Music 5
Historical and Cultural

identify distinguishing features of music from a range of historical and cultural contexts
compare a variety of purposes for creating music
demonstrate respect for music from various historical and cultural contexts

Using a mentoring approach, have students investigate music from a range of cultural or historical contexts. Ask them to report their findings to the class, then have the class create a timeline to compare and contrast the contexts of the music presented.
Bring in and have students bring in examples of Canadian music. As a class, create a wall map to illustrate where each song or performer originated. Discuss as a class: What is Canadian music? As an extension, ask students to investigate definitions of Canadian music cited by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) and the CMC (Canadian Music Centre). Ask students: How do these compare to the class definition?
Before and after students attend a cultural music event, have them complete guided response sheets, focussing on topics such as the type of music and their personal reactions to the event.
Invite students to suggest some fictional TV show titles. Then form groups and ask each group to compose and perform the opening music or theme song for one of the titles. Encourage groups to incorporate drama, movement, visual arts, or video when they perform their pieces.
Have students work in groups to create game shows or board games that ask questions about composers and their works or about cultural and historical music facts. Students can play their games with another Grade 5 class.

Review the guided response sheets that students completed before and after attending a music event. Note the extent to which students:
- are open to music that may not be part of their previous experience
- are interested in and curious about diverse music experiences
- make predictions about the music they will hear
- record and elaborate on their responses
- show respect for the music they experience
- comment on how their predictions about music were confirmed or changed
As groups work on their board games, ask each to invite at least two people to play and provide review comments. These review comments could form part of the self-evaluations they submit along with the games to demonstrate their knowledge of music. The self-evaluations might include comments such as:
- Three ways that show we have learned a lot about music are ---------- .
- The most challenging part of gathering information to develop our game was ---------- .
- People who have played our game said ---------- .
To assess students' knowledge of music from different cultural or historical contexts, have them prepare charts using the following outline questions:
- What is the music?
- Where do you hear it?
- Why was the music written?
- Who composed the music? Who performed it?
- When was the music written? When is it performed?
- What special features do you notice in the music?