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• Students will find folk influences in popular music.
  
• Students will recognize the use of folk melodies to create new and different music.
  
• Students will create and perform their own song based of a folk melody that they know.
  
• Students will gain an understanding of how music connects through different periods of history

2. Instrumental
4. Composition
5. Reading and Notation
6. Analysis
7. Evaluation
8. Music Connections
9. History and Culture

At this point, students have played many familiar melodies such as Mary had a Little Lamb, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Old Joe Clark, Perrot's Door, and much more. I will start the lesson by introducing them to my favorite composer, Bela Bartok.

I will give a brief introduction to Bela Bartok and his musical contributions. Bartok used folk melodies from the Romanian countryside in his music quite frequently. I will play examples of the original folk melodies and the pieces Bartok himself wrote based on these melodies. I will them instruct the class to find other composers, or popular artists who have used folk melodies the same way. I will play a popular example for them myself.

Activity #1: Introduce lesson and answer questions. Also provide examples that students may already know.
Notes: Have recordings ready of Bela Bartok and a popular artist.

Activity #2: Students may use google.com, wikipedia.org or any search engine or music site to explore sounds clips or find information about artists who play traditional folk music.
Notes: Have each student document each site they use.

Activity #3: Have students analyze the form and style the composer used to incorporate their folk melody. Also, have them save their sound clip to make a class CD of examples found. Also, they will fill out a sheet that asks them to compare and contrast the original piece to the present.
Notes: Students should know different forms such as round, and variation. Review terms before activity.

Activity #4: Students will then take a melody that they know and write it out on staff paper. Students must change some elements of the music in order to personalize it.
Notes: This part of the lesson will require the students take it home to work on it. Take note of what melody each student chooses.

Activity #5: Students perform their piece. For their classmates, and evaluate each other using a rubric.
Notes: Students will stand and play for their classroom peers. Performance will be graded on a rubric scale by the students and me.

By noticing and observing the connections folk music has with all other kinds of music, students will develop a greater appreciation and understanding of how music is written and composed. By creating their own piece and performing it, students will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the process many composers take while creating their music.

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