How to Teach Musical Literacy to Intermediate/Middle School Students

 I see it all the time in the classrooms I've been in. Students can give you a definition for forte, can label the symbol, and can raise their hand when they hear it. 

What can't they do? Use it in a sentence to describe music. 

"The song is very forte."

"The tempo gets faster until it's forte."

"The forte gets bigger."

We can interpret most of these to figure out what exactly the student means, but the goal would be to have them incorporate musical vocabulary into their musical discussions. 

I remember one time I was in a kindergarten room and the kids wowed me by using vertices correctly! Surely a grade 7 student can use forte correctly in a sentence.

One reason for the lack of musical literacy is the use of word searches, crosswords, fill in the blanks, colour by number, circle the answer type of work. These activities are easy for teachers--especially those without much music knowledge. The problem is, they're shallow. They don't ask much of the student. Low risk, low reward. Let's change that, and in the process, music class will be much more fun and engaging!

Song studies are a common activity. Students might be given a list of basic questions to answer, but often they don't need to respond in full sentences. That should change. Model using the language. Instead of telling the class they're getting too loud, try saying "Your volume has crescendo-ed and is now a forte. Please decrescendo down to a piano again."

Is it okay to add suffixes to words like that? I think so. Crescendo means to get louder. In order to change it to a past tense, you need an -ed....I don't even know what the Italian way of making it a past tense is. You could have said "I am hearing a crescendo in your voices" but sometimes you need a past tense.

I have two resources that encourage using sentences with musical language. 

The first one is a song analysis, but with a twist. Students don't get to choose their favourite song! Instead, they have to choose a song from the year they were born! Often these songs will be familiar to them, but they're often surprised when the song is from. You can provide a list, or have them get each song pre-approved by you. My resource "Analyze a Song From The Year You Were Born" comes with song lists for birth years 2011, 2012, and 2013. I'm currently working on the 2014 list. 

The blank line is for the year. 

Each page (3 sheets of paper, folded in half) has questions relating to one of the 6 Fundamental Elements of Music (as found in the Ontario Music Curriculum). The questions do not have the applicable grades noted. This is for a few reasons. It lets you choose which questions you want each grade to answer. If your grade 8s can only do up to the grade 5 level, they won't know they're only at a grade 5 level. If you have students with additional music experience, or finish early, they can go further down the questions. And lastly, it allows you to use the same resource for all your classes. 

The last page includes space for their summary. They should be taking their answers and forming a cohesive summary to describe the song and their opinion of it. This picture looks odd because the left side is a blank page which is the backside of the front cover.

Another resource I have is geared for grades 7 and 8, based on the Ontario Music Curriculum's Fundamental Elements of Music. It includes questions on Blues which is covered in grade 7.

This game, in Google Slides format, demands that the student "answers" the information given, with a question (like the game show Jeopardy). So if the chosen topic and value amount reveals this slide:

Students must answer "What is the form used in a Blues song?"  Clever!

This game could be played in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class. In a whole class setting, you can make 3 teams and students rotate through as contestants. This way, with a class list, you can give a simple check mark if they could answer. Have all contestants use a white board and write out their answer, and you'll be able to assess all three at once!

Both these resources are available individually, but also in a couple bundles. 

For either bundle, click on the picture to go right to the TPT listing.