Lesson Plan: Strings Family

Grade Level: 2nd Grade

Date: April 20, 2017

Central Focus for the learning segment: Introduction to Strings/ instruments of the
orchestra

Content Standard(s):

I can identify string instruments by sound

Learning Objectives associated with the content standards:

Identify the main string instruments: the violin, viola, cello, double bass and harp

Listen to sounds of the various string instruments.

Understand the variations in playing techniques of the strings

Explore the Internet for information on the strings family?

Daily Targets:

Identifying and recognize string instruments and string family sounds

Following directions

Instructional Resources and Materials to engage students in learning:

A Stringed instrument for demonstration (violin)

Student laptops including worksheet on the Stringed Instruments
SMARTBoard
Recordings of Stringed instruments/ Orchestra music

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks that support diverse student needs.

Visual: for the students who learn better visually, have an aid on the screen such as
pictures of each stringed instrument
Kinesthetic: movement will help students feel the difference between high and low
sounds in the stringed instruments
Students will pretend to hold/ play the stringed instruments
Maybe even hold the instruments the classroom has?
 Auditory: Listening examples will help auditory learners hear the difference between
each stringed instrument

Type of Student Assessments and what is being assessed:

Informal Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their ability to complete a stringed instrument worksheet

correctly. They will also be assessed informally on their participation based on a rubric
that includes categories such as previous knowledge (participation) and lack of
knowledge (level of engagement), behavior, etc.

Formal Assessment:
Test/ Quiz at the end of the unit?

Lesson Timeline (Process):

The teacher will have all of the students sit on the carpet area (in chairs if necessary)
in a semi-circle.
The teacher will then review with the students some of the characteristics of the string family
and show them pictures of each family member. The students will be asked to guess what
instruments they are. The teacher will then take out a stringed instrument (violin and uke) and
show the students its parts, how to hold it and play it using the bow. The teacher will also
describe the bows material and then will proceed to play a few notes on the violin for
them to hear the various pitches it makes. The teacher will then pluck the strings to
demonstrate a different playing technique.

Instrument Families

When we talk about musical instruments, we often talk about them as being part of a
family. That's because, just like in human families, the instruments in a particular
family are related to each other. They are often made of the same types of materials,
usually look similar to one another, and produce sound in comparable ways. Some
are larger and some are smaller, just as parents are bigger than children

The String Family

When you look at a string instrument, the first thing you'll probably notice is that it's
made of wood, so why is it called a string instrument? The bodies of the string
instruments, which are hollow inside to allow sound to vibrate within them, are made
of different kinds of wood, but the part of the instrument that makes the sound is the
strings, which are made of nylon, steel or sometimes gut. The strings are played most
often by drawing a bow across them. The handle of the bow is made of wood and the
 strings of the bow are actually horsehair from horses' tails! Sometimes the musicians
will use their fingers to pluck the strings, and occasionally they will turn the bow
upside down and play the strings with the wooden handle

The strings are the largest family of instruments in the orchestra and they come in four
sizes: the violin, which is the smallest, viola, cello, and the biggest, the double bass,
sometimes called the contrabass. (Bass is pronounced "base," as in "baseball.") The
smaller instruments, the violin and viola, make higher-pitched sounds, while the larger
cello and double bass produce low rich sounds. They are all similarly shaped, with
curvy wooden bodies and wooden necks. The strings stretch over the body and neck
and attach to small decorative heads, where they are tuned with small tuning pegs.

How do stringed instruments make a sound? (video)

After the demonstration, the teacher explains that the students are going to explore
the family of string instruments a little more using the Internet.
The teacher may then pass the instrument around for the students to see and after
doing so the students may go and boot up their portable laptops.
The teacher will then use the InFocus machine to lead the class in the Internet activity.
They are to go to the http://www.playmusic.org website and click on the boy playing
the tuba where it says Take a Seat in the Orchestra". Then they are to click on the
string section.
The students will read aloud the information they find on the string section as a class.
When finished, the students will complete a string worksheet by using the website to
find the answers. They are to then print their worksheets to turn in for assessment.
When they are finished, they may play the build the instrument" game or listen to the
excerpts of string Music using their headphones. Students may work in pars for the
completion of the worksheet as well.
As the students work, the teacher will have on a String Quartet CD for them to listen
to while they work

Opening video for class (playing as they walk in):

Talk about what students noticed in the video

How were they playing the instruments/
How many players?
Were they playing the same instrument?
What instruments?
What family?
How are they the same? How are they different?
Review different stringed instruments
Worksheet on the SMARTBoard
Have students come up and fill out the blanks
 Discussion about how stringed instruments make sound and how they are made
Video about how they are made
Play violin for them- if time?
Zin zin zin a violin or Meet the Orchestra