In order to express identity through music, students must have basic knowledge of the musical elements, which is why I present this information first. At the fourth grade level, students may be more comfortable with some elements over others. However, the more elements students can describe and use independently, the more creative freedom they will have during lessons and activities.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the element of time in music.
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Students usually have experience “keeping the beat” early in their public school music career by tapping their feet or clapping their hands to the musical pulse. Rhythm is modified by
duration,
meaning the length of a note (sound) or rest (silence). The beats are also organized into patterns, called
meter
. At the fourth grade level, students may already be familiar with duple meter, triple meter, and quadruple meter.
Tempo
Related to rhythm, tempo refers to the speed of the beat. Most tempo markings are given in Italian. There is a wide range of terms, giving a performer or composer much more freedom than choosing simply “fast” or “slow.” Additionally, there are mood markings to give the performer further instructions on how the music is intended to be played. Examples of the Italian terms and definitions are given in Tables 1 and 2 in the appendix.
Dynamics
Dynamics refers to music's volume, or changes in volume. Again, dynamic markings are often in Italian. The basic terms and definitions are included in Table 3 in the appendix.
Melody
A melody is an organized presentation of
pitches.
Families of pitches are called scales.
At a fourth-grade level, students may already be familiar with major scales and minor scales. Many famous musical compositions have a memorable melody or theme.
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Melodies can be conjunct- smooth and easy to play, or disjunct- disjointed, jumpy, and difficult to play. Lyrics, or words of a song, are sung to the melody.
Harmony
Harmony refers to two or more pitches sounding at the same time. Sounding multiple pitches at the same time creates chords, and chords may be arranged into sentence-like patterns called chord progressions.
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Though somewhat subjective, generally, dissonant chords produce harsh sounds, and consonant chords produce smooth sounds.
Timbre/Tone Color
Timbre refers to the unique sound each instrument or voice produces. Even if a voice, a trumpet, and a piano are all sounding the same pitch, the sound quality from each is different.
Form
Musical form is the structure of a musical composition. Letters are used to designate the different sections of the structure. Basic forms are listed in Table 4 in the appendix.
Texture
There are three texture varieties that may be useful for students to know when creating their own compositions during this unit.
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Monophonic texture:
only one note sounds at a time. There is no harmony or accompaniment.
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Homophonic texture:
two or more notes sound at the same time, a melody and a choral accompaniment.
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Polyphonic texture:
two or more independent melodies sounding at the same time, also called counterpoint.