Unit Plan 11 (Grade 5 Music): Major & Minor Tonality
Grade 5 music: create major/minor melodies, use dynamics/tempo/articulation, and explain how tonality shapes mood and meaning.
Focus: Generate melodic ideas in major and minor tonalities and explain how tonality and expressive qualities (dynamics, tempo, articulation) shape musical meaning and performance choices.
Grade Level: 5
Subject Area: Music (General • Melody • Tonality/Expression)
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 explore the sound worlds of major and minor tonality and how they affect the mood and meaning of music. Through guided listening, improvisation, and short melodic creation tasks, students generate original melodic ideas in both tonalities and consider how to perform them with expressive intent. They learn to describe how performers use expressive qualities like dynamics, tempo, and articulation together with tonality to communicate feelings such as joy, suspense, or sadness.
Essential Questions
- How do major and minor tonalities sound similar and different, and how do they affect the way music feels?
- How can we use major and minor tonalities to create melodic ideas that match a specific mood, story, or purpose?
- How do performers’ choices about dynamics, tempo, and articulation work with tonality to show expressive intent?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify and describe the sound and mood differences between major and minor tonality in short musical excerpts.
- Generate simple melodic ideas (short patterns or phrases) in major and minor that fit over a basic chord pattern or drone (MU:Cr1.1.5b).
- Choose expressive qualities (e.g., tempo, dynamics, articulation) to match the intent of their tonal melodies (MU:Cr1.1.5b, MU:Re8.1.5a).
- Compare at least two performances or versions of a melody (major vs. minor and/or different expressive choices) and explain how expressive qualities reflect expressive intent (MU:Re8.1.5a).
- Complete a Major/Minor Tonality Creation & Reflection Sheet that documents their melodic ideas and explains how tonality and expressive qualities communicate a chosen mood or purpose.
Standards Alignment — Grade 5 Music (NAfME-Aligned)
- MU:Cr1.1.5b — Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment patterns) within related tonalities and meters, including simple chord changes.
- Example: Creating a melody in major key that fits over a two-chord progression.
- 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 hear and describe how major and minor music sound different and how each one feels.
- I can create short melodic ideas in major and minor that fit over a simple chord pattern or drone.
- I can perform my melody using dynamics, tempo, and articulation that match the mood I want.
- I can explain how tonality (major/minor) and expressive qualities (loud/soft, fast/slow, smooth/bouncy) help show what the music is trying to say.
- I can use music words like major, minor, tonality, melody, dynamics, tempo, and expressive intent when I talk or write about my music.