Let's jazz

2º Educación Musical |
Let´s Jazz |
Teaching Unit |
|
Xián Herrera Lanzós & Sonsoles Martínez Jiménez |
01/01/2010 |

Teaching Unit presentation for the subject “Idioma estranxeiro e a súa didáctica”. |

INTRODUCTION
This didactic unit is intended to be carried out with students belonging to the 6th form of Primary Education in Spain (11-12 years of age). Its main purpose is toexpand pupils' knowledge about this kind of music, one of the foundations of contemporary music, so that they face it with a more open mind than usual. Our working method is based on a practical approach and on audition analysis until the pupils systematize the knowledge they have acquired.
DIDACTIC AIMS
1. To get to know jazz music and the different styles covered by the term.
2. To valuethe importance of the influence this style had on contemporary music.
3. To develop a critical spirit in view of the wide variety of musical styles we are offered nowadays.
4. To improve pupils' creativity, improvisation, aural skills and their rhythmic and melodic senses.
CONTENTS
Concepts | Jazz music: origin, evolution and features. |
Procedures | Gathering of data using ICTs andother documentary sources.Hearing exercises and performances of characteristic music pieces and dances of this style. |
Attitudes | To watch and hear fellow classmates' performances with respect.To accept music styles, bands and interpreters that are not among our personal interests. |
ACTIVITIES
The students are encouraged to make a press digest gathering novelties regarding jazz (concerts,published albums, awards, TV shows, etc.).
First session. Unit presentation and task distribution about the press digest. Jazz music. Origins of jazz music. Song performances and movement, and body percussion games. Hearing and performances with Orff instruments.
Second session. Jazz in the first half of the XXth century. Hearing. Performances.
Third session. Jazz from the 50s up to the present.Hearing and performances with Orff instruments.
Fourth session. The merging of jazz with other styles. Hearing.
Fifth session. Interpretation of the pieces of music that have been studied in the unit.
Sixth session. Assessment and presentation of the press digests on musical news.
ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
* Systematic observation of the activities being carried out in the classroom.
*Monitoring pupils' efforts and evaluation of the final results.
* Notebook checks.
* Written test.
* Self-assessment.

Session 1. Sonsoles
Pupils must wear comfortable clothes. As they enter the classroom (the floor is made of wood) they will take off their shoes. Seats will be arranged in a U shape (in horse shoe) leaving a big empty space in the middle.

Presentation (10 min.)* Brain storming about Jazz.
* Hearing exercise (Caravan, Duke Ellington). Pupils leave their seats in order to dance like “a caravan”, the teacher will be the guide and they have to follow her in line, in silence, listening and feeling the music.
* Group comment (How did you feel?, Could you name at least two instruments you could recognize? Which word would you use to describe therhythm of this song?)

Description of the press digest task (5 min.)
During the 6 weeks the unit lasts, students may find and select press clippings about jazz and blues and stick them onto their exercise notebook (minimum 3 – maximum 6 clippings).

Concepts (10 min.)
Jazz is a musical style originated in the first ages of the XXth century in the South of the USA. Though jazz rose at first in thefields and rural areas of the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans soon became the center of this way of living and doing music. Jazz is the culmination of the fusion of many different influences:
* Music and traditions of African slaves, working in cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta.
* Music and traditions of European colonists living in that area.
There are several items that make Jazz...