Rehearsal Lesson Plan

Name: Jacob Pini Date: November 18, 2022

Ensemble/Grade: Improv 1 Voicing (choral)
School/Town: Newton South High School Period/Time: D3 (11:50 - 1:05)

1.Measurable Objective(s): (Measurable learning objectives use action verbs to describe what you want
the students to be able to do by the end of the class, course, or unit.)

● Students will improvise over the chord changes of “Work Song” and over an F Dorian vamp.
● Students will improvise flow studies with a constant rhythm.
● Students will devise and play arrangements of “Work Song,” and describe the emotional
effect of musical elements in the arrangements.

2.Assessment: (What evidence will show that the students understand? Describe the assessment used –
formal and informal assessments based on learning objectives.)

● Students will improvise throughout the lesson, leading to the final lesson segment. The
teacher will assess students’ facility with the F Dorian scale, as well as their playing the roots
of the chords in “Work Song” during their improvisations.
● Students will improvise quarter-note flow studies over an F Dorian vamp and over the
changes of “Work Song.” The teacher will assess students’ consistency of rhythm as well as
their playing of the roots in “Work Song.” If students demonstrate facility, they may try
eighth-note flow studies.
● Students will generate arrangements of “Work Song” as a group, selecting instruments,
distributing the melody and accompaniment, and choosing stylistic elements such as
dynamics, phrasing and call-and-response patterns. The teacher will discuss these choices
with them and assess their ability to explain the emotional effect of their choices.

3. National Standards: (Creating, Performing, Responding – Write out the standards that you will be
addressing in their entirety.)

MU:Cr1.1.E.Ia Compose and improvise ideas for melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements
for specific purposes that reflect characteristic(s) of music from a variety of historical periods studied
in rehearsal.
MU:Cr2.1.E.Ia Select and develop draft melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements for specific
purposes that demonstrate understanding of characteristic(s) of music from a variety of historical
periods studied in rehearsal.

1
Updated 12/1/19
 MU:Cr3.1.E.IIa Evaluate and refine draft arrangements, sections, short compositions, and
improvisations based on personally-developed criteria, including the extent to which they address
identified purposes.
MU:Cr3.2.E.Ia Share personally-developed melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements –
individually or as an ensemble – that address identified purposes.
MU:Pr4.2.E.Ia Demonstrate, using music reading skills where appropriate, how compositional
devices employed and theoretical and structural aspects of musical works impact and inform
prepared or improvised performances.
MU:Pr4.3.E.Ia Demonstrate an understanding of context in a varied repertoire of music through
prepared and improvised performances.
MU:Pr5.3.E.IIa Develop and apply appropriate rehearsal strategies to address individual and
ensemble challenges in a varied repertoire of music, and evaluate their success.
MU:Pr6.1.E.Ia Demonstrate attention to technical accuracy and expressive qualities in prepared
and improvised performances of a varied repertoire of music representing diverse cultures, styles,
and genres.
MU:Pr6.1.E.IIb Demonstrate an understanding of intent as a means for connecting with an
audience through prepared and improvised performances.
MU:Re7.2.E.Ia Explain how the analysis of passages and understanding the way the elements of
music are manipulated inform the response to music.
MU:Re8.1.E.8a Identify and support interpretations of the expressive intent and meaning of
musical works, citing as evidence the treatment of the elements of music, contexts, and (when
appropriate) the setting of the text.
MU:Cn10.0.H.Ia Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and
intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.
MU:Cn11.0.T.Ia Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts,
other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.

4. State Standards: (Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting - Write out the standards that you
will be addressing in their entirety.)

1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Generate instrumental or vocal
interpretations that integrate aesthetic principles with personal style. (ASE.M.Cr.01)
2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Arrange a melody for multiple
instruments or voices. (P.M.Cr.02)
3. Refine and complete artistic work. Refine draft arrangements to ensure consistency in
style, genre, and notation. (P.M.Cr.03)
4. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Identify advanced
strategies musicians use to practice and employ them in readying a musical work for
performance. (F.M.P.04)

2
Updated 12/1/19
 6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Describe how decisions
about a performance are connected to what students want to express, evoke, or
communicate. (F.M.P.06)
7. Perceive and analyze artistic work. Examine how the structure of music impacts and
informs performances. (P.M.R.07)

HSS Connection: Students examine the way Louis Armstrong popularized

improvisation solos in jazz during and after the Harlem Renaissance.
(HSS.USII.T2.01.a)

8. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Explain how a musical work is connected
to a particular cultural, historical context where it was created. (N.M.R.08)
11. Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen
understanding. Identify the connections between historical and cultural contexts and
defining stylistic elements of multiple musical movements (e.g., Aaron Copland's quest for
an American sound, or how Billie Holiday's “Strange Fruit” sparked a genre of protest
songs). (F.M.Co.11)

5. Required Prior Knowledge and Skills: (What must students must already know and can do to be
successful.)

“Work Song” (Nat Adderley), melody and accompaniment

F blues scale
12-bar blues form

6. Material, Repertoire, Equipment needed: (Be sure to include music titles, composer/arranger, text
etc.)

Lead sheet, “Work Song” (Nat Adderley)

Instruments
Chairs
Music Stands
Amplification for electric guitars
Cables/Power supply

7. Review Needed: (What needs to be reviewed to reinforce prior learning related to this lesson.)

Dorian scale construction: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 8

3
Updated 12/1/19
 Minor blues: I-7, IV7, V7

8. Accommodations: (Special Needs, ELL, etc.)

This lesson provides all students with aural (listening to classmates, singing/chanting), visual (sheet
music, chord changes) and kinesthetic (playing instruments, time-keeping) stimuli in order to access
information and relate it to their performance. Students will be able to work through musical
concepts both individually and in collaboration with their classmates and the teacher, and may seek
assistance from others in the class if necessary. The teacher is also available for individual support in
this class, as large segments of the lesson can be run by the students after they are introduced.

9. Agenda: (List items to be taught and post in the classroom.)

Warm-Up
“Work Song”

4
Updated 12/1/19
10. Lesson Sequence (Be sure to list time in the Pacing Section) Pacing
A. Brief Opening: (A teacher posted group or brief individual assignment, or
overview of the agenda. Brief reading writing, editing, or problem-solving
activity to ready them for learning – may be a question about the rehearsal
music or at the younger levels it may be a learning activity to set up for today's
lesson such as a "Do Now.")

While students are setting up, discuss: How do you create emotion in music? 3 min.

Look for answers that apply to “Work Song:” articulation, dynamics,

phrasing, tonality, etc. Many possible student answers.

B. Warm-up and purpose of warm-up: (What problems in the repertoire do

the warm-ups help solve. Be specific!)

1. Long tones: F minor blues 3 min.

a. Students will play long tones over an F minor blues
progression. The rhythm section will provide a simple
accompaniment and the winds will play long tones with
decreasing periods of rest (8 beats playing, 8 beats rest; 4 and
4; 4 and 0)

This warm-up is a very easy way for the students to practice the chords and
the key of “Work Song” outside of the context of the tune. The rhythm
section gets to warm up their hands and ears by practicing a progression they
know well, and the winds get to ease into playing with gentle long tones. I
find long tones to be more interesting to play over a harmonic background,
and this exercise keeps all students playing in an activity that is typically
reserved for winds. We have also used this as the opening warm-up for many
classes at this point, so the students know the routine well.

“Rhythm section, let’s start on our F minor blues progression: [F-7, Bb7,
C7]

Winds, play a concert C for two measures, with a crescendo all the way
through. Play as relaxed as possible:
Now play a concert F for one measure, and rest for one:
Now play the roots of the F minor blues:”

2. F minor scales workout 4 min.

5
Updated 12/1/19
 a. Students will practice the F Dorian and F blues scale in
increasingly difficult rhythms and digital patterns, including
quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets and broken thirds.

This warm-up continues to prepare students’ ears for the key of “Work
Song,” and provides an opportunity to practice scales and digital patterns
that are useful for improvisation. The students know the F blues scale very
well, but now will also practice the F Dorian scale in a similar fashion, which
they only learned on Monday. Students will review both the note names and
the scale degrees for this scale, and try a technical exercise (broken thirds) that
they know in a new context.

“Let’s play the F blues scale in quarter notes, up and down:

Now play it in eighth notes:
Now triplets – play it twice through:

Who remembers the notes of the F Dorian scale? [From Monday] What scale
degrees are those?
Play the F Dorain scale in quarter notes, up and down:
Try it on eighth notes:
Let’s play that scale in thirds now, a little slower:”

C. Sight-reading/aural training:

Call-and-response: Dorian or blues scale? 4 min.

The teacher will play short patterns using the notes of either F Dorian
or the F blues scale. Students will echo patterns back to the teacher, singing
and playing on their instruments, and determine which scale they come from
and how they know.

