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?
