FULL Lesson Plan for the Elementary Music Class

Teacher Name____Ms. Kelley__________________Target Grade Level______1__________

Musical Concept of Focus: PRACTICE & World Music Pedagogy

Quarter Notes

Eighth Notes

Standards Being Addressed:

National: MU:Pr4.2.1b When analyzing selected music, read and perform rhythmic patterns
using iconic or standard notation.

MU:Cr2.1.1b With limited guidance, use iconic or standard notation and/or recording technology
to document and organize personal musical ideas.

Materials of Instruction:

Listening Recording

Comanche Background Info

Flute Music
Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

T: “How are we doing today? Let’s do our feeling check in! Put a number one up if you
are not having a good day, 2 if you are doing okay, or 3 if you are doing great!”

T: Takes time to examine the numbers students are holding up, taking note of who put up
a number 1.

Entry Activity/Transition:

Activity #1 Objective: Through attentive listening, students will listen to the Comanche/Otoe
Hand Game Song.

1. T: “I’m going to play a song to you and I want you to tell me something that is surprising or
new about this song.”

2. T: Plays Recording.

3. T: “What did you notice?”

4. S: “I don’t know the words, I don’t understand what they’re saying, etc.”

5. T: “This song is not in English, listen again and this time, listen at the very end for a sound.
Try and guess what it is.”

6. T: Plays song again

7. S: “It’s an animal!”

8. T: “It is an animal! So far, we know that there is an animal sound and that the people singing
this song are not speaking English. Let’s see if there’s anything else we can learn about this
song.”

Activity #2 Objective: Through Engaged listening, students will listen to the Comanche/Otoe
Hand Game Song.

1. T: “When I play it again, will you move in some way? It can be with spider finger
taps, a head bob, or a foot tap”

2. T: Plays song again, observing how students are engaged in the listening
Activity #3 Objective: Through Enactive Listening, Students will learn the words and rhythms
of the Comanche/Otoe Hand Game Song.

1. T: “Our version of the song is going to sound a little bit differently, but here it is.”

2. T: Displays the music.

3. T: “What do you see that we already know about?

4. S: “Tas, ti-tis

5. T: “Yes! You guys are fantastic with that. Can we clap our rhythms like we do our
rhythm cards? Someone remind me of the expectations when doing rhythm
counting.”

6. S: “Clap and say the notes!”

7. T: “Exactly, let’s do it.”

8. T: assists in counting and tracks with finger, stopping when needed.

9. T: “Great job! Repeat after me. Ehkä-mohdä

10. S: “Ehkä-mohdä”

11. T: “chkä-mohdä”

12. S: “chkä-mohdä”

13. T: “Hey hiyä-ehkä-mohdä”

14. S: “Hey hiyä-ehkä-mohdä”

15. T: “Ehkä-mohdä chkä-mohdä”

16. S: “Ehkä-mohdä chkä-mohdä”

Assessment: Teacher listens for the correct pronunciation of echoed words and breaks down
words as needed before going on.

Activity #4 Objectives: Through integration of World Music Pedagogy, students learn the
background and history of the Comanche/Otoe Hand Game Song. Students perform steady
eighth notes on a drum during a melody

1. T: “Does anyone think they know what the animal they heard was?”
2. T: take Student answers

3. T: “It was a donkey, and actually, chkä-mohdä means red donkey, so we can
assume, this song is about a donkey. This song is called the Comanche/Otoe Hand
Game song. The Comanche Indians were once part of the northern Shoshone tribe
of Wyoming, but split off from them and migrated to their modern location in the
Southern Plains. By the time Europeans encountered them, the Comanches were
primarily living in Texas, Oklahoma, and and New Mexico. Most Comanche people
today live in Oklahoma. Comanche women wore long deerskin dresses, and the men
wore buckskin war shirts and breechcloths with leather leggings. The Comanches
wore moccasins on their feet, and in cold weather, they wore long buffalo-hide robes.
A Comanche lady's dress or warrior's shirt was fringed and painted with tribal
designs. Later, Comanche people adapted European costume such as cloth vests
and colorful blanket robes. Here is a site about the symbolism of Plains Indian war
shirts, and some photos and links about Indian apparel in general. The traditional
style of Comanche headdress was a cap with eagle feathers and ermine tails trailing
behind it. In the 1800's, though, some Comanche Indian men preferred to wear the
long feather head dress of the northern Plains tribes. Traditionally, Comanche people
only cut their hair when they were in mourning – when they were sad about
something, usually if someone passed away. Comanche men usually wore their hair
in two braids, which they sometimes wrapped in fur. Comanche women usually wore
their hair loose, and sometimes painted the center parts red. Here is a website with
pictures of these Native American hair styles. The Comanches also painted their
faces for special occasions. They used different patterns for war paint, religious
ceremonies, and festive decoration. Both men and women sometimes wore tattoos
on their chests. Today, some Comanche people still have moccasins or a buckskin
dress, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths... and they
only wear traditional regalia on special occasions like a wedding or a dance.”

4. T: Provide pictures of the apparel.

5. T: “The Comanche people loved to tell stories and fairytales, which probably
turned into a lot of games, so I think it’d be fun to add our song to a game!”

6. T: “I have this *Key, donkey, item* that one row will pass down as we sing our
song, it is the job of the other row to guess who has it after we’re done with the song.
SO, get in to two rows and face each other. Both sides will have the chance to pass
the *Item*. I will play the drum part, and then pass it to the guessing side if you’d like
to play it after hearing it. It is just straight eighth notes with the entire time.

7. T & S: with assistance from T, S plays the game several times, passing the drum
down the guessing side until it gets through every student, and switch sides of
guessers.

8. T: “Who can remember the name of the Native American Tribe we talked about?
What would be a reason someone might cut their hair? When might the Comanche
people wear their traditional apparel?
Assessment: Students answer the comprehension questions and Teacher assesses if learning
took place based off of the answers provided. Teacher uses data sheet to indicate who was able
to perform the steady 8th note drum accompaniment.

Activity #5 Objective: Students will create world music by improvising using drums over
a traditional flute solo.

1. S: “The music that the Comanche Tribe played included a lot of drums and flutes, so we are
going to improvise using the percussion instruments that are laid out while listening to a flute
solo played by Comanche flutist, Tim Nevaquaya.”

2. T: “I used the word improvised. We’ve talked about the word a few times before, can
someone remind me what it means?”

3. T: Allow for student answers.

4. T: “It means to make up based on what you hear. So, we are going to use our ears to listen
and allow our mind to help us create a melody from what we hear in the solo. Someone remind
of the expectations for using instruments in the music classroom.”

5. S: “Be respectful to the instruments, etc.”

6. T: “Let’s make some music.”

7. T: Plays linked flute solo

8. S: Improvises.

Assessment: Teacher assesses improvisation through observation and listening.