Music in Film Lesson Plan

Standards:

#9 – Understanding music in relation to history and culture Achievement Stanard:

• The students identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and cultures

#8 - Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside of the arts Achievement Standard:

• Students compare in two or more arts how the characteristic materials of each art (that is, sound in music, visual stimuli in visual arts, movement in dance, human interrelationships in theatre) can be used to transform similar events, scenes, emotions, or ideas into works of art.

#6 - Listening to, analyzing, and describing music Achievement Standard:

Students demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and

harmonic progressions in their analyses of music

Lesson Goal: Students will create ideas that link emotions created by music in movies to basic principles of music such as meter, rhythm, and dynamic change.

Lesson Objective: Given an music audio clip from a movie students will create a movie scene using concepts learned in class with 80% participation. Materials:HO with directions of activityGraphic organizersMP3 Players with headphonesLaptop with speakersBig pieces of paper with writing/drawing supplies Guarded Vocabulary:GenreMotif Introduction 1 min

Introduce selves, maybe say what our favorite movie is and why we like it, (say something about the music in the movie).

Anticipatory set 3 min.

The TIE fighter fight from A New Hope, but the music will be the cancan from Orfeus in the Underworld.

A commonly well known movie clip will be played without the music and with music that

was not originally attached to the clip. Students will be asked to relate how they feel about the clip without the music being played. Then they will be asked how they felt when different music was being played. Time will be allowed for a short class discussion. Does it change the mood? Does it change your view of the clip? What if different music were played during the clip?

Instruction 5 min.

Talk about music silent movies then move through classic movies into modern movies. Show pictures of an old movie theater, talk about the live music with pianos and orchestras. Mention the first picture with sound, and the first picture with talking in it. Move on to discuss more modern movies. We will define the word genre, "A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like." (Dictionary.com)We will discuss the four types of movie genres that will be used in the lesson as well as provide music examples for each (listed below).Action/adventure (V for Vendetta--1812)Horror (The Shining--threnody for the victims of hiroshima)Comedy (Chicago--Razzle Dazzle) Fantasy/Sci-fi (Prisoner of Azkaban--Buckbeak's flight)

Activity

15 Min for writing/drawing/action wording

10 min. to share work with class

Give each group a genre for their short play to illustrate. Have students create list of action words to go with each genre here are some sample words:

Action/adventure (Pirates--Barbossa is Hungry!) (V for Vendetta--1812) Explosions Speed Horror (Jaws--Duh-DUH!) (The Shining--threnody for the victims of hiroshima) Scary Thriller

Comedy (Looney Tunes--the rabbit of seville) (Chicago--Razzle Dazzle) Funny Light-hearted

Fantasy/Sci-fi (LOTR--that one song I can't think of the name) (Prisoner of Azkaban--Buckbeak's flight) Whimsical Epic

After action words have been created give students an HO with directions and the option to either create a skit, create a story, or create an artwork that describes the scene going on in the music.

Closer 5 min

• Link lesson back to everyday life. Maybe leave students with a HOTS question to think about.

HOTS questions:What will film music be like in the future, based on history/current trends?How does the music help create meaning in the film?What is it about the music that makes it so memorable/timeless?