attitudes towards making music through the use of improvisation techniques

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Professional Activities: ** We attended a concert and workshop with Peter Wiegold, organized and attended a workshop with Doug Friesen, and we have met on several occasions to collaboratively plan our project.We have ordered various resources (suggested by Doug Friesen) that we will be using to assist us with the implementation of our project.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assessment: ** Achievement of our professional learning goals can be determined through our observations of student participation as well as overall student success on the final soundscape project. As teachers, we are hoping to become more comfortable in teaching improvisation and learning how to use improvisation to engage our students.