TED467 Spring 2015

Dr. Barbara Doten, Ph. D

Standards Review
By Marcus Gerakos

The central focus of our learning segment is to teach my students the guitar countermelody,
bass line, and rhythm guitar part from the classic Motown hit My Girl by The Temptations. I
will provide the arrangement as a three-part score for guitars. The musical skills learned through
the study of American rhythm-and-blues, its musical characteristics, its roots in gospel and
African tribal music, and its influence on popular culture, can provide the student with invaluable
firsthand knowledge and insight into the art of collective music-making. Rhythm and blues is a
wellspring of musical lessons in its rhythms, its unique melodic language, and its impact on the
development of popular music through the generations. This unit addresses the teaching standard
of aesthetic valuing and that students be able to understand music in historical and cultural
context.

When students gain hands-on knowledge of the great Motown recordings were structured,
what each instruments function is, they understand some basic truths about music-making. They
understand that the groove, so essential to popular music of cultures around the world, is founded
on the interdependence of rhythms and instruments in real time. Students also learn an important
life lesson: that we are interdependent and the sooner they learn to work harmoniously with
others, the better off theyll be.

The more students learn about the craft of becoming a fine musicianbeing able to play in
time and in tune, knowing their fretboard, understanding harmony as it relates to the guitar,
developing a strong foundation in their technique, playing music from various genres and time
periodsthe better they will be able to express themselves creatively. As a professional musician
for the past twenty-five years, I can attest to this: the musician finds freedom in discipline. This
is why a strong foundation in the basic building blocks of music is absolutely essential. Once this
essential foundation is established, students have the freedom to explore their creativity to the
fullest.

This unit will span four days and will combine the students prior knowledge of reading
rhythms, harmonies, and assessing overall musical form as we work toward the goal of being
able to play the three-part arrangement as a class. As a preliminary assessment Ill play the guitar

countermelody to My Girl and ask the class if they can name the song it comes from. Ill then
present the score to the students and well clap out the rhythms to all three parts. As an
engagement activity Ill ask the students specific questions about each part that will call their
attention to specific aspects of the rhythms: Do you hear the syncopation in this part? Which
beats are being left out in this part? Which beats are being accentuated? This will be our
frontloading segment before tackling each individual part on the guitars. In addition, this can
serve as my informal assessment of their understanding of the individual rhythms of each part.
This process also will serve to reinforce their prior knowledge and command of basic rhythms.

My learning objectives for this teaching segment are that every student will be able to look at
the score on paper and be able to understand and play at least one part of the three-part
arrangement with a sense of creative expression. Our collective goal as a class will be to create a
groove as we play through the arrangement--a steady intertwining of notes and rhythms played
with an authentic feel for the tempothat together our creative expression creates a pleasing
group effort. This will address the Creative Expression standardperforming on an instrument
in a small ensemble as well as the Artistic Interpretation standardsight-read music accurately
and expressively. It is my hope that my most advanced students will be able to play any of the
three parts and thus will be able to lead small groups to help the struggling students. This will
help to engage my ELL and IEP students by providing direct examples of how each part is
played.

I prefer to have students choose their favorite parts to play. I teach them all the parts to an
arrangement and then let them choose the part they want to play as we plan for live performance.
Students who struggle with the more complex parts are encouraged to start with the easier parts
until they are mastered; this is a natural and effective way of scaffolding the lesson so that
students can choose between parts that are easy and parts that are more complex. Because the
students are choosing their own parts, they dont sense the scaffolding effect and dont feel as
self-conscious about it. I reaffirm the class by telling them that every par

My goal in this four-day unit is to teach students the three individual parts that comprise my
guitar arrangement of My Girl plus the vocal part, which I will teach to the class as well. My
hope is that our three groups will be able to play the arrangement in time and with an authentic
sense of groove.