Song Component Lesson Plan

Objectives:
• Students will identify the melody, bass, harmony, and rhythmic elements of a song.
• Students will find song examples where they can identify each song element.
• Students will teach their classmates about a specific song element.
• Students will able to demonstrate knowledge of song elements through real-time
improvisation.

National Standards:

MU:Cr1.1.H.8a Generate melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for melodies (created over
specified chord progressions or AB/ABA forms) and two-to-three-chord accompaniments for
given melodies.

Anchor Standard #1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Anchor Standard #2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Anchor Standard #4. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Anchor Standard #7. Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Procedure:
• Instructors will play music video for “Africa” by Toto and encourage the students to listen for
something that catches their ear and sing/play/body percussion along with it. After the song
instructors will introduce the concept of song elements.
• 5 minutes
• Students will divide into 4 “Expert” groups for each element of a song (melody, harmony,
rhythm, bass line)
• Each expert group will have one instructor. This instructor will teach their group about their
specific song element and provide them with examples. Instructors will also ask the students to
identify their element in examples.
• 15 minutes
• The students will find a variety of examples for the element they learned about.
• 5 minutes
• After 5 minutes, the students will return to “Home” groups consisting of one student from each
Expert group. In the Home groups, the students will each have a time slot to teach the rest of
their group members about the song element they learned.
• 5 minutes per student (20 total)
• At the end of class, the students will come back together and discuss interesting things they
learned and any other feedback they want to communicate.
• 3 minutes

Assessment:
Largely informal assessment. Instructors ask students to identify song elements they’ve learned
to check their understanding. Instructors will observe students teaching each other their
respective song elements and assess their understanding.

Modifications:
• Size
• Color
• Pacing
• Modality