Unit Plan 34 (Grade 7 Orchestra): Purposeful Performance Choices
Grade 7 orchestra unit connects bowing, dynamics, and tempo to musical meaning, audience impact, and student identity through performance choices.
Focus: Explain how bowing, dynamics, and tempo choices affect musical meaning and audience experience, connecting these choices to students’ own interests, experiences, and goals.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Orchestra (Interpretation • Expression • Identity)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, Grade 7 orchestra students explore how performance decisions—such as bowing style, tone color, dynamics, tempo, and string choice/position—shape the character and meaning of music. By listening to and performing contrasting interpretations, they learn to describe how these elements influence what an audience feels and understands. Students also reflect on how their own preferences, experiences, and goals as string players affect the choices they want to make in performance. By the end of the week, they will be able to justify their performance decisions and explain how those choices support both the music’s character and their personal musical identity.
Essential Questions
- How do choices about bowing, dynamics, tone color, and tempo change the character and meaning of a piece?
- In what ways do string choice/position and instrument roles (melody, harmony, accompaniment) shape what the audience hears?
- How do my own interests, experiences, and goals as a string musician influence the performance choices I prefer?
- How can explaining our performance decisions help us become more confident, thoughtful leaders in orchestra?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify and describe how bowing style, tone color, string choice/position, dynamics, and tempo affect the character of a passage.
- Compare two different performance options (or recordings) and explain how specific choices change the mood and meaning of the music.
- Experiment with contrasting bowings, dynamics, and tempos on a short excerpt and choose an approach that best fits the desired character.
- Connect their performance decisions to their own interests, experiences, and goals as string musicians (e.g., what kind of player they want to be, what they enjoy).
- Present a short performance and verbally or in writing justify how their choices support both the music’s character and the audience’s experience.
Standards Alignment — Grade 7 Orchestra (custom, NAfME-style)
- OR:Re7.7b — Explain how bowing style, tone color, string choice/position, and instrument roles contribute to character and meaning in string music.
- Example: Students explain how playing closer to the bridge changes tone color for intensity.
- OR:Cn10.7a — Explain how personal interests, experiences, and goals influence musical choices, growth, and leadership as a string musician.
- Example: Students set a goal (stronger shifts, better vibrato readiness, section leadership) and explain why it matters.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can name specific performance choices (bowing, dynamics, tone color, tempo, string choice) and explain how they change the mood or meaning.
- I can describe how different interpretations of the same music feel different to an audience.
- I can choose performance options that match the character I want and explain why I chose them.
- I can connect my choices to who I am as a musician, including my interests and goals.
- I can explain my performance decisions in a way that someone else can understand how they affect the music and the listener.