Level 5: Changing the "Feel" of Music

PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT

Key teaching and learning concepts

Making an arrangement:

• Changing the feel, style or underlying harmony – using the elements of music an altered effect can be created so that they make a different cohesive overall sound eg a different tempo, a new rhythm drive or altered accents, different harmonies, new phrasing.
  
  
• Adding another part – add in a descant or counter-melody, bass line ostinato/riff, guitar chords, or drum beat. Provide a canon (round) effect by starting the melody later and overlapping with the original.

Prior learning

Students need to have:

• listened to, sung, and played a wide range of music from different styles/ traditions, particularly new versions of existing pieces;
  
  
• appropriate level of performance on an instrument/ voice/ sound-source;
  
  
• prior performance experience in front of an audience.

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Suggested learning outcomes

The students will:

• create an original arrangement/version of a piece of music showing change in feel or style through the manipulation of selected elements and features of music (DI);
  
  
• Rehearse and present a performance of the arrangement (CI);
  
  
• Evaluate performances of own and others' arrangements (CI).

Ideas for activities

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• Listen to audio examples of existing pieces of music, originals and arrangements, that show change in style and in various eras e.g., Hallelujah Chorus (many contemporary versions), Summertime, Fur Elise, Swinging Fur Elise, E Papa (Herbs) from the original in the triple metre (3 beats in a bar) to Herbs version in 4.
  
  
• Ask students to find their own examples of songs that have been re-done/ remixed and have them present these to the class getting their opinion on the effects of the changes.
  
  
• Listen to five examples of pieces that have been adapted in some respect. Match these up with cards detailing each particular aspect that has been changed, e.g., the rhumba version of Fur Elise shows tempo change, as well as style/ feel and timbre.
  
  
• Listen to Pachelbel's Canon and compare this with the Coolio version. Do a class survey of which version is preferred and the effects of changes made, such as timbre, addition of lyrics, style difference etc.
  
  
• Listen to existing songs on tape/ CD and then attempt to play them back from memory. Encourage differences in play-back and own touches of flair in performance, i.e., added notes in the melody, different rhythms, a changed chord.
  
  
• Try some of these well-known pieces as examples to practise changes with:
  • Pachebel's Canon and reworking it in rap;
  • Saint-Saens Organ Concerto used for "Babe" movie pop title track;
  • Marley's 3 Little Birds, or No Woman No Cry and changing metre from 4 to 3, or changing the accent from reggae offbeat to a basic rock by accenting beats 2 and 4;
  • Pokarekare Ana with different harmonies.
  
  
• Using the national anthem, experiment with changing the metre and tempo. This could first be done as a word-setting exercise using 3–4 as a new time signature. Create a new introduction or ending for the song, using the existing chord progression or create a different bridge section in a completely new key.
  
  
• Learn a simple Beatles song that uses only 3–4 chords and has a simple melody. Freely improvise a harmony part along with part of the song, either by singing or playing an instrument.
  
  
• Take a simple 12-bar blues progression and experiment with major/minor blues and effects such as added 7th chords. Investigate ways to get from one key to another on each repetition of the 12-bar progression, through the use of a pivot chord (chord that belongs to both the old key and the new one) or suitable cadence
  
  
• Each group of students to perform their adapted versions of chosen songs to the rest of the group, who will use a set of criteria to evaluate the changed performances.

Ideas for assessment

Formative

Teachers need to re-focus responses and activities through self-review and questioning. Throughout this process ask:

• How effectively are the students experimenting with changing aspects of the piece, such as metre/ key/ tempo/ dynamics/ mood?
  
  
• Do the students understand differences between the original piece and their changed piece?
  
  
• Are the students experimenting with how to add another part to an existing piece?
  
  
• How adequately are the students preparing for their performance, so that the new version can be performed well and evaluated for its effectiveness?

Assessment approaches

Assessment task:

• Teacher, self, and peer assess the overall effectiveness of the arrangement in relation to the reworking of musical elements and features.
  
  
• Peer-assess each others' performance in terms of preparation, presentation, and confidence.

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