This exercise continues to build students’ ear training and transcription

skills, and will help them gain further familiarity with the “brighter” sound
of the F Dorian scale.

“Sing what I play back to me: [teacher plays short pattern, students sing.
Repeat 2x]
Now play it on your instruments: [teacher repeats pattern, students play on
instruments. Repeat 2x]
Does that sound like the F blues scale, or F Dorian? How do you know?
How do those two scales sound different from one another?”

6
Updated 12/1/19
 *Teacher: be sure to use patterns that clearly show either the raised sixth from
Dorian, or the raised fourth/lowered fifth from the blues scale*

D. Theory:

Dorian scale: 1 2 b3 4 5 [nat]6 b7 8

E. Marked Score: (List problems/challenges to be addressed from score study)

F. Rehearsal Procedure: (Describe rehearsal procedure, measure numbers,

teaching strategies)

Title/Composer: “Work Song,” Nat Adderley

1. F Dorian flow study 5 min.

a. Students will improvise using a constant quarter-note
rhythm
b. Improve over an F-7 vamp, base your solo on F Dorian
c. 8 measures each

“Let’s try a flow study using the Dorian scale. Does anyone remember what a
flow study is in improvisation? [Improvising using a constant rhythm]
Rhythm section, play an F-7 vamp. Everyone take eight measures and
improvise using only quarter notes. Think about using the F Dorian scale as
the base of your solo:

What were you thinking about while you were playing? Why might this be a
useful exercise for improvisers? [greater facility with scales/chord changes,
connecting phrases together]”

2. Review tune 3 min.

a. Students will determine an arrangement for “Work Song,”
selecting instruments to play the melody and
accompaniment
b. Students will determine the treatment of the melody: will
one group play the melody straight through, or will two
groups play call-and-response?
c. Students will describe the expressive and emotional effects of
their arrangement, as well as other musical elements such as
articulation and style

7
Updated 12/1/19
 “Turn to ‘Work Song’ in your books. Let’s pick an arrangement for today.
What do I mean by an arrangement in music? [picking instruments,
distributing parts, choosing a style/feel]

Take a minute and discuss which instruments you want to play the melody,
and which you want to play the accompaniment.
Should we play the melody straight through, or play it call-and-response style
like the Nat Adderley group? Who should play when?
Let’s play the head that way:

How do you want this tune to sound? What emotion do you want to
convey? [they’ll probably say some variation of intense/angry]
Do you think that arrangement communicated that emotion? How else can
we put that emotion into the music? [articulation, phrasing, dynamics]
Let’s play the head again and try to get that emotion across through the
music:”

3. “Work Song” flow study

a. Students will improvise using a constant quarter-note [and
eighth-note, if ready] rhythm 6 min.
b. Students will play through the chord changes of “Work
Song,” playing the root each time the chords change
c. Students will improvise using the F Dorian and F blues scales

“Let’s do another flow study, this time using the form of ‘Work Song.’ Play
quarter notes the whole way through, and follow along with the chord
changes. Every time you hit a new chord, play the root, and then keep
playing quarter notes.
Think about using the F Dorian or F blues scales, or mixing them together.
Take a whole chorus each:”

*If successful, students can try eighth notes. These are significantly harder*

4. Put it together!
a. Students will improvise with free rhythm, but still track the
chord changes by playing the roots of each chord 5 min.
b. Students will improvise using the F Dorian and F blues scales

“Now let’s play without the flow study. Play whatever rhythms you want,
but when the chords change, still make sure you play the root of the new
chords.
8
Updated 12/1/19
 Think about using your solo to communicate the same emotion that you did
in the head. Now that you can play any rhythm, how can you capture that
emotion and translate it into the music?
Let’s play a head in, a chorus each and a head out:”

G. Closing/Wrap-up: (This is a recap of the key learning of the day to check C.

for understanding. Could be a ticket to leave as individuals or group answers.)

Group discussion: What do we do in our solos to create emotion? 2 min.

Topics covered today: style/feel, phrasing, articulation, rhythmic intensity,

tonality. Many other possible answers.
E. Assignment for Students/Follow-up (What the teacher will address in the D.
next class):

Practice quarter-note and eighth-note flow studies. We will perform

eighth-note studies in class on Monday.

11.Reflection Prompt: What do you think went particularly well? How did this strength impact your
students’ learning?

12.Reflection Prompt: If you could teach this lesson again, is there anything you would do differently?
How would this have impacted your students’ learning?

9
Updated 12/1/19