2) Tell the students that they will be conducting their own experiments on a research question of their choosing. They will also choose the music samples (these may be from their own collection of music, for example on an mp3 player, or from online sources – see the “websites” section of this lesson plan for examples of free streaming music samples. They can make their own recordings by playing selections themselves). The subjects may be other students in the class, or alternatively might be students in a peer class, or younger students (if this has been arranged).

3) Remind the students that their research question should in some way relate to the feelings evoked by changes in different elements of music. For example, their question might be:
a) Do first-graders think minor chords sound more “sad” than major chords?
b) Do students in our class associate music that has a faster tempo with happier mood?
c) Do eighth-grade students think “Amazing Grace” sounds more solemn when played on an oboe or on a violin?

4) Allow the students some in-class and homework time to devise their research question and select their sample sounds. Make sure to help them come up with a question and procedure that is testable (while this experiment may not control all variables, the sound samples should still be somewhat similar, in order to reduce confounding variables).

5) Prior to collecting data, have students submit their Research Question, Hypothesis, Materials and Procedure for teacher approval. Once approved, the students should schedule time to conduct their experiments and collect data.

6) Have each student group analyze the data and write up the Results of the experiment (remind them that the Results can include things the students would do differently if they were to run the experiment again). Each group should orally report their Results to the class.

2) Distribute a “Music Experiment Writeup” organizer (RTF) (PDF) and a “Music Response Survey” (RTF) (PDF) organizer to each student.

3) Pick one of the adjectives the class came up with to describe a chord you played earlier. Have the class write down a research question using this information (something like “which chord does our class think is the most wistful?”). Lead them through the steps of filling out the organizer through the “procedure” section (the subjects will be the individuals in the class, the sound samples will be three chords of your choosing, including the one described earlier by the adjective, and the procedure will be that students will listen to three chords and rank them from 1 to 5 on how “adjective” they sound). The students should also fill out the pertinent information on the Survey Template Organizer.

4) Play the chords for the students (being careful not to let the students know which one you’re playing when) and have them mark their responses on the Survey Template Organizer.

5) Collectively, analyze the results, finding a numerical class average for each of the three chords.

2) PLAY the video segment and then FOLLOW UP by asking students to explain the experiment (the scientist traveled to a remote village where inhabitants had no experience of Western music. They played piano pieces for the villagers, who ranked them as “happy,” “sad,” or “scary” by pointing to faces expressing these emotions). You may want to note for the students the similarity between this experiment and the exercise the students did in the Introductory Activity – but while the class used smiley face representations of the emotions, the images used in the Cameroon experiment were photographs of a woman expressing sadness, happiness, and fear. These exact photographs are often used in experiments like these – they are called “Ekman faces” after the scientist who first used them, and have been tested to make sure they are accurately understood by people in all parts of the world.

3) Ask the students what the result of the experiment seemed to be? (The villagers’ opinions of the musical pieces were very much in line with the opinions of Westerners about which music was “happy,” “sad,” and “scary.”) You may note the additional information that while in this experiment the Cameroonian villagers’ reactions to music were in line with Western responses, other studies have not had the same result, leaving the “universality” of emotions in music very much up for debate.

4) Ask the students if they can describe the differences between the “happy,” “scary,” and “sad” music used in the Cameroon experiment using the basic elements of music? You may want to REPLAY the last 30 seconds of the video segment (starting after the researcher is showing marking X’s on a chart) so the students can listen for the differences. (The happy music is in a major key, takes a quick tempo and is in a steady, simple rhythm. The scary music has a lot of repeated chords and a more unpredictable rhythm. The sad music is in a slow tempo and a minor key).

Grade level: 5-8

Topic/Subject Matter: Music, Science

Time Allotment: Three 45-minute class periods, and additional in-class or out-of-class time to collect data for experiments in the Culminating Activity.

Overview: THE MUSIC INSTINCT showcases the research and discovery process of scientists whose work focuses on the interrelationship between music and science. Music is a topic that is very accessible and familiar to young people, and can be used as a medium for simple student-led experiments. In this lesson, students will learn about the elements of music and will design and conduct their own scientific experiments on how people respond to music, using examples from THE MUSIC INSTINCT as a guide. They will learn to determine a research question that can be tested in an experiment, will write a hypothesis, and will collect data using classmates, peers, or the community as their subjects.

In the Introductory Activity, students will begin by associating different chords with descriptive terms evoking the sounds’ feeling or mood. Then, they will view segments from the MUSIC INSTINCT program to explore the elements of music, learning how differences in the basic building blocks of music (pitch, rhythm, tempo, timbre, melody, and harmony) can lead to the differences in expression and feeling that we come to associate with different musical styles through experience. These elements are also the simple variables that can form the basis of scientific experiments to test how people respond to music and sound. In the Learning Activity, the students will be led through a model experiment in the classroom, testing the class’ response to different chords and learning about the process of the scientific method as they do.

As a Culminating Activity, groups of students will design and conduct their own experiments testing people’s responses to music. After collecting their data, students will report their findings to the class.

While this lesson can be used to deepen student understanding of the scientific method on the one hand, and the elements of music on the other, students should have a basic understanding of these concepts prior to embarking on this lesson.

KEY MUSIC VOCABULARY:
Pitch = high/low
Tempo = fast/slow
Timbre = characteristic quality of an instrument or voice
Interval = distance between two notes
Chord = combination of three or more notes
Melody = tune
Harmony = chords, like major/minor
Rhythm = pattern of beats