Haikus

and
Instruments
Objective: Students will identify tone color by choosing what instrument sound goes with what
words and perform their haiku poem with an instrument.
Grade: Grade 5
National Core Standards for Music:

2. Organize and develop musical ideas and work.

4. Select, analyze, and interpret musical work for presentation.
5. Develop and refine musical techniques and work for presentation.
11. Relate musical ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen
understanding.

Process:
1. Explain to students that a haiku is a short poem with three lines. The first line has 5 syllables,
the second has 7 syllables, and the third has 5. The haiku should be about nature and can
include animals, seasons, weather, and anything else about nature. Explain that it originated
in Japan and how it came from a waka, a short poem with 31 syllables that was written as
part of pre-Buddhist ceremonial rituals in the 7th century.
2. Put the students into groups of 2 or 3 and have them write a haiku.
3. Then lay out several different types of instruments.
4. Explain tone color to the students and have them pick an instrument that sounds like it would
go best with their haiku. You can give them some examples (how a bird chirping sounds like
the small cymbals, how an elephant walking sounds like beating on a drum, rain sounds like
a rain stick, etc.)
5. The students need to play their instrument at a certain time in their haiku (maybe with an
action word or verb)
6. Let each group read their haiku aloud and play their instrument at the specific time they
chose in their haiku.
Connection: English, Writing, History (Japan and Haikus)
Resources: several different instruments