Anneliese Land

Improvisation, Take the A Train

Friday, February 17, 2017

Standards Addressed
Tennessee State Standards
o Standard 2.0: Students will perform on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
o 2.2.3 Employ characteristic tone within a group/individual performance as appropriate to selected
instrumental genres.
o 2.4.3 Produce and perform appropriate pitch, intonation and rhythm in various music genres

o Standard 3.0: Students will improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

o 3.1.1 Apply fundamental concepts of improvisation using a given melody and/or rhythm pattern
o 3.1.2 Perform an improvisation of a melody using given rhythms over teacher-selected chords.

o Standard 7.0: Students will evaluate music and music performances.

o 7.2.3 Use student-developed criteria to evaluate a live or recorded musical performance.

Learning Objectives
Objective
o Students will be able to identify, spell, and
perform various jazz chords based on chord
symbols.
o Examples: C7, Cmaj7, C6, C9
o Students will be able to create a guidetone line for
Take the A Train based on the spellings of the
chords.
Assessment
o Submitted: written assessment (see attached)
o Performance as a group of chord members
o (criteria: participation, attention,
worksheet completion, playing
accurate notes according to
worksheet)
o Participation in class discussion
o Submitted: written assessment (see attached)
o (criteria: participation, attention,
response to teacher correction)

o Students will be able to perform their created
guidetone line on a predetermined rhythm, in
context of Take the A Train with rhythm
section.
o Students will be able to listen and evaluate
recordings of Take the A Train, performed by
Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.
o Individual performance of guidetone line
with rhythm section
o (criteria: participation, accurate notes
according to worksheet)
o Participation in class discussion
o (criteria: participation, attention,
active listening, response to teacher
prompts)

o Students will be able to compare and contrast the o Participation in class discussion
improvisation style of Duke Ellington and Ella o (criteria: participation, attention,
Fitzgerald in their recordings of Take the A active listening, response to teacher
Train. prompts)

Assessments

o The assessments for this learning segment are a mixture of formative and summative, formal and
informal.
o Informal:
Group performance on instruments of chords (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th with rhythm section)
Individual performance on instruments of written guidetone lines with rhythm section
Class discussion question and answer prompts
o Formal:
Written worksheet, both chord spellings and guidetone line
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks (Procedures & Timelines)
Time Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks
1. Warm Up: Perform Take the A Train Purpose

5 minutes Students perform Take the A Train as written. Upon arrival at the solo section, students
listen to rhythm section play the chord changes. Teacher demonstrates playing over the
changes with each chord member, as well as performing a guide tone line over the changes.
2. Spell Chords and Perform
a. Teacher reviews chord symbols and introduces Cmaj7.
i. all other chord symbols have been seen in previous improvisation lessons
10 minutes b. Students receive worksheets and spell out each chord
i. Teacher walks around to support students
c. Students perform different chord members (roots, 3rds, 5ths , 7ths) as group
i. With rhythm section, on a rhythm of their choosing
3. Write Guidetone Lines and Perform
a. Teacher reviews procedures for guidetone lines
i. Students have written guidetone lines in previous improvisation lessons
20 minutes b. Students write lines on worksheets
i. Teacher walks around to support students
c. Students perform guidetone lines on predetermined rhythm, individually
With rhythm section
4. Listen and Evaluate Recordings

10 minutes Teacher prefaces each recording with description of context and artist. Students listen to
recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington performing Take the A Train. Guided by
teacher prompts, students evaluate and compare improvisation style of artists in discussion.
Materials and Resources
Instructional Resources
Worksheet (attached)
Speaker
Trombone
Whiteboard
Dry erase marker
Student Materials
Instrument
Music stand
Pencil
Essential Elements for Jazz Band