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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Set a poem to music

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2207/

A lesson plan for grades 6–7 English Language Arts and Music Education

Provider: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts


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In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students choose a favorite poem, set it to a rhythmic meter, and assign an original melody to the rhythm.

Students will:

  • apply prior knowledge of note values and assign meter to each syllable of their poem and
  • set their poems to a melody in the key of C Major, following composition guidelines.

ARTSEDGE provides detailed instructions for completing the lesson, a supply list, suggestions for assessment and extension activities, and links to related web resources, student handouts, and an assessment rubric.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 6

  • Goal 5: The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.
    • Objective 5.02: Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:
      • reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., novels, autobiographies, myths, essays, magazines, plays, pattern poems, blank verse).
      • interpreting what impact genre-specific characteristics have on the meaning of the work.
      • exploring how the author's choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
      • exploring what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting or the problem and its resolution.

Grade 7

  • Goal 5: The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.
    • Objective 5.02: Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:
      • reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., mysteries, novels, science fiction, historical documents, newspapers, skits, lyric poems).
      • analyzing what effect genre specific characteristics have on the meaning of the work.
      • analyzing how the author's choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
      • analyzing what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution.

Music Education (2001)

Grade 6

  • Goal 4: The learner will compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
    • Objective 4.01: Compose short pieces using the basic elements of music to demonstrate repetition and contrast.
    • Objective 4.02: Create an arrangement of an existing composition, using different voices and/or instruments.
    • Objective 4.03: Use a variety of sound, notational, and technological sources to compose music.
    • Objective 4.04: Show respect for the composing and arranging efforts of others.
  • Goal 5: The learner will read and notate music.
    • Objective 5.01: Read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted note and rest durations in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and 2/2 meters.
    • Objective 5.02: Identify pitches in treble and bass clefs.
    • Objective 5.03: Sightread simple melodic notation in the treble clef.
    • Objective 5.04: Identify standard notation symbols for pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression.
    • Objective 5.05: Show respect for the reading and notating efforts of others.
  • Goal 6: The learner will listen to, analyze, and describe music.
    • Objective 6.01: Identify specific music events in a given aural example, using appropriate terminology.
    • Objective 6.02: Identify elements of music in aural examples representing diverse genres and cultures.
    • Objective 6.03: Identify the basic principles of meter, rhythm, and tonality in analyses of music.

Grade 7

  • Goal 4: The learner will compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
    • Objective 4.01: Compose short pieces using the basic elements of music to demonstrate tension and release.
    • Objective 4.02: Create an arrangement of an existing composition, using different voices and/or instruments.
    • Objective 4.03: Use a variety of sound, notational, and technological sources to compose and arrange music.
    • Objective 4.04: Show respect for the composing and arranging efforts of others.
  • Goal 5: The learner will read and notate music.
    • Objective 5.01: Read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted note and rest durations in 2/4, 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, and 2/2 meters.
    • Objective 5.02: Identify pitches in the treble and bass clefs.
    • Objective 5.03: Sightread pitch notation in the treble and bass clefs.
    • Objective 5.04: Identify standard notation symbols for pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression.
    • Objective 5.05: Use standard notation to record own musical ideas and musical ideas of others.
  • Goal 6: The learner will listen to, analyze, and describe music.
    • Objective 6.01: Discuss specific musical events in a given aural example, using appropriate terminology.
    • Objective 6.02: Discuss elements of music in aural examples representing diverse genres and cultures.
    • Objective 6.03: Identify and discuss the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions in the analyses of music.