Music 2 to 3
Structure - Elements of Melody

Provide notated examples of melodies from classroom repertoire and invite students to sing the songs while tracking the melodies. Guide them in discovering the relationship between the highs and lows in standard notation and the same highs and lows in the pitches. Students then draw the melodic contours of the melodies.
Using known repertoire or improvised sounds, provide opportunities for individual response through question-and-answer, call-and-response, or verse-and-chorus songs. Ask students to suggest other songs that use these forms.
Choose a simple song or poem and have students create a melodic ostinato pattern to accompany it (sung or played on classroom instruments).
Have students practise and play a variety of singing games that use repeated phrases or patterns. Ask students to work in groups to create symbols and words as notation to represent the repeated sections.
Select a known song and identify it as the A section. Invite students to work in groups or as a class to create a B section, using a movement sequence, melodic or rhythmic sequence, or poem. Ask them to identify what form (e.g., AB, ABA) could be used for a presentation.
As a class, learn a round or canon. Then have students work in groups to develop movement sequences to accompany the song, based on its form.
Play "Pass the Melody" (see Appendix F) with students to practise known melodies and to compose new ones.

When students have opportunities to respond individually (e.g., during call-and-response, question-and-answer, verse-and-chorus songs), note the amount of support they need in order to:
- participate with confidence
- recognize the appropriate response
- reproduce the appropriate melody
When students represent the repeated sections of singing games using symbols and words, look for evidence that they are able to:
- identify and reproduce changes in melodic direction
- recognize repeated melodic patterns
- recall the melodic patterns
- use their notation for support as they reproduce the song
Videotape students as they practise a variety of rounds or canons. Play the tape for the class and ask students to note whether they maintained their own parts. When watching the video and conferencing with students about their observations, note and comment on their abilities to:
- sing in tune
- maintain their own parts
- clearly sing all parts
- accurately self-assess
After students play "Pass the Melody," ask them to respond in their journals to prompts such as:
- Keeping track of the song in my head was ---------- .
- My first note was ---------- .
- Next time I will try to ---------- .