Lesson Plan by Laurie Tretter

My students have lesson plans three times a week totaling 90 minutes and they have been playing for one school year. I love this lesson because I can recreate it and use it over again. There are a great many nursery rhymes that children are familiar with; therefore, I can choose one with simple rhythms, such as Wee Willie Winkie, or a more difficult rhythm or complex meter.

The children very much enjoyed creating their own piece. They took pride in their work be cause they were composers in the process.

Mrs. Mayrose's class decided on the title Teaminator because they felt like they had shown good character by working cooperatively as a team.

The inspiration for Mrs. Ross' class title, Dominoes, was the game by the same name. One student thought the piece sounded as if it were dominoes falling down.

We had a very extensive conversation about the piece using musical terminology. The most satisfying part came when the students were evaluating the lesson.

A student told me he would like to go home with the piece and rewrite it. But this time he was going to add an "E." I knew at that point I had touched that student with the power to create his own music. That sense of musical expression is the best gift I could give.

Download PDFs of the lesson plan and sheet music.

Lesson plan

Teaminator

Dominoes

Download MIDIs
(sound only)
of the compositions.

Teaminator

Dominoes