District/School Administration PK-16 Program Support Educational Technology
Technology Toolkit

Creating Music
Dighton-Rehoboth Reginal School District

Description of Activities

• On the first day of this three-day unit, the class worked in the computer lab. Groups of two or three students were given an assignment sheet with basic guidelines and reminders.
• The teacher demonstrated how to set up a piece of music (name of piece, name of composer, instrument-recorder, and time signature- 4/4) using the "Document Set-Up Wizard" and an overhead projector connected to one of the computers. Then the teacher created a two-measure piece of music based on student suggestions. Students chose the rhythm first and then chose where that rhythm would be played (B, A, or G).
• The students were instructed to create a four-measure piece of music using the strategies and techniques that the teacher demonstrated. The students began their assignment as the teacher traveled around the room and monitored their activities, giving help and advice.
• When students were finished, the teacher checked their work and made sure that each piece of music matched the assigned criteria. If it did, the teacher printed out the music. If it didn't, the teacher helped the students with the parts that needed to be edited and reminded the students that their piece of music had to be playable.
• On the second day the students brought their assignments and recorders to music class and worked with their partners. With a student piece from another class, the teacher demonstrated how to perform a new/unknown piece of music: clap the rhythm, say the note names out of rhythm, sing the note names in rhythm, and perform it on the recorder.
• Each group was given a xylophone to use in addition to their recorders, a clipboard for their music, and a pencil for editing. The teacher then separated the student groups throughout the room. As the students worked on the assignment, the teacher traveled around the room monitoring and giving help where it was needed or requested.
• Many students found that they wanted to make changes to their composition, and the teacher directed them to write in their changes in traditional or non-traditional notation. Those students who successfully completed the assignment had the opportunity to perform their music pieces for the class if they so chose.
• The students finished playing and editing in about fifteen minutes. After all the students were done, the teacher collected the revisions and discussed how the students could revise the music when they returned to the computer lab during the next class.
• On the third day the students returned to the computer lab and retrieved their assignments from the server. Then the teacher gave the students their edited versions from the previous class, and the students made changes in their pieces.
• Students who finished early were allowed to create a second piece of music using any instrument they chose.
• Once all of the students finished their revisions, the assignments were printed out and the class went to the music room for the students to perform their compositions.
• As a culminating activity, the teacher used an overhead projector attached to an iBook to project the music pieces onto a white board as the students performed them. Then the other students critiqued the pieces to help their classmates.

Universal Design/Inclusion
The guidelines that were given to the students allowed them to make their pieces of music as easy or as difficult as they wanted, provided that they could perform what they composed. This allowed the more proficient students to create challenging pieces and those students who were having difficulty to create pieces that they would be successful in performing. Even if two students with different abilities were paired together, they had the option of creating two different versions of their pieces.

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