Music Inventions A Topical Unit for 4th-5th Graders Virtual Museum of Music Inventions by Elizabeth Rexford Rationale As we explore the history of any art form, we see a continual evolution. The evolution of art forms reflects changes in society, changes in ways of looking at the world and is sometimes a reaction to the availabilty of new materials. Often individuals have accelerated this evolution. In the visual arts, for example, new ways of painting have been invented by certain artists. Music, too, has its inventors: people who have designed new musical instruments, as well as composers who have created new ways of composing music. There are also music inventions without names of individual people, since many new ideas in music were a result of various people contributing ideas and trying new things over a period of years.   Concepts 1. Music is constantly evolving.The ways in which music is composed and played has changed throughout history and continues to change today. 2. Musical instruments are constantly evolving.Musical instruments have evolved through time, from simple Pan pipes to primitive flutes to modern flutes, for example. The development of electricity and electronic technology has contributed to more changes. 3. What are the influences leading to changes in music and musical instruments? Changes in society, technology, materials, and technique have had important effects on the ways that people make music. 4. Creating new music and new instruments. Students will become inventors as they design new ways of making music and new instruments. 5. How has the development of technology changed the way people make music? We will examine the issue: Does the increased use of technology enhance or detract from the music-making experience? Student Outcomes Each student will do a report on an instrument or a type of music. Each student will create a new instrument or type of music. 1. Music is constantly evolving. a. Listen to recordings of four historical examples: Gregorian Chant, symphonic music, jazz and electronic music. b. Discuss the ways in which the examples are different. c. In small groups students create movements that reflect the style of one of the recorded examples, above. d. Listen to recordings of modern and contemporary composers to see how they have used new ideas. Example: Whale Songs (from And God Created Great Whales) by Alan Hovhaness p. 38, Sharing the Music, Grade 4. New York, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company, 1995. Recordings of whale sounds are integrated into an orchestral composition. Example: Variations on America by Charles Ives p. 266, Sharing the Music, Grade 4. Ives showed what it sounds like when melodies in two different keys are played at the same time (bitonality). Example: Feiulles Mortes, by Claude Debussy P. 309, Sharing the Music, Grade. Debussy invented the whole tone scale, which makes his music have a distinct sound. His music is associated with Impressionism, a style of art and music. The teacher can demonstrate the whole tone scale. Compare it to the major scale. Can you tell the difference? 2. Musical instruments are constantly evolving. a. The teacher reads the story Fire-Brand Makes a Signal Horn - A Story of the First Horn (from How Man Made Music , Chicago, Follet Publishing Company, 1959). This story tells about a Stone-Age boy who accidentally blew into an ox's horn and heard a sound come out of it. Or, the teacher can create a story which presents a possible scenario for how the first instrument was made. b. Examine the CD-ROM Musical Instruments to find old and new examples of horns. Or find pictures and sounds of many kinds of old and new brass instruments. c. Invite a guest speaker to show how brass instruments are made and how they are played. c. Invite an expert on early intruments to visit the class to demonstrate various ancient instruments, such as the hurdy-gurdy, shawm, krummhorn, rebec, serpent. Take notes on each instrument and what modern instrument is related to it. d. Read about inventions in recording technology, starting with early devices such as those made by Thomas Edison, continuing with phonographs, tape recorders and CD's. Look and listen to examples of each device, if possible. Explain how each invention was an improvement on what came before. e. Read about the history of instruments in the music text book, other available books and the CD-ROM, Musical Instruments. Use the Internet to visit museums which have ancient or unusual musical instruments. 1. Write a report on the instrument. Draw a picture of it. Tell what instrument was its ancestor and what later inventions, if any, developed from this instrument. If none have occured, imagine a new development for your instrument. 2. Create a Reader's Theater piece with a partner. Each of you will represent your instrument. Create dialogue as if the instruments are speaking to each other. Perform for the class. f. Bring an unusual instrument from home. Tell about it. Play it. Use it as the instrument for your report. g. Visit a recording studio to learn how music is recorded. h. Post a long sheet of paper in the classroom or hallway. Create a time-line. As students learn about or report on various music inventions, they post the name of the invention with the dates and draw a picture of it in the appropriate spot on the time-line. 3. What are the influences leading to changes in music and musical instruments? a. Explain the advantages of modern flutes over primitive flutes. b. Listen to recordings by Boyz to Men and Ladysmith Black Manbazo. Discuss how the music is made and reasons for the method of music-making. c. Look at pictures of musicians in Medieval times and Renaissance times. (Reproductions of paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago) What was life like in those days? Who made music? Compare with pictures of today -- symphony orchestras, rock groups, for example. d. Compare musical styles with corresponding art styles through history. 4. Creating new music and new instruments. a. Create a new instrument using materials found at home. Try out different ways of playing it. Add on parts. b. Create a new scale. Make a composition using your new scale. 1. To make a new scale, use the CD ROM Making Music. Make a composition using your new scale. 2. Make a new scale using a xylophone. Take off some bars to make the scale. Create a melody with the notes that are left on the xylophone. For example, remove the "e" and "b" bars. c. Create music with voices only. Use singing sounds or other vocal sounds, such as tongue clicks, buzzes and so on. Organize the sounds into a pattern. Add movements for each sound. e. Design an imaginary instrument. Plan how it will look and sound. f. Create music by using items found in a classroom: pencils, desks, walls, books and so on. Organize the sounds into a patten. g. Invite a local composer to visit your class to explain how he writes new music. 5. How has the development of technology changed the way people make music? a. Survey classmates about the ways they make music or listen to music. Survey parents and grandparents to discover the ways in which they made music when they were younger. Graph the results using a computer spreadsheet program. b. Interpret the survey: write a paragraph about the results of the survey. Explain how technology has changed the ways in which people make music. Tell which activities have increased and which have decreased. c. Invite a speaker who embraces the use of technology and music and who feels that technology enhances our ability to hear more music and to make music. d. Invite a speaker who feels that technology has caused a decrease in our ability to make our own music. e. After hearing the speakers, participate in a debate about the issue of technology and music. 6. Final Celebration Invite parents to see the following items: A display of models of musical instruments, past and present, made by students. A display of new music inventions by the students. Reader's Theater pieces about musical instruments performed by students. Large, colorful graphs of the results of the survey on how people make music today and what they did in the past. A time-line of musical inventions, posted in the hallway or on a classroom wall. A performance of one or more of the musical compositions of the class or of individuals. (Home-made instruments, vocal sound piece, envirnomental sound piece) A compilation of all writing done by students during the Music Invention Unit. Each family takes one home.   Resources Guest Speakers (local residents:) Violin maker Ancient instruments expert Piano tuner Brass instruments expert Local composer Field Trip: Recording Studio Additional Resources from the Internet: Free Song Data Library Whale Songs

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