Unit Plan 26 (Grade 8 Band): Musical Storytelling
Create Grade 8 band musical stories—students compose and perform short narrative pieces, then explain how motifs, dynamics, tempo, and texture express intent and reflect identity.
Focus: Create instrumental music that represents narratives, images, or themes, and explain how musical decisions communicate expressive intent and connect to personal interests and experiences.
Grade Level: 8
Subject Area: Band (Creating • Connecting • Expression & Identity)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students explore how instrumental music can function as storytelling without words. Through listening, discussion, and guided composition tasks, they investigate how melody, rhythm, dynamics, texture, tempo, and instrumentation can represent characters, moods, settings, or events. Students then design short musical narratives (solo, small-group, or full-band fragments) based on personal experiences, interests, or imagined stories. By the end of the unit, they present a Musical Storytelling piece and explain how their choices reflect both the story/theme and their own identity and goals as musicians.
Essential Questions
- How can instrumental music tell a story or represent a theme, character, or scene without lyrics?
- Which musical elements (melody, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, texture, tone color) are most powerful for creating mood and narrative?
- How do my personal interests, experiences, and goals influence the stories or themes I choose to express in music?
- What choices do composers and performers make to ensure an audience can feel or imagine the story they intend?
- How can creating musical stories help me grow as a band musician, composer, and leader?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify and describe ways that composers use musical elements to suggest characters, settings, moods, and events.
- Brainstorm and choose a narrative or theme (personal story, fictional scene, or abstract idea) that matters to them.
- Create a short instrumental piece or vignette (solo or small-group) that uses musical elements intentionally to represent their chosen story or theme.
- Rehearse and refine their musical story, making revisions to improve clarity, coherence, and expressive impact.
- Present their Musical Storytelling piece and explain how their personal interests/experiences shaped the idea and how specific musical decisions communicate expressive intent to an audience.
Standards Alignment — 8th Grade Band (custom, NAfME-style)
- BD:Cr3.8b — Present a final instrumental creation and explain how musical decisions communicate expressive intent to an audience.
- Example: Students perform their composition and explain how articulation and dynamics support the mood.
- BD:Cn10.8a — Explain how personal interests, experiences, and goals influence musical choices, growth, and leadership as a band musician.
- Example: Students reflect on how band participation supports their confidence or leadership skills.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can point out how professional pieces use musical elements to suggest a story or mood.
- I can choose a story, memory, or theme that matters to me and describe how I want it to sound.
- I can create a short piece that uses melody, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, and tone to represent my narrative or idea.
- I can revise my music so that it feels more organized, clear, and expressive.
- I can explain how my personal experiences or interests shaped my musical story and how specific musical choices help an audience understand it.