Student composers with Music Ace!

Students will use the Doodle Pad (TM) component of Music Ace (TM) to create short compositions. Preparation will include some brief rules to allow success for young composers.

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 Music Education

By Leslie Cothern

Learn more

• Harmonic Vision Website for Music Ace

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Related topics

• Learn more about Music Ace, arts, harmony, melody, music, music composition, and writing music.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn basic compositional rules.
• compose brief (six or more measures) songs following a specific set of guidelines.
• listen to the work of other students.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 hours

Materials/resources

• Chalk Board
• Handouts:
  • Rules of the staff
  • Instructions for Music Ace
• Students will need a notebook for saving information such as group name, computer number, song name, members of their group, etc.

Technology resources

• Presentation Computer attached to a Television or a LCD Projector
• Music Ace for Windows. Finale 2001. The Software is published by Harmonic Vision. It comes in Single editions, 5-10 lab packs, and network versions. (If the teacher wishes to show a professional compositional tool at work.) Sufficient workstations for student work in pairs.

Pre-activities

Students will need to know the lines and spaces of the treble clef. (It would help to know the bass clef lines and spaces if students are to write harmonies.)

Activities

Part I

1. The teacher will draw a staff on the board, and review the lines and spaces. Students will be asked to identify each of the lines and spaces for the treble cleff.
2. The teacher will then ask the students questions such as: What is a melody? What are harmonies? What is a tune? How could we show (on paper/board) a melody or a tune? How could we show harmonies (on paper/board)? Does the music that the students listen to have melodies and/or harmonies?
3. Give the students the composition handout. The handout includes printed example of music. Occasionally, I will include showing/playing a composition of my own using Finale 2001.
4. Explain how to create a melody using the rules on the composition handout.
5. Demonstrate how to create a melody in Music Ace using Doodle Pad.
6. Divide the students into groups based on computer availability. One computer per student is wonderful, but sharing is enhanced when using two students per computer. Three students per computer works, A four-student group is not very workable within the parameters of this lesson.
7. Have the students log on to the computer, start Music Ace, and create a name. (This is the group/user name that will be used for the entire lesson. I ask students to come up with group names that do not contain crude language or profanity, and that can be remembered.)
8. Have the students take turns creating short melodies.
9. Have the students check their melodies to see if they followed the rules of composition.
10. Near the end of each session, have the students play their compositions for others.

Part II

11. Explain/review the concept of harmony.
12. Demonstrate how to add harmony to the students’ saved work. Students should use the composition handout to assist. There is a brief key of notes that go together in a basic harmonic root chord manner. Note order can be rearranged to use chord inversions.
13. Students add harmony to their previously constructed melodies.
14. Students check their work to determine if the composition rules were followed.
15. Students should then play their songs and write down their opinions of each song that is created and played. Students should be encouraged to be polite to one another.

Assessment

The students will have completed the objectives of the unit if they have created, saved, and played their songs in Music Ace. The songs will sound very similar if the composition handout has been followed, but there is no failure if the students have created a song.

Supplemental information

The Software is published by Harmonic Vision. It comes in single editions, 5-10 lab packs, and network versions

Related websites

http://www.harmonicvision.com

Comments

At my school, I have access to 15 computers within the library setting. Normal classes are between 18-25 students, so I have done this lesson with as many as 4 students per machine. I emphasize team work in the compositional effort when the size of the group is larger than 2 students.

This lesson works best with the students working in pairs. I find that when the students work alone, they forget bits and pieces of the instructions. More than three students causes sharing problems. This unit also works well as a teacher-led activity, and would take less time in that format.