Unit 1 — Creating
Description
Students independently compose and improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns using expanded notation and solfege including sol, mi, la, do, re, high do, ti, and fa. Students work with note values including quarter notes, paired eighth notes, quarter rest, sixteenth notes, half notes, half rests, dotted rhythms, dotted half, whole rest, and eighth/sixteenth rests. The unit incorporates discussion of musicians with disabilities who create music in adaptive ways, such as Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli, and others, with emphasis on adaptive instruments and diverse literature featuring diverse individuals.
Essential Questions
- How do musicians generate creative ideas?
- How do musicians make creative decisions?
- How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?
Learning Objectives
- Generate and improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas with simple accompaniment patterns and chord changes
- Explain connections between creative ideas and specific social, cultural, and historical purposes and contexts
- Demonstrate developed musical ideas for improvisations, arrangements, and compositions
- Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal musical ideas
- Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal music using collaboratively developed criteria
- Present final versions of personally and collaboratively created music demonstrating craftsmanship
- Explain the connection between creative work and expressive intent
Supplemental Resources
- Chart paper for notating student compositions
- Printed word lists for scat syllables and musical vocabulary
- Index cards for rhythm pattern practice
Music - Creating
Students apply mathematical thinking through rhythm patterns, counting, and structural analysis of musical compositions.
Students explore scientific inquiry and design thinking when investigating sound, acoustics, and the physics of musical instruments.
Students develop literacy skills through reading and interpreting musical notation, writing about musical choices, discussing artistic intent, and analyzing text in songs and compositions.
Students examine how music reflects cultural, historical, and social contexts, including the contributions of diverse musicians and composers from various backgrounds and communities.
Students develop mind-body awareness through musical performance, breath control, posture, and the health benefits of musical engagement and expression.
Students encounter and perform music in different languages and explore diverse global musical traditions and cultural expressions.
Formative Assessments
- Teacher observation of student improvisation and composition work
- Group discussion about creative choices and artistic intent
- Skill testing on notation and solfege knowledge
- Question and answer exchanges about musical ideas
Summative Assessment
Students improvise or compose a blues-style composition, compose a short jazz-style song using scat syllables, complete a movie composition project, or participate in world drumming with call and response patterns
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate composition and improvisation understanding through oral response, dictation by teacher or peer, or simplified notation systems (e.g., color-coded notes, number notation, or graphic representation of pitch and rhythm patterns). Visual supports such as solfege hand signs, pre-made rhythmic or melodic phrase banks, and reduced scope (e.g., composing with four pitches instead of eight, or shorter rhythmic phrases) may be provided as needed.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students benefit from having rhythmic and melodic patterns presented through multiple modalities, such as visual notation cards, body percussion, and audio modeling, so that composing and improvising remain accessible regardless of processing or output challenges. Allowing students to demonstrate musical ideas through performance, recorded examples, or iconic notation rather than standard written notation supports varied expressive needs. When discussing creative intent or the work of musicians with disabilities, providing sentence frames or graphic organizers can help students organize and communicate their thinking. Scaffolded composition templates with partial rhythmic or melodic structures give entry points without reducing the creative demand of the task.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time to complete notation-based tasks and composition drafts, reducing time pressure during the creative process. Preferential seating near the teacher or demonstration area supports access during solfege and rhythmic instruction. Minimizing auditory or visual distractions during independent composition work allows students to focus on generating and refining their musical ideas.
ELL / MLL
Connecting solfege syllables and rhythmic vocabulary to visual representations, such as hand signs, notation diagrams, and labeled rhythm charts posted in the room, helps students internalize music-specific language alongside content. Simplified verbal directions paired with demonstrations of rhythmic and melodic tasks reduce language load without reducing musical expectations. Opportunities to listen to and discuss musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, including those highlighted in the unit, provide meaningful entry points that honor students' own cultural and linguistic identities while building content vocabulary.
At Risk (RTI)
Beginning with familiar rhythmic patterns, such as those drawn from songs or chants students already know, provides a comfortable foundation before introducing expanded notation or solfege syllables. Breaking composition tasks into smaller steps — first exploring rhythm, then adding melody — helps students build confidence and experience early success. Connecting the stories of musicians with disabilities to students' own perseverance and creative strengths can build motivation and a sense of belonging in the creative process.
Gifted & Talented
Students ready for greater depth can explore the theoretical underpinnings of the blues or jazz idioms in their compositions, investigating harmonic structures, scale choices, or improvisational conventions that go beyond the foundational patterns introduced in the unit. Encouraging these students to research the social and historical contexts of the musicians discussed — and to intentionally reflect those contexts in their original compositions — pushes thinking into analysis and cultural interpretation. Students may also be challenged to compose for a specific expressive purpose or audience, justifying their creative decisions using developing music vocabulary and aesthetic reasoning.