June
2004
National Standard: 2 Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
6
- Listening to, analyzing and describing music.
7
- Evaluating music and music performances.
Objective: The
students will demonstrate their understanding of intonation and their ability
to discriminate between sharp and flat by responding to exercises within Auralia, and by creating their own examples for the class
using the Tuning Function on the synthesizer.
Materials: A networked keyboard lab with computers
and headphones.
Auralia
Ear-training software from Sibelius (at least one copy for
the
teacher).
Procedure:
1.
Teacher introduces the
students to the tuning facet of the Auralia Ear-training software (click on Pitch &
Melody from the main menu, then
click on Tuning). *If the lab only has one copy of
Auralia, use an LCD projector to allow the students to view the computer
screen.*
2.
With the GEC3 in Lecture Mode, teacher discusses the difference between sharp and flat, and how they
relate to matching a given pitch.
3.
Teacher sets the level
of the tuning exercises at 1, and then plays a few examples for the students.
4.
Using the Call feature of the Student Interface, students can
respond by calling if they think the second given note is flat or sharp. Teacher can determine which choice
requires the students to press call. For example: if you think the second
note is flat press call. If you think it is sharp, do NOT press call.
5.
If the lab has
individual copies of Auralia on
each computer the teacher can then have the students complete the next set of
exercises on their own (Set the GEC3 to Practice Mode
teacher can monitor student progress by utilizing the eavesdropping
feature.) If not, the teacher can
go through the examples using the LCD projector in Lecture Mode.
6.
After sufficient time,
the teacher will discuss the success of the student responses to the
exercises. If the students are
very successful on Level 1, the teacher might consider having the students
complete exercises in Level 2, 3 or 4.
7.
Next, the teacher will
introduce the students to the tuning function of the synthesizers.
(The X5, X5D, N364,
Triton, and Triton LE all have similar ways of accessing the tuning
function in the Global
menu. Consult the owner¹s manual
for assistance.)
8.
Once the students
understand how to affect the tuning on the synthesizers, the teacher will ask
the students to put their synthesizers out of tune (either sharp or flat) in
the Practice Mode. Teacher will monitor student progress.
9.
After sufficient time,
set the GEC3 to the Lecture
Mode and ask individual students to
play their ³out-of-tune² middle C after the teacher first plays an ³in-tune²
middle C.
10. Students will respond whether the student note is
sharp of flat in the same manner mentioned earlier in the lesson.
11. After each student example has been performed, the
teacher will discuss the concept of intonation with the students to provide
closure to the lesson.
Extensions: Teacher
could use the different scale tunings on the synthesizers to discuss the
differences between each.
Students
could create their own intonation exercises by recording themselves playing
acoustic instruments with various intentional intonation errors.
Students
could use digital audio recording software to record themselves playing and
then create their own intonation examples as sound files that could then be
used on a website or CD.