Title

MacArthur December Orchestra Concert

Subject

Orchestra

Grade Level

9th - 12th grade

Creator

Pruter, Lauren laurenpruter@gmail.com

Essential Question

How do musicians program repertoire for concerts?

How can we select music for our concert that is engaging for the audience,
represents diverse cultures, challenges us with a variety of string styles, and is
grade level appropriate? After selection, how can we share our learned
knowledge with a broader community?

Goal

Students will select repertoire for their concert.

Students will share their experience by writing thoughtful reviews.

Standards Used
Illinois Fine Arts

27.A.2a Identify and describe the relationship between the arts and various
environments (e.g., home, school, workplace, theatre, gallery).
27.B.3 Know and describe how artists and their works shape culture and
increase understanding of societies, past and present.
26.B.4c Music:
Create and perform music of challenging complexity and length with
expression.
26.A.3dMusic: Read and interpret traditional music notation in a varied
repertoire.
25.B.4 Analyze and evaluate similar and distinctive characteristics of works in
two or more of the arts that share the same historical period or societal
context.

Standards Used Illinois

Social/Emotional
Learning

3C.4b.
Plan, implement, and evaluate ones participation in a group effort to contribute to
ones local community.
3C.4a. Plan, implement, and evaluate ones participation in activities and
organizations that improve school climate.
2B.4b. Demonstrate respect for individuals from different social and cultural
groups.
2C.4b. Evaluate ones contribution in groups as a member and leader.

Prerequisite kills

My students may have never selected repertoire for their

performances before. There are about 6 different middle schools they
may have attended last year, and a broad range of music they may
have performed. Most likely their teacher had selected repertoire for
them to perform. Many might not know where they can go to find
music they can select and purchase or print for free. Having this skill
will mean they can continue to play and grow as a musician beyond
high school.

Students have performed a broad range of pieces with their previous

orchestra director.
OBJECTIVE

Materials and
Resources

Differentiated Instruction

Students will select pieces based on research through

publishing companies, public domain sites, reviews, texts, and
networking.
Students will choose pieces that reflect a broad range of
history, styles, and composers.
Students will post a review reflecting the reason the piece was
chosen and how their experience in the classroom was.

Laptops with wifi connection

Schools Music Library
Previous programs from Macarthur or other high schools
Other teachers in the district
Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra text
Essential Elements glossary
Students knowledge of music from their culture
Google classroom
IMSLP.com
Student created website

Teacher circulates the room to assist students in their research.

Students are assigned different pieces to look for, ex. Pieces
with solos, drumset, quartets

Engagement Launch

Students had just wrapped up their concert from the previous night.
They are excited to start getting ready for their next performance.
They will be performing alongside the choir members. Some of them
will play with a choir for the first time.

Day One

Students will explore the string orchestra library. As I explain how the
library is organized, students will put away the notation from our
previous concert and explore what is in the shelves. Each student is
assigned the task of pulling one piece that they are interested in
performing. They should flip through the piece and examine the grade
level and ease of reading.
Their assignment for the evening is to explore jwpepper.com and
listen to some of the pieces available for download or purchase.
Students are expected to find at least one piece they would be

interested in performing and post the link to google classroom.

Day Two

Students will have in class discussion about what goes into program
selection. Students will examine the list on google classroom and
browse their peers selections.
Students will be divided into groups.
GROUP 1: Select two baroque/classical piece
GROUP 2: Select two non religious pieces for performance with choir
GROUP 3: Select two christmas pieces
GROUP 4: Select two pop pieces
GROUP 5: Select two piece with a bowing or technique we have not
used
GROUP 6: Select two pieces written by a woman or minority
GROUP 7: Select two pieces in the style of a non western culture
Students will research their pieces by going on youtube and watching
other schools performances of their chosen pieces. Students will read
reviews from other musicians and teachers on jwpepper.com.
Students will post their final group selections to google classroom.
Students will comment on their peers selections and comment why
they feel that piece best fits the December concert program.

Day 3 (takes place

weeks later)

Students will work in their same groups to research their chosen

piece. They will prepare program notes for their upcoming concert.
Students must include historical background, why this piece was
selected, skills worked on in class, any student soloists, and what the
audience should pay attention to.
Students will post their program notes to google classroom. Their
final program notes will be added to the facebook announcement for
their upcoming concert.

Day 4 (after concert)

Students will go to jwpepper.com and post a review to the piece they

had selected with their group. Review must include: reason piece was
selected, grade level of students performing, audience reception, and
difficulty in learning the parts. Students reviews should be between
100-150 words and include no errors in spelling or grammar. Only
one member from the group is required to post.

Assessment

Students be evaluated on whether or not their selected piece fit the

guidelines of the assignment. Did they make thoughtful a constructive
comments. Did they think about how their selections would fit in with

the whole concert? Did they utilize resources (online, school library,
reviews, contacts in district?)
Student reviews will be assessed on whether they met the criteria for
the review. All aspects of the review must be included.
Expansion

A wrap up of the project will be posted on google classroom. Students

will comment on their experience in selecting repertoire. Students
should ask, why was it easy or difficult to find a piece for my group?
Did anything surprise them during their search?

Teacher Notes

Students will notice that it is difficult to find music written by women

or minorities. Most large publishing companies will tend towards
safe, selections that include only white male composers.
Most students in the district I teach in will pick Christmas music at
first. I will remind them that not everyone in the class celebrates those
holidays and it is important to include music from other cultures.
Students will explore resources on IMSLP as well. This is the
wikipedia of shared music. Public domain music is shared here.
Students will be advised to read through notation on here carefully, as
it may not be edited with student consumption in mind.
Students are encouraged to post reviews as it will allow people to gain
shared knowledge from their experience. Students and teachers in
schools across the country can learn from our experience performing
the piece and base their programming decisions off of our experience.