Unit Plan 28 (Grade 4 Music): Sound & Scene Creation
Grade 4 music unit where students create and perform scene-inspired music, using rhythm, melody, and harmony to express mood and explain creative choices.
Focus: Create music inspired by images, scenes, or stories using rhythmic, melodic, and simple harmonic ideas, then present a polished version that clearly matches an expressive intent.
Grade Level: 4
Subject Area: Music (General Music • Creating • Performing • Responding • Connecting)
Total Unit Duration: 1–3 sessions (one 50–60 minute class required; two additional optional sessions for extension)
I. Introduction
Students explore how music can bring scenes and stories to life. Starting from images (photographs, illustrations) or short story excerpts, they experiment with rhythms, melodies, and harmonic supports (such as drones or simple chord patterns) to match a mood, character, or event. By the end of the unit, each student or small group presents a short musical idea (or mini-piece) and explains how their musical choices communicate what is happening in the scene.
Essential Questions
- How can rhythm, melody, and harmony help tell a story or show what a scene feels like?
- What decisions do musicians make to match mood, character, or action in music?
- How can I explain the connection between my musical ideas and the picture, story, or scene that inspired them?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Improvise short rhythmic and melodic ideas that match a given image, scene, or story prompt.
- Select and refine musical ideas (rhythms, melodic fragments, simple harmonic supports) to create a short soundtrack for a scene.
- Present a final version of their created music that clearly shows an expressive intent (e.g., calm, exciting, spooky, joyful).
- Explain, in simple language, how their musical choices (tempo, dynamics, high/low pitches, steady vs. jagged rhythms) connect to the purpose and context of the scene or story.
Standards Alignment — Grade 4 Music (NAfME-Aligned)
- MU:Cr1.1.4a Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas and explain how they connect to a specific purpose and context (such as social or cultural). Example: Creating an improvised accompaniment for a story scene and explaining how tempo and harmony set the mood.
- MU:Cr3.2.4a Present the final version of personal created music for others and explain how it connects to expressive intent. Example: Performing a finished composition and explaining how musical choices communicate emotion.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can create rhythms and melodies that match the mood or action of a picture, scene, or story.
- I can choose and organize my best musical ideas into a short “soundtrack” for a scene.
- I can perform my created music with a clear beginning and ending.
- I can explain how my choices (tempo, dynamics, high/low notes, smooth/choppy rhythms) match what is happening in the image or story.