Unit Plan 26 (Grade 6 Band): Musical Storytelling

Focus: Create instrumental music that represents stories or scenes, making intentional choices in tempo, dynamics, articulation, and pitch to communicate a clear mood or narrative, and connecting those choices to personal interests and goals.

Grade Level: 6

Subject Area: Band (Creating • Connecting • Performing)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students explore music as storytelling. They listen to short programmatic excerpts and film-style cues to discover how tempo, dynamics, articulation, and melody can suggest a character, place, or event even without words. Students then design and compose their own short musical stories—pieces that represent a scene or personal memory—using limited pitch sets and simple forms. Finally, they perform their creations and explain how their musical decisions match the story or mood, reflecting on how their interests and goals as musicians shaped what they wrote.

Essential Questions

• How can music tell a story or show a scene without any words?
• How do choices like tempo, dynamics, and articulation affect the mood and meaning of a musical story?
• In what ways do our personal interests, experiences, and goals show up in the music we create?
• How can we explain our musical decisions so others understand the story or feeling we are trying to share?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Describe how tempo, dynamics, articulation, and pitch choices can represent a story, character, or scene.
2. Plan a short musical story based on a personal interest, memory, or imagined scene using a simple beginning–middle–end structure.
3. Create and rehearse an instrumental piece that uses purposeful musical ideas (motives, patterns, dynamics, tempo changes) to show a clear mood or event.
4. Perform their musical story and describe how specific musical choices support the intended mood or purpose.
5. Reflect on how their personal interests and goals influenced the topic and style of their musical story.

Standards Alignment — 6th Grade Band (custom, NAfME-style)

• BD:Cr3.6b — Present a final musical creation and describe how musical choices communicate the intended mood or purpose.
  • Example: Students perform their composition and explain how tempo and dynamics supported their intent.
• BD:Cn10.6a — Describe how personal interests and goals influence musical choices and growth as a band musician.
  • Example: Students set a goal (stronger tone, faster fingerings, confidence) and explain why it matters.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can explain how tempo, dynamics, articulation, and pitch can help tell a story in music.
• I can plan a musical story with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• I can create and perform a short piece that shows a specific mood or scene using purposeful musical ideas.
• I can describe how my musical choices connect to the story or emotion I wanted to share.
• I can explain how my interests and goals helped me decide what kind of musical story to create.