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Lesson plan · Grades 3-5 · 45 minutes

Melody Maker

I can read and play melodies with solfege, describe steps, skips and leaps, and compose a short tune that ends on the home note.

▶ Open the tool Download the tool
Standard
MU:Cr1 NCAS
MU:Pr4 NCAS
Shape
Explore first
Grouping
Whole class, then pairs on devices.
You need
The tool on the projector and on student devices with headphones. Classroom bells, if you have them.
Tool
curioclass.org/tools/melody-maker/
  1. Hook5 min
  2. Explore15 min
  3. Make sense8 min
  4. Apply12 min
  5. Exit check5 min

Before class

  • Open Compose. Frère Jacques is already on the grid.
  • The bell colors match the common classroom set (do red, re orange, mi yellow...). This is movable do.

Hook 5 min

  1. Sing sol-mi ("Hel-lo!") and have the class echo it.
  2. Press Play on the tune in Compose. "You know this one. But how would you write it down?"

Explore 15 min

  1. Watch each syllable pop up and the notes light up on the staff. Read the Melody shape card: how many steps, skips and leaps?
  2. Pairs tap cells to change notes. Every row is in the scale, so every note sounds good. An empty column is a rest.
  3. Pairs change the Key and listen. "What stayed the same?" (The shape and the syllables.)
  4. Pairs open Scale ladder. "Where are the rungs close together?" (Mi-fa and ti-do: the half steps.)

Make sense 8 min

  1. On the piano in Scale ladder, find the pattern: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.
  2. "What would happen if every step were the same size?"
  3. Switch to Finish the tune. Try each ending. "Which sounds more finished: ending on do or on ti?"

Apply 12 min

  1. Pairs press Clear (or start over) and write their own 16-beat tune that asks a question halfway (ending on sol or re) and answers at the end (on do).
  2. Pairs who want an idea press Surprise me and change it.
  3. Two or three pairs play their tunes for the class. The class names one step, one skip and one leap.

Exit check 5 min

Switch to Echo it on the projector. The robin sings a short pattern; the class sings it back in solfege, then a student plays it on the bells. Then ask: "Why does an answer phrase end on do?"

Support and stretch

  • Support: use the pentatonic scale (no fa or ti) so it's hard to sound off.
  • Support: start Echo it at sol-mi.
  • Stretch: change your tune to minor, where la is home. "How does the mood change?"
  • Stretch: start the ladder on G, D or F and explain why the key needs a sharp or a flat.

Short on time

  • Play the tune and change a few notes in Compose (8 min).
  • One round of Finish the tune (5 min), then Echo it (4 min).

How each button works is in the teacher notes. From Curio Class, free under CC BY 4.0: change it, print it, share it.