Instrument Voices and Characterization

Core Standards:
Reading SOL 3.5: The student will demonstrate comprehension of fictional text
and poetry.
d) compare and contrast settings, characters, and events
Common Core English Language Arts Standards: Reading Literature 3.3 Describe
characters in a story (traits, motivations feelings).
Art Standards:
National Standards for Arts Education Grade K-4 Music Standard 6: Listening to,
analyzing, and describing music -Students identify the sounds of a variety of
instruments.
National Core Arts Standards: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic
work.
Connected Objectives:
The students will identify timbre of the guitar and the banjo and describe each of
the instruments as a character.
The students will reflect on the similarities between characters from print and
characters in music.
Assessment:
Student descriptions of each character on the Musical Characters Think Sheet.
Student reflections following the completion of the Musical Characters Think
Sheet.
Core Vocabulary:
Character: A person, creature, or thing that is involved in a story.
Trait: an adjective that describes a character
Art Vocabulary:
Bluegrass: A musical style from the American South.
String instruments: Instruments that use strings to create their sounds by bowing,
plucking, or strumming.
Timbre: The special sound of each instrument.
Materials:
Computer/iTunes
Dueling Banjos performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
Musical Characters Think Sheet (15 copies)
Pencils

Procedure: (30 minutes)

Engage:
1. Facilitate a discussion of students prior experience with exploring music as a
medium for stories. Highlight that music can tell a story and contain characters
just like the words in a book.
2. Play the beginning segment of Dueling Banjos and allow students to listen. After,
explain that there are two instruments in this piece of music, the banjo and the
guitar. Use this as an opportunity to highlight and explain bluegrass music and
string instruments. Explain that timbre is the unique sound of each instrument.
Play the beginning segment again and identify the timbre of the guitar and the
banjo.
Implementation:
1. Give each student a copy of the Musical Characters Think Sheet. Review the
terms character and character trait. Explain that if this piece of music were a story,
the characters would be the banjo and the guitar. Explain that the students task is
to listen to a segment of the piece and describe the characters based on their
sounds.
2. Play about 2 minutes of the piece and allow students to write about the sounds of
each character in the piece.
3. Play the same segment of music a second time, encourage students to add to the
sounds they wrote the first time, but also focus on how the characters interact with
each other.
4. Explain that the students are going to discuss what they heard in the piece of
music and what they could tell about the guitar character and the banjo character.
5. Facilitate a discussion of each character after allowing the students to share the
ideas they wrote down with a partner.
a. What sounds or words describe the guitar character? Repeat with banjo.
b. How do the characters interact with each other?
c. What do you think the characters are doing?
d. What do you think the author of the piece was trying to share through this
music?
Closure:
1. Review the parallels between musical and written stories.
2. Ask students, How are characters from musical stories similar to characters from
written stories? Make notes about the discussion that follows.
3. Ask students to reflect on what they learned from this activity.
Extensions and Differentiation Opportunities:
Possible extensions for this lesson might include listening to the same piece of
music to consider the setting and plot of the musical story. If more time was available, I
might also plan for the students to draw the characters based on the traits they identified
from the song. Some students might not be ready to listen for the interaction between the
characters. It is acceptable if these students continue to focus on sounds during the
second time they listen to the segment. Some students may struggle to compare musical
stories and written stories, I will provide concrete examples from a written story and
examples from the musical story we listened to in an effort to make this discussion more

concrete for students. I hope to complete this lesson with small groups. I will create
groups based on mixed metacognitive abilities in an effort to provide peer support and
examples for students who may struggle to engage in the discussion independently.
Teacher Reflections:
To be attached following the completion of the lesson.
Student Reflections:
Discussion of what was learned at the end of the lesson.
Student responses to the prompt, How are characters from musical stories similar
to characters from written stories?
Sources and Resources for Planning:
Kennedy Center. (2014). Arts Edge. Retrieved from https://artsedge.kennedycenter.org/educators.aspx
Smith, A. (1955). Dueling Banjos (Recorded by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell). On
Deliverance Soundtrack. Warner Brothers. (1973).
Virginia Department of Education. (2010). Standards of Learning and Testing. Retrieved
from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing

Musical Characters:

Name: _______________________

Guitar

Banjo

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4.

5.

5.

6.

6.

7.

7.

8.

8.

9.

9.

10.

10.