2/21

Standards:
● MII.12 The student will demonstrate music literacy
○ A) Identify, define, and use standard notation for pitch....

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of note identification on the staff and on the
fingerboard. Students will also demonstrate the correct pitches and rhythms in Pink Panther
through rehearsal E.

Note Reading: (10 minutes total)

● Notes are NOT showing a finger to put down. It is showing a specific pitch (i.e. letter
name)
● Go over mnemonics for each clef (treble, alto, bass)
● Explain that pitches can be altered by accidentals (flat and sharp).
○ (We will go over the natural sign more later, but be aware of it.)
○ Explain difference between sharp and flat
● Point to different pitches on staff for call and response. Then ask to show where it is
on the fingerboard.
○ Include octaves (do students understand that low E and high E are on different
places on fingerboard?)
○ Include going from B-->Bb, F-->F#, etc
○ Start to incorporate notes off of the staff

Assessment: Listen for class responses and watching fingering of notes for the note
identification.
2/27

Standards:
● MII.12 The student will demonstrate music literacy
○ A) Identify, define, and use standard notation for pitch....

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of note identification on the staff and on the
fingerboard.

Note Reading: (15 minutes total)

● Go over mnemonics for each clef (treble, alto, bass)
● Review differences between flat and sharp
● Matching Game Activity in small groups of 2-3
○ Match note on staff to letter name to place on fingerboard
○ Walk around and facilitate as needed. Check at the end

Assessment: Listen and look during the matching activity for correct note identification and
understanding of sharps or flats.
2/29

Standards:
● MII.12 The student will demonstrate music literacy
○ A) Identify, define, and use standard notation for pitch....

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of note identification on the staff and on the
fingerboard in Pink Panther from beginning to C.

Pink Panther
● Review main theme (first four measures)
○ Discuss B vs Bb in this section. What does the flat do to the note?
● First 4 bars of B- call and response.
○ Play 4 notes at a time. Then combine.
○ Always start phrase up bow
○ Discuss C natural/low 2
● Bars 6-8 of B
○ First half is a repeat!
○ Second half is different. What notes are different?
■ Break up into 4 note sections
○ Explain E natural vs Eb! What does the flat do?
■ E can be played cover or open
■ Eb can be played with Low 4 or High 3... students explore playing
both ways and choose which is best for them
○ Play B section all together

Assessment: Listen for answers during full class responses on note identification questions.
 The average score of the pretest was 14.5/18. The average time to complete the pre-test
was 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The scores of individuals were mostly in the low/middle teens
with a few exceptions of some scores being significantly lower or higher. The time that it took to
complete the worksheet varied a lot more, with some students taking two minutes to complete
and some students taking it in over eight minutes. This told me that fluency was a main
component to work on, especially for students who accurately identified the notes. Of the 36
students that took both the pre-test and post-test, 60% of students’ scores improved on the
accuracy of the identification. Of the 60% of students that improved their overall score, 70% of
those students were able to complete the worksheet in a faster amount of time.
During the first lesson, I did a whole class lecture where I was doing an overview of the
necessary parts of note identification that I found necessary to explain and review from the
pre-assessment. I explained how each instrument will read a different clef in orchestra, the staff
and mnemonics for each clef, the difference between all the accidentals, and where each of these
notes fall on the fingerboard. For this lesson, I was sure to provide verbal explanations of all the
parts of the lesson while always following along with pictures and graphics that I had made on
the board. This way, students could have these explanations verbally and visually. I also had
students identify notes on the fingerboard by putting their fingers down and telling me the note
name when I pointed to a note on the staff.
The second lesson was focused on the students practicing the concepts that we talked
about in the first lesson in small groups or by themselves. I made a matching game with all of the
notes that will be played in Pink Panther, their current focus in class. The game consisted of three
different types of cards: the note on the staff, the note on the fingerboard, and then a card with
just the letter name (i.e. “A”). At first I was planning on this lesson to be another lecture, but I
realized from last time I needed to see students more on the individual level, and I think the
students would have been bored if I made this into another lecture lesson. I made this game so I
could informally assess how students were doing individually with these concepts, and I could
walk around and give individual feedback or answer questions right away on any concepts that
were still confusing. This was a very productive lesson because some students needed help and
clarification on how to read the lines and spaces of the staff, some just needed explanation on the
difference on sharps and flats, and then some understood how to read the notes but needed more
explanation on how you know which string to play them on.
The third lesson was focused on actually applying these concepts to the music itself. As I
was teaching Pink Panther, I would ask them questions throughout the class to say the note
name, and I would have everybody show me on their instrument how to play that note. I also
focused on explaining how accidentals affect the notes, and the difference between flats, sharps,
and naturals. This seems to be the topic that students confused the most on the matching activity,
so I was sure to explain this thoroughly during this lesson.
For the final lesson of this unit, I created a review game. On the projector, I showed one
note on the staff at a time and had the students call out the notes individually. A different person
would answer each time. During the lesson, I also incorporated questions about accidentals to
review those as well. Students were directed to answer the questions as quickly as they could
while still answering accurately. If they didn’t know the answer, they could “phone a friend” and
the friend could explain how to figure out what the note was.
If I were to repeat this entire unit again, I would have split the first lesson into two
separate days. After the lesson I noticed it was a little bit of an information overload for them,
and I don’t think they obtained as much information as they would have if I split the lesson into
two so I could reinforce the topic and introduce the information with more appropriate time.