Unit 3 – Pitch
Activity 1 – The Three Bears
Students are introduced to the story of The Three Bears and asked if anyone is familiar with it. Students understand that the three members of the Bear family have very different pitched voices. The teacher discusses with students the differences between Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Little Bear’s voices and asks students to indicate which instruments can be used for the bears’ voices. The triangle could be used for the Little Bear, the tambourine for the Mama Bear and the bass drum for the Papa Bear. Students are invited to narrate a sound story with the teacher, using the instruments as voices.
At the end of the lesson students are given a handout. They listen to a high, medium or low sound (using the triangle, the tambourine and the bass drum). Students are then encouraged to colour the picture of the bear that matches the sound. As a follow-up students listen to different excerpts of music using instruments in order to reproduce the high, medium and low sounds.
Activity 2 – High, Low and Middle
Students listen to a variety of children’s songs which vary in pitch. The teacher can also play different instruments to show the students the difference between high, middle and low pitch. Students show aural recognition of: High, Middle, Low
Students are to do this through signals:
High: Throw hands up in the air
Middle: Move hands and arms out to the side
Low: Clap at waist level
The teacher can also introduce the notes soh, mi and doh by playing them on the piano or xylophone. Students are to show that they recognise the difference between them using the same signals. This lesson serves as revision to the topic already covered in Year 1.
Activity 3 – Symbols
This is the first step towards simple composition. The teacher introduces graphic notation.
- The teacher plays 3 notes going up, going down or staying at the same pitch and students have to write an arrow going up for high notes, down for low notes and a dash for middle pitch.
- Students can also create their own graphic notation, show it to the teacher and play it on a xylophone or pitched instrument available in the classroom.
Activity 4 – Music Notation
Students are introduced to music notation by using rhythmic examples from Unit 1. The timing of the notes is to be referred to as Ta and Ti-Ti. The teacher explains that in music we play and sing according to the notes. Visuals such as charts, posters, flash cards and also computer presentations can be used. The two notes to be introduced at this stage are Soh and Mi. Students start following rhythmic and melodic simple patterns. They are also encouraged to sing and play rhythmic and melodic patterns on percussion instruments and also to write their own patterns.