5.1 Review

VIDEO CHAPTERS

• Description & Objectives

  Description:
  Students will review drum, bass, chord, and melody elements and create new musical ideas at different energy levels to use in their final project.

  Musical Objectives:
  Review drum grooves, chord parts, bass lines, and the different types of melodies.

  Technical Objectives:
  Create original musical ideas using different energy levels.

• Teacher Prep & Materials

  Prep:
  Create your own idea pool of drum, chord, bass, and melody tracks before presenting this project to the class. Not only will it be fun to apply what the students are learning, but it is also helpful to use this example with the class in some of the connection activities. Try your hand at copying the musical elements of one of your favorite songs. Keep in mind that this process takes time to learn and that the first attempt might not be the best. The more that you work on this skill, the better you will become.
  

  Materials:
  5.1 Project Rubric

• Procedure

  As a Class:

  • Watch the top video and review how to make low, middle, and high-energy drum, chords, bass parts, in addition to the three types of melodies.

  • Complete some of the connection activities to build confidence and understanding of the material.

  Individual:

  • Have students identify their reference song. They can then share it with a partner.

  • Instruct students to copy and paste the assignment URL from their LMS (if starting from scratch) or the 4.3 project to open it up in the 5.1 studio page.

  • Have students watch the short step videos and create drum grooves, chord parts, and bass lines at different energy levels in addition to their main melodies, ostinatos, and counter melodies.

  • Remind students to check their work by viewing the checklist.

  • When students are done, they can show each other their arrangement and make edits.

• Assessment

  Informal Assessment:

  • Check for understanding of the rules on writing drum grooves, chord parts, bass lines, and melodies by asking questions after the top videos.

  • Walk around the room while students are completing the individual portion of their projects and check to see if their drum grooves, chordal parts, bass lines, and melodies are being created according to the project parameters.

  Formal Assessment:

  • The musical material should be checked by the instructor or project partner against the rubric.

• Connection Activities

  Group Transcription: Select a reference song as a class and copy aspects of it together. You can focus on the sounds, chord progression, melodic style, structure, texture, or combination of these to use with your reference. The goal is not to make an exact duplicate of the original, but to make it sound like it has been inspired by the reference. Complete the work on the teacher presentation computer and solicit feedback from students while making the tracks.

  Quick Compose: After the review, turn on a 15-minute timer and have students create a song section with drums, bass, chord, and melody. This fun challenge is similar to Fact Magazine’s Against The Clock series where producers only have 10 minutes to write a track. What is interesting about the time constraint is that students can’t say no to their ideas, they have to agree with themselves and iterate additively. What ends up happening is that students get better at creating complementary drum, bass, chord, and melody parts this way - it's also fun!
  YouTube Link

  Pass The Track: Put students into partners and have them figure out who is going to be “it” first. That person starts by creating either a drum, bass, chord, or melody track. Once they are finished, they pass it to their partner to add a complementary element. The process goes back and forth until the pair has created a full song section with energy variation. To make it even more challenging, you can time turns and require only the students who are "it" to be able to listen to the DAW.

  Copy King/Queen: Choose a student or teacher-selected song section and distribute it to students. Give individuals or partners a specified amount of time to create a copy of that song section. After the amount of time has elapsed, play the song sections for the class anonymously and have students choose which one is closest to the original. The student(s) who get it closest then get crowned copy king or queen. The more students can copy the work of others, the better they are going to get at replicating that genre and creating the feedback loop between their musical ear and the DAW.

  Copy Me: Put students in partners in mixed-ability groups. Have them create a 4-bar phrase of drums, chords, bass, and melody individually. Instruct them to then mix down their project to an audio file to share with each other. Then, the opposite partner tries to create a copy of the original phrase. They can ask yes or no questions while they are making the copy. It is beneficial to have partners provide each other with the sounds that are used for the different instruments to make it easier to get a good start. This also can act as a fun mentorship opportunity for the student who has more experience.

• Differentiation

  Enrichment: For a challenge, students can create two projects: one of their original material and one that is a complete cover of their reference song. The process of creating a copy will improve the more advanced student’s creative feedback loop and help them get better at creating in specific styles and genres.

  Remediation: 5.1 can also be used simply as a review without the composition component. If you choose this direction, students will use their source material from 4.3 for their final project.
  To simplify the assignment, students can create a 4-bar phrase of high-energy drums, chords, bass, and a single melody. These 4-bar phrases can then be split into different energy level variants by a project partner or mentor in the class.

• Notes

  There is an emphasis on creating covers of songs in this lesson. While it is not specifically covered in the lesson page, it is very important to get students to try their hand at making copies of others' music. This will act as a new and unique way to review the rules for drums, chords, bass, and melody while developing students’ ears. While students are working on creating their new source material, check in with them regularly to make sure that their musical elements are following the guidelines for each instrument. Create regular checkpoints throughout the working periods to keep students on task and focused on their creations.

• Standards & Pathways

  Core Arts Standards

  Creating:

  • Anchor Standard 1 (Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work): Review drum grooves, chord parts, bass lines, and different types of melodies. Conceptualize new musical ideas at different energy levels.

  • Anchor Standard 2 (Organize and develop artistic ideas and work): Organize and develop original musical ideas using different energy levels.

  • Anchor Standard 3 (Refine and complete artistic work): Refine and complete musical ideas by creating drum grooves, chord parts, and bass lines at different energy levels, along with main melodies, ostinatos, and counter melodies.

  • Performing:

    • Anchor Standard 4 (Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation): Select and create musical elements and arrange them in various energy levels, presenting them to the class and peers.

  • Responding:

    • Anchor Standard 7 (Perceive and analyze artistic work): Analyze and understand the structure and elements of reference songs to inspire new musical ideas.

    • Anchor Standard 8 (Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work): Present and discuss their new musical ideas, explaining the choices made in creating different energy levels.

  • Connecting:

    • Anchor Standard 11 (Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding): Connect their new musical ideas to broader musical contexts, understanding how different energy levels and elements are used in various genres.

  1. Technology Literacy Standards

     1. Empowered Learner (ISTE Standard 1):

        • Use digital tools to create and organize musical elements, track progress, and reflect on their work.

     2. Creative Communicator (ISTE Standard 6):

        • Experiment with creating musical ideas and effectively communicate their musical concepts through their projects.

     Career Readiness

     • Music Production: Skills in creating and organizing musical elements at different energy levels.

     • Sound Engineering: Technical knowledge of producing balanced and varied musical elements.

     • Broadcasting and DJing: Understanding how to create and manage musical elements for varied energy levels in performances.

     • Multimedia Production: Integrating musical elements into various multimedia projects to create engaging and dynamic content.