Assignment 1:

Goals:

• read and maintain a part accurately within complex textures and harmonies.
• apply an increasing range of tempos, dynamics, articulation, and timbres in classroom repertoire.

Task:

Request that your piano teacher allow you to work with a fellow student to rehearse and perform a duet (or trio) for recital/church/youth group (any performance venue). This should be a relatively difficult piece that will require you to learn harmony as well as melody.

**You can also meet the requirements for Composition with this assignment by creating a duet part for a piece that you already know.

Note: This assignment can also be met by submitting a recording of a duet/trio that was recently performed and is at least a gr. 5 level.

If possible, submit a recording of the performance or a rehearsal.

Demonstrable English Skills:

• verbally interact to learn, to share, to develop
• become aware of body language in oral presentation and its effects

Assignment 2:

Goals:

• analyze how thoughts, images, and feelings are expressed in music within a variety of historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts.
• analyze how the elements of expression are combined to achieve specific effects.
• describe the elements of expression using appropriate music terminology.

Task:

For many people, music is about a shared experience. Part of this experience is the ability of the music to illicit a response from the listener or the opportunity to feel as though they are sharing a piece of the performers experiences.

Choose three songs from your repertoire that are from different times and composers. The songs should pieces of music that you feel an emotional response to and perhaps tell a story.

Reflect on how the different elements (rhythm, tempo, dynamics, accompanying instruments, lyrics etc) of the piece work together to convey a mood, image or thought for you as the singer / performer. You should include in your reflection what performance elements ( body language, facial expression, tone, dynamics, etc) you use to convey these thoughts, images and feelings to your audience.

The second part of your reflection should be about how people reacted to the piece of music at the time it was written. How did it fit with other music of that era? Was the style of music or perhaps the lyrics considered progressive, or even scandalous? Why might this have been the case? What was the purpose for this piece of music?

Minimum Length: 250 words

Demonstrable English Skills: 

• become aware of body language in oral presentation and its effects
• extend vocabulary
• develop thinking skills
• create writing that represents personal and/or imaginative text
• create writing that represents opinion
• use conventions of language to enhance writing
• select and apply strategies to develop, organize, revise, and present your own communications

Assignment 3:

Goals:

• use skills and attitudes appropriate to a range of music experiences in a variety of venues, as performer, participant, and audience, demonstrating:

• an awareness of the sense of community
• audience and performer etiquette
• performance skills
• respect for others' contributions
• demonstrate an ability to critique the work of self and others
• demonstrate an ability to contribute to the physical well-being of self and others while experiencing music

Task:

After a recital complete a reflection on your experience. You should include the various aspects listed above to demonstrate your understanding of them and how you exhibited these characteristics of a professional-in-training.

Your writing may be in any style (formal, journal, letter, short-story, first or third person).

Be specific when stating what performance skills you used or how you demonstrated respect for others contributions. You might do this by contrasting a disrespectful response you witnessed and how that response might have been delivered in another way.

Demonstrable English Skills: 

• describe
• list
• journal
• rhyme
• pattern
• greet
• clarify
• define  
• analyze 
• story forms
• poetry forms
• essay forms
• presentation forms
• newspaper article
• blog entry
• friendly letter
• give an example of...

Assignment 4:

Goal:

• demonstrate in-depth knowledge of at least one music career

Task:

Create a presentation (in any form you choose) detailing the career of your choice. Be sure to include

• what training is required (list any post-secondary institutions that offer training and their fees)
• personality types best suited for this career
• projected income
• pros and cons
• likelihood of obtaining a job
• best locations to pursue this career

Note: this assignment could be worked into Planning 10 for the Final Assignment. If youd like to use it for the credit and have questions on how to do that, contact your teacher

Demonstrable English Skills:

• deliver a spoken presentation effectively using oral language features
• develop thinking skills
• opinion
• create a visual presentation for a specific purpose and audience
• select and apply strategies to develop, organize, revise, and present your own communications
• describe
• list
• plan
• classify
• clarify
• define
• analyze
• identify characteristics
• explain how to...
• essay forms
• presentation forms

Assignment 6:

Goals:

• apply an understanding of melodic patterns to facilitate sight-reading.
• use appropriate music terminology to describe a range of melodic patterns.

Task:

What is a melodic pattern? How do these patterns aid you when learning a new piece of music? (include examples these can be voice recordings with a verbal explanation and sample melodic pattern or written or a combination of both)

Demonstrable English Skills:

• describe
• explain how to...
• explain a process
• give an example of...

Assignment 7:

Goals:

• compare and contrast music from a range of historical and cultural contexts, including their interrelationships.
• compare and contrast music created for a variety of purposes (e.g., dance music, religious music, court music, love songs).

Task:

Create a list of purposes for music and then create a second for musical genres. Working from these two lists you will create a new list that combines the genres with the purposes of music. Note: genres might fit in more than one purpose category.

For example:

• Purpose = Dance Music Genres = techno, waltz, salsa, flamenco, hip-hop, jazz, swing (you could add more!)

Using the new list you should see some relationships between purposes for music and genres of music. With your knowledge of these different types of music and using correct terminology for form and the elements of music, compare and contrast the different types you have listed. Include your thoughts on what these similarities and differences indicate about the different cultures the types of music came from.

You can complete this assignment working in point form.

Demonstrable English Skills:

• list
• classify
• notes - point form
• compare & contrast

Assignment 8:

Goals:

• analyze and use rhythms reflective of a variety of cultures and styles.
• describe rhythmic patterns and metre using appropriate music terminology.

Task

Choose three different people groups from three different continents and compare their cultural music in terms of rhythm and tempo (metre). You do not need to list specific songs for this assignment, but you will likely need to listen to a variety of songs from each region to get a feel for the music. If you are more comfortable listing songs for each region and analyzing them according to the questions and tasks below this is also acceptable.

Answer the following questions:

• What is the typical tempo of this groups traditional music? (be sure to analyze their traditional, cultural specific music, not what they listen to downloaded from iTunes)
• What are some of the typical types of rhythms used in this type of music?

Represent the typical rhythms (a series of beats that repeats in a predictable pattern) in two ways. First, use standard notation to represent just the rhythm, not the notes on the grand staff. Second, represent the rhythm using a image that might be typical of the region or culture that the rhythm comes from.

You should also make note of any traditional dress that is used typically when performing this music and if possible, relate the colours and styles of the costumes to rhythms used in the music. For example, what kinds of beats would you typically associate with bright coloured costumes? Do the women wear special outfits to emphasize parts of the music or shoes to accent certain beats?

Demonstrable English Skills:

• list
• analyze
• essays
• presentation forms
• develop thinking skills
• use conventions of language to enhance writing

Final Project

It is suggested that you begin work on this project at the beginning of the term. There is quite a high level of thinking, time and energy required to complete this task to the expected level. Work on it in conjunction with your other tasks not all at the last minute!

Goals:

• identify and represent melodies in various clefs and keys.
• create and perform melodic patterns to enhance expressive phrasing.
• purposefully apply a variety of music forms and principles of design in composition.
• represent music form in a variety of ways.
• use appropriate terminology to describe form and principles of design.
• relate form and principles of design in music to those in other arts.
• compare and contrast forms of music compositions from a variety of historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts.

Tasks:

There are two ways you can complete this assignment. You can either choose to work from a poem or lyrics of a song written by another person, OR you can write your own.

Your job is to create a melody for the lyrics that demonstrates your current understanding of expressive phrasing, music form and principles of design in composition. You will work with the melody you create in the following different ways:

• Create a piece of artwork that depicts an aspect of the melody (this could be a colour study, line graph, music map it should be interpretive, not a definitive image such as a landscape or animal).
• Write a reflection relating your composing experience to your experience creating other pieces of art (compare and contrast).
• Describe how your piece of music fits with a certain time, place and culture. There are the influences that helped shape your melody. Compare and contrast your created melody with known melodies from the time, place and culture you related to.
• Create a recording of your melody with lyrics and submit it with the other components of the project.
• Provide a copy of the notated version of your created melody and lyrics using the standard grand staff.

Demonstrable English Skills:

• poetic text
• descriptive text
• create a visual presentation for a specific purpose and audience
• collect and use evidence to explain your responses to content
• identify the influence of historical and social factors in texts and on texts
• extend vocabulary
• develop thinking skills
• analyze
• identify characteristics
• list
• describe
• opinion