Unit Plan 7 (Grade 5 Music): Expressive Rhythm

Focus: Use dynamics, tempo, and articulation to shape rhythmic patterns so they communicate a clear mood, character, or purpose, and explain how expressive choices affect interpretation.

Grade Level: 5

Subject Area: Music (General • Rhythm • Expression/Performing & Responding)

Total Unit Duration: 1 required session (core), plus up to 2 optional extension sessions; 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students discover how the same rhythm can feel completely different depending on dynamics (loud/soft), tempo (fast/slow), and articulation (smooth/detached). Through body percussion and classroom instruments, they experiment with performing short rhythm patterns in contrasting ways, then explain how their choices change the mood and meaning of the music. By the end, each student creates a brief Expressive Rhythm Performance + Explanation that shows intentional interpretive decisions and connects them to expressive intent.

Essential Questions

• How can dynamics, tempo, and articulation change the way a rhythm feels to the listener?
• What does it mean to make an interpretive decision when you perform a rhythm?
• How can we explain, using music vocabulary, how expressive choices reflect the intent or story of the music?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Identify and describe how dynamics, tempo, and articulation affect the feeling of a short rhythmic pattern (MU:Pr4.3.5a, MU:Re8.1.5a).
2. Perform a single rhythmic pattern in at least two contrasting expressive ways (e.g., quiet and smooth vs. loud and accented) and explain their interpretive decisions (MU:Pr4.3.5a).
3. Choose expressive qualities to match a given scenario or intent (e.g., “march,” “sneaky,” “celebration”) and perform a rhythm accordingly (MU:Pr4.3.5a).
4. Listen to classmates’ or recorded examples of expressive rhythms and explain how expressive qualities reflect their expressive intent (MU:Re8.1.5a).
5. Create a short Expressive Rhythm Performance + Explanation that clearly connects expressive choices to a specific emotion, character, or purpose (MU:Pr4.3.5a, MU:Re8.1.5a).

Standards Alignment — Grade 5 Music (NAfME-Aligned)

• MU:Pr4.3.5a — Explain how expressive intent is conveyed through interpretive decisions and expressive qualities such as dynamics, tempo, timbre, articulation, and style.
  • Example: Performing the same piece in contrasting styles and explaining the expressive differences.
• MU:Re8.1.5a — Explain how expressive qualities are used in performers’ and personal interpretations to reflect expressive intent.
  • Example: Comparing recordings to explain how tempo changes emotional impact.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can change how a rhythm feels by adjusting dynamics, tempo, and articulation.
• I can perform the same rhythm in two different expressive ways and explain what I changed.
• I can match my expressive choices (loud/soft, fast/slow, smooth/short) to a mood, character, or purpose for the music.
• I can listen to someone else’s performance and explain how their expressive choices show what they wanted the music to sound like.
• I can present an Expressive Rhythm Performance + Explanation that makes sense to my classmates.