Music Lesson: Legato and Staccato
Lesson Plan
1 hour 10 minutesGrades6, 7, 8Visual and Performing Arts
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Written by Yen-Yen Chiu
About this lesson
Students use legato and staccato to compose a piece that reflects a climate change effect or event.
Inquire: Students learn the musical terms legato and staccato and explore their musical effects.
Investigate: Students listen to two movements by a climate composer and discuss how legato and staccato represent climate impacts.
Inspire: Students create a musical composition using legato and staccato to reflect a climate change effect or event.
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Everything you need to teach it
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Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson is easily adaptable to all music appreciation and general music theory classes, or performance groups such as choir and jazz band in middle and high school.
- This lesson highlights the use of music to create awareness for global issues like climate change.
- Students explore musical composition in representing climate effects or events.
- This lesson can be taught alone or in a unit on musicality or composition.
Prerequisites
- Students should have a basic understanding of music notation and be able to read music in at least one clef.
- Students should have access to sheet music paper, music manuscript paper, or online music composition software such as Noteflight or Flat.
- Teacher should preview the article and listen to the musical movements prior to teaching the lesson.
Differentiation
- Teachers can use any music composition software that is available to them, including applications that write musical notation as students play.
- Students can use their instruments or voices to demonstrate musical concepts.
- Students can write a melody in one clef or a grand staff with multiple voices.
- Students can consider tempo and key signature to reflect their climate event in their composition.
- Students can compare and contrast the musical effects of legato and staccato across Brian Field’s three movements of “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet.”
- Students can explore international composers committed to using music to bring awareness to climate change in the article “9 Pieces Inspired by Climate Change.”
From the scientist review
This music lesson has students brainstorm ways they could use music to inspire climate action. Although there is no specific science to review, the lesson allows students to use legato and staccato to compose songs for climate events. This lesson is recommended for teaching.
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About the teacher writer
Yen-Yen Chiu
Director of Education
Yen-Yen Chiu, Ed.D., is SubjectToClimate's Director of Education. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Diego, and taught public school for 22 years specializing in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Music for grades 6–12, including Advanced Placement. She is credentialed in English, Mathematics, and Introductory Music, