Percussion Lesson Plan
Illinois State Standards
Anchor Standard 7 (Responding)
Perceive and analyze artistic work.
Enduring Understanding: Individuals choose music based on their interests, experiences, musical understanding, and each musical work’s purpose.
Essential Question: How do individuals choose music to experience?
Anchor Standard 8 (Responding)
Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work.
Enduring Understanding: Through their use of elements and structures of music, creators and performers provide clues to their expressive intent.
Essential Question: How do we discern the musical performers’ emotions, thoughts, and ideas?
Anchor Standard 9 (Responding)
Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
Enduring Understanding: The personal evaluation of musical work(s) and performance(s) is informed by analysis, interpretation, and teacher- or student-established criteria.
Essential Question: How do we judge the quality of musical work(s) and performance(s)?
Anchor Standard 10 (Connecting)
Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
Enduring Understanding: Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.
Essential Question: How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?
Objectives
Students will:
- Learn the history of the percussion instruments
- Listen to two percussion songs
- Compare and contrast percussion songs
Materials
- Computer
- Speakers
- Smartboard
- Classroom percussion kit
Activities
-
Listen and Watch
2-7 minutes
Harry Potter Medley performed by Lafayette Percussion Ensemble (listen to all or a portion)
-
History of Percussion Instruments
15-20 minutes
Students share what they already know about the percussion
instruments (list as many as possible).- Sounded by striking, shaking, plucking, or scraping
- Drums used worldwide since before 6000 BC
- In Africa, drums protect tribal royalty (African drum - djembe)
- In medieval and Renaissance Europe, snare drums sent coded instructions to soldiers
- Different classes of percussion instruments:
- Latin percussion instruments: maracas, claves, castanets, timbale, etc.
- Classical percussion instruments used in orchestras: timpani, xylophone, bass drum
- Modern percussion instruments used in rock, pop, and jazz: drum kit (uncountable possibilities)
- Drum kits can include bass drum, side drum, tom-toms, cymbals, hi-hat, cowbells, and more
- “Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore
- “Anvil Chorus” by David Lang performed by Matt Keown
- Percussionists must have a very good sense of rhythm
-
Listen and Watch
5-13 minutes
West Side Story – Percussionist’s Perspective performed by Joe Martone
-
Compare and Contrast
10 minutes
- Which examples do you prefer and why?
- How do the examples sound similar?
- How do the examples sound different?
- What do you see/hear from the GoPro percussion perspective?
-
Depth Questions
15 minutes
- How do individuals choose music to experience?
- How do we discern the musical performers’ emotions, thoughts, and ideas?
- How do we judge the quality of musical work(s) and performance(s)?
- How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?
Additional funding for WFMT’s Bach to School program is provided by the Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts. Ralla was an attorney with a passion for social justice and the arts. The arts opened up worlds to Ralla, and she wanted to bring them to people who might not have the same opportunities that she did.
