Overview:
The most important basic skills for young students are the ability to keep a steady pulse and establish a sense of pitch. Without these essential, internalized skills students cannot progress successfully into more complex music behaviors. After an established sense of pulse, students must discriminate between rhythm and pulse, and after an internalized sense of pitch students learn to recognize melody because these skills the foundation for all subsequent music learning.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Identify and describe the discrete elements of rhythm,
- Identify and describe the discrete elements of melody,
- Analyze lessons plans in rhythm and melody,
- Design and create lesson plans in rhythm and melody.
- Prepare and demonstrate the implementation of a lesson in rhythm.
Why is it Important to Teach the Music Elements?
The structure of music is based upon the various elements that comprise music. These are identified as rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and timbre. Many teachers choose to use these elements as the basis for their curriculum design.
Music is conceived and experienced as a whole through a combination and interrelationship of these elements rather than discrete segments. The teacher, in an effort to construct cohesive lessons designed to make the elements more concrete to students, is faced with the prospect of separating and breaking down the various components into their most basic and rudimentary forms. For this reason, lessons are often based upon activities that promote specific skills, such as listening and composing; however, the elements must be identified individually so that students perceive and experience the separate aspects manifest within the structure of music.