Unit Plan 11 (Grade 8 Vocal Music): Improvising in Style
8th grade choir unit where students improvise vocal lines in folk, pop, chant, or gospel styles using pitch sets, varied rhythms, and expressive goals.
Focus: Improvise vocal lines that fit a specific style or genre (folk, pop, chant, gospel, etc.), using expanded pitch sets and varied rhythms to match a clear expressive goal.
Grade Level: 8
Subject Area: Vocal Music (Choir • Creativity • Musicianship)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students move from performing only what’s written to creating their own musical ideas. They explore how pitch sets, rhythms, tone color, and text or syllables combine to create recognizable styles (folk, pop, chant, gospel, etc.). Through guided call-and-response, short improvisation prompts, and small-group activities, singers learn to improvise short melodic lines that make musical sense, fit a chosen style, and express a specific emotion or idea. The week ends with a brief Improvisation in Style Sharing Circle, where students present and reflect on their stylistic choices.
Essential Questions
- What does it mean to improvise in a way that still sounds musical, intentional, and stylistically appropriate?
- How do pitch sets, rhythms, and tone choices change the style and emotion of an improvised line?
- How can we balance freedom and structure so improvisation feels both creative and safe?
- How can improvising help me better understand and perform other styles of vocal music?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify key style ingredients (pitch tendencies, rhythms, tone color, syllables) for at least two vocal genres (e.g., folk, pop, chant, gospel).
- Improvise short melodic motifs (1–2 measures) using a limited pitch set and simple rhythmic patterns.
- Use expanded pitch sets and varied rhythms to improvise longer lines (2–4 measures) that support a chosen expressive goal (e.g., calm, urgent, joyful, reflective).
- Improvise within a given style frame (e.g., folk-like pentatonic, chant-like stepwise lines, pop/gospel riff patterns) and explain which musical choices created that style.
- Collaborate in small groups to create call-and-response or ostinato-based improvisation structures that allow each singer to take a solo in style.
- Reflect on their improvisation, naming at least one stylistic and one expressive choice they made intentionally.
Standards Alignment — Grade 8 Vocal Music (custom, NAfME-style)
- VM:Cr1.8a — Improvise vocal lines and rhythmic/harmonic ideas using expanded pitch sets and varied rhythms to meet a specific expressive goal and style.
- Example: Students improvise a short melodic line that fits a given style (folk, pop, or chant) and explain which musical choices created that style.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can name at least two ingredients of style (like pitch choices, rhythms, or syllables) for a specific genre.
- I can improvise a short melodic idea using a given pitch set and rhythm pattern.
- I can create a longer improvised line that matches a chosen feeling (e.g., hopeful, sad, energetic) and style.
- I can participate in a call-and-response or group improvisation where my line fits the overall sound.
- I can explain at least one musical decision I made that helped my improvisation sound stylistically appropriate.