Patrick Peters

Peters-MUS149-Assignment 4.3
Social Foundations of Music Education
Dr. Brent Talbot

Lesson Plan: 4/4 Time & How to Feel Pulse

Context/Prior Knowledge
4th Grade General Music
One of the first lessons of the semester. Very little prior knowledge.
Idea of meters introduced
Students have been introduced to the context of the ‘Attan’ dance in a previous class.

Essential Question
How can we use movement to keep a pulse and/or to establish a meter?

Materials
● Speaker
● Music (from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym-1Jd7WCFQ)1
● Spacious Room
● Chalkboard
● Chalk
● Extra Paper and Pencils

Glossary of Terms2
● Pulse – repeating but identically spaced beats that serve as the foundation for the tempo
and meter for a piece
● Meter - the grouping of beats into regular patterns.
● Attan - a traditional Afghan dance; It's origin lies in the Afghan Pashtoon tribes pagan
yester-years and usually involved men performing a ritual dance.3

Nationals Standards
MU:Cr2.1.8a: Select, organize, and document personal musical ideas for arrangements, songs,
and compositions within expanded forms that demonstrate tension and release, unity and
variety, balance, and convey expressive intent.

MU:Pr4.2.8c: Identity how cultural and historical context inform performances and result in
different musical effects.

MU:Re7.2.8b: Identify and compare the context of programs of music from a variety of genres,
cultures, and historical periods.

1 VirtualAfghans.com (2011). Attan - The traditional and national dance of Afghanistan. Retrieved from
http://www.virtualafghans.com/attan/index.asp
2 OnMusic Dictionary. (2015). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://dictionary.onmusic.org/

3
MU:Cn11.0.8a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts,
other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.

Learning Outcomes
1. Students will define and differentiate between pulse and meter.
2. Students will perform the Attan dance moves in sequence of a 4/4 bar.
3. Students will compose dance sequences using moves learned in class to fit in a set of
four 4/4 bars.

Procedure
1. Give a brief review of the background of the ‘Attan’ Dance from Afghanistan
a. Historically, a celebration dance, later adapted to a war dance, but eventually
brought back as the country’s national dance.
b. Exhaustingly long dance. It continues until all dancers become too tired and sit
down.
c. “The style of Attan we will be learning is called ‘Kabuli Attan,’ which comes
from the capital city of Afghanistan: Kabul.”
2. Write the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the board. Each one of those numbers represents a
step for the three Attan movements we will learn.
3. Let’s Learn the Dance!
a. First, everyone must circle up.
b. Teacher demonstrates the steps first, then students follow his example.
c. Students start standing with feet together and with their left side facing
d. Pay special attention to clapping at the same time on Step 4.
e. Move 1: Out and Clap [Each beat gets one step]
i. Step out from circle (with right foot).
ii. Step left foot back in to meet the right foot. Put left hand behind back and
right hand over your head and point it away from the body to the right.
iii. Step left foot back towards center.
iv. Step right foot back to meet left foot and clap towards center of circle.
f. Move 2: Half-turn
i. Step along circle with right foot.
ii. Step left foot to right foot but place it away from the circle, body will turn in
opposite direction from where it started.
iii. Step left foot back to its original placement.
iv. Step right foot back to its original position and clap towards center of
circle.
g. Move 3: Whole Turn
i. Step along circle with right foot
ii. Step left foot past right foot. Students should be facing directly away from
the circle
iii. Pivot on left foot and spin right foot to face body towards center of circle
iv. Bring left foot back to right foot and clap towards center of circle.
4. Practice steps with whole class
5. Write steps on board now (Out and clap, half turn, whole turn) and label them as #1, #2,
and #3 respectively.
6. Choose an 8-number long pattern for you and the class to perform
a. Suggested: {1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 3}
7. Begin playing music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym-1Jd7WCFQ)
 8. Both you and students go through the pattern once. Teacher first, then teacher and
students.
9. Step back (let music run) and prepare students to try again after reviewing the order.
a. Teacher will re-demonstrate first.
b. On second time around, split students into groups of 3 to do the dance
sequence.
10. Pause music and have two students come up and create the next 8 bar sequence (4
bars each).
a. Ask each student why they chose the sequence they did.
b. Go through sequence verbally, then turn on music and go through again
11. Repeat Step 10 as necessary for full class participation or until time for activity runs up
a. If not enough time, have students create a 4 measure composition on their lined
paper and explain why they chose the sequence they did.
12. Have students return to their seats.
13. Explain pulse and meter
a. Pulse – every beat of the music
b. Meter – groupings of beats into numbered structures
i. Like 4/4 time, where there are 4 beats in a measure of that meter.
14. Pose exit questions and have students answer on lined paper:
a. What in that dance helped to establish pulse?
b. What in that dance helped us to constitute a meter?

Assessment
1. Teacher will assess the students’ interpretations of pulse and meter and the relation
between the two.
2. Teacher will visually assess the students’ performance of the dance moves in sequence.
a. Yes - Student performs dance moves correctly within three tries.
b. No – Student does not perform moves correctly or consistently misses timing of
the claps.
3. Teacher will evaluate students’ dance sequence compositions.
a. Yes – student successfully writes a composition that is only 4 bars long and gives
reasoning behind the chosen sequence.
b. No – student does not write a composition or does not give a sufficient
explanation as to why that sequence was chosen.

Further Learning/Extension
1. Add other dance moves into the mix
a. Move into center with hands extended upwards, then back up with hands going
into a clap
2. Explain what the top and bottom number represent within a time signature like 4/4 or 3/4.

Honor Code
I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic work and
have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code.

________________________Patrick Peters________________________________________