South Carolina Regions and Resources - Music lesson
Overview
This music lesson for Upper Elementary students includes a rhythm chant to help students remember the South Carolina geographical regions and basic information about natural resources as well. Students have the opportunity to practice beat and complex speech rhythm patterns. They will be able to plan and organize rhythmic ostinati to go with the chant. This lesson allows for arts integration into South Carolina social studies and science units.
South Carolina Regions and Resources:
An Upper Elementary Music lesson for Arts Integration with South Carolina geography, landforms, regions.
Dolovis Jacklyn Viazanica Clemson3654
Standards:
MU:Cr2.1.3b Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic and melodic musical ideas.
MU:Cr2.1.4a Demonstrate selected and organized musical ideas for an improvisation, arrangement, or composition to express intent, and explain connection to purpose and context.
Goal: The students will learn a rhythmic chant to support learning the regions of South Carolina (Fig 1). They will create an instrumental arrangement with the steady beat, rhythmic ostinati and/or the rhythm of the words.
Objectives:
- The students will be able to recite the words to the chant while playing a steady beat on an instrument.
- The students will track the steady beat while speaking the words.
- The students will choose and play one or more ostinato rhythmic pattern(s) while speaking the poem.
- The whole class or small groups will create an arrangement of the poem with drums and other unpitched percussion instruments.
Instructional Plan
Materials/Equipment:
Handouts with the chant words with the heartbeat indicated
Unpitched percussion instruments, as available: drums (could be bucket drums) rhythm sticks, wood blocks, shakers, tambourines, repurposed household items, triangles, etc.
Academic Vocabulary:
Ostinato
Quarter note
Eighth note
Quarter rest
Instrumentation
Overlapping Rhythms
Lesson Process:
1. The teacher teaches the rhythm of the chant by echoing each line and/or by speaking the whole poem or part of the poem. The students play along to the beat by patting, clapping, better yet a pat-clap pattern or a two-beat body percussion pattern of their choosing. Other options for keeping the beat include walking, stepping in place, a two-person clapping pattern. Finding different ways to keep the beat, repeat the poem until most students begin to say it.
“SC Regions and Resources Chant” (The musical score is attached in Resources.)
South Carolina Regions and resources, too.
South Carolina Regions and resources, too.
Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont are in the Upstate.
Sandhills in the Midlands, and Columbia is great.
Down through the Coastal Plains to the Low Country
Where the beach and the Coastal Zone are as pretty as can be.
Natural Resources
They help us live. They help us live.
They help us make a living and even get around
Look and you’ll see where they are found.
Rocks and minerals, Trees and water, too.
Food we can grow, Amazing places we can show.
We have a wealth of things to share,
Send them to the world, but treat them with care.
South Carolina Regions and resources, too.
South Carolina Regions and resources, too!
2. Give the students the poem with the beat indicated ( Fig. 2) and have them track the heartbeat with a pencil while speaking the poem. Then find the rests where there are no words on a beat. (Some classes may not need this step).
3. Using a drum or other small percussion instrument, have the students play the beat while speaking the poem, better yet have them play a two beat pattern (tapping in two places or pat the drum then clap) while speaking the poem.
4. Assuming that students have reviewed and practiced 4-beat patterns using quarter notes, quarter rests and eighth notes (Fig. 3), students can decide on an ostinato pattern to play. ½ of the class can play the pattern while the rest speak the poem. Then add another ostinato to layer the rhythms.
5. After this demonstration, have students work in groups of 4 to create an arrangement of part of the poem. One or two people could play the steady beat, one or two could play an ostinato. Advanced groups could add another ostinati. The groups can decide on the instrumentation.
6. Considering the student ideas for ostinati and instrumentation, the whole class can choose the best ideas for a whole class performance.
* Special considerations: This lesson allows for many places of differentiation. Keeping the steady beat while speaking part of all of the poem may be enough for some classes. Quarter note and rest patterns could be an easier way to add ostinati. Having the whole class or a small group of students play the rhythm of the poem is a good challenge. Small groups can be challenged as needed with multiple ostinati and playing the rhythm of the words. More advanced students can play more challenging rhythm patterns.
Assessment
Formative assessment, evaluation and reflection:
Small groups play their arrangements for the class. The class discusses accuracy of the rhythms and the quality of the instrumentation. Small groups may choose to revise their work.
The performance in small groups or with the whole class is the summative assessment.
Fig. 1
Alexrk Modified to include region names.
Fig. 2
Fig. 3 - Example rhythms