Grade level: 5-8

Topic/Subject Matter: Music

Time Allotment: Two to three 45-minute class periods

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 topic for simple experiments that students design. In this lesson, students will explore the ways in which humans create and respond to rhythm, using examples from THE MUSIC INSTINCT as a guide.

The lesson begins with a fun game that challenges students to maintain a steady rhythm. Students will then brainstorm ways in which rhythm is present in their body and the world around them. In the Learning Activities, students will view segments from the MUSIC INSTINCT program and examine ways that hospitals are using music and rhythm to help patients. Students will learn about synchronizing to music (moving in time to a beat) and reflect upon whether this is a uniquely human skill. Students will then view a clip of a cockatoo synchronizing to music. Students will then learn about syncopation and view a video segment illustrating a syncopated beat. Students will then explore an interactive where they try to identify syncopated and non-syncopated rhythms. The lesson ends with students experimenting with rhythm and creating their own syncopated and non-syncopated rhythms using their hands, feet, simple rhythm instruments and/or an online interactive featuring animal sounds.

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