Orchestra: A Day

Timberlane Middle School

Context/Setting/Grade Level(s)
7th Grade (full string orchestra) 7:52 - 8:40 Period 1

“Little Russian March” from Symphony No. 2 by P. Tchaikovsky (arr. Robert Longfield)
“Dance of the Tumblers” from Snow Maiden by N. Rimsky-Korsakoff (arr. Sandra Dackow)
“Intermezzo” from String Quartet No. 2, Op 13 by F. Mendelssohn (arr. Deborah Baker Monday)
New Jersey State Standards
1.3.8.B.2 Perform independently and in groups with expressive qualities appropriately aligned with the
stylistic characteristics of the genre.
1.3.8.B.3 Apply theoretical understanding of expressive and dynamic music terminology to the
performance of written scores in the grand staff.
Objectives
By the end of the marking period:
Students will be able to demonstrate the difference of staccato, spiccato, and legato bowing in “Dance of
the Tumblers” with a success rate of 80%.

By the end of class:

Students will be able to perform “Dance of the Tumblers” from beginning to end without a conductor.
Students will apply their understanding of dynamic contrast throughout passages of “Intermezzo” and
“Dance of the Tumblers.”
Students will be able to demonstrate expressive qualities, style, and dynamics in “Little Russian March.”

Students will demonstrate their ability to analyze, critique, and evaluate their personal and group
performances.
Students will be able to perform alone and in a group, a variety of music utilizing different elements of
music (Tone, Tempo, Dynamics, Melody, Harmony, Rhythm).

Materials
instruments, music stands, music binders, tuners, rosin

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Minutes Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks Informal Assessments
Tuning:
Students will use tuners to tune their instrument. During this time,
they will be responsible for setting their materials on their stand in
the order displayed on the board.

Bowing Warmup:
Teacher will conduct students in their daily open string exercise.
Teacher will point to the board and choose a variety of dynamics to
switch back and forth from. Halfway through their bowing warmup
a chosen student will take over and lead the dynamics.

Scales:
G Major Scale
 I play and students follow my dynamics
 Choose 2 students to lead the dynamics, in addition to
selecting a new articulation and tempo
C Major Scale
 Scale is played with spiccato 8th note bowing, arpeggio is
played with accented quarter notes

Dance of the Tumblers

 Play from the beginning to G
 Go back to the beginning and instruct students to only play
when they think that their part is the most important (Stop at
N)
 When students have demonstrated that they have a strong
grip on the written dynamics, return to the beginning and
have them run the piece without me conducting to see if they
can stay together and add dynamics
 Ask students to show me on their hand how they would rate
themselves: on a scale of 1-10 on how well they stayed
together, and 1-10 on their dynamic contrast

Scale:
A Major Scale
 Have students play and hold a G# and C#
 Play the scale in the rhythm of the first measure of the main
melody

Intermezzo
 Begin at measure 35 and play to measure 59
 Clean up notes in this section
 Jump to measure 80 and instruct students to pluck as loudly
as they can, and then as softly as they can

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  When students have mastered pizzicato at a pp level, return
to the beginning and have them focus on the dynamics from
1-35

Little Russian March

 Run this piece and upon finishing, ask students to identify 2
things that they personally did well, 2 things that the group
did well, and 1 thing that they want to focus working on next

Recap:
What did we do today?

Pack-up time (3-4 minutes early)

Formative Assessment
Class observation during rehearsal:
 I will look for correct posture, specifically of the right and left hand.
 I will listen and look at students’ fingering.
 I will stop conducting to assess if students are counting and listening to each other to stay
together as an ensemble.

Class discussion (student question and responses)

 1-10 rating scales to self-evaluate
 Discussion on what is excellent and what needs improvement

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Commentary:

Reflection on Teaching

In what ways did the lesson succeed in accomplishing the learning objectives?

In what ways did it fall short?

What changes would you make?

Why should these changes improve student learning?

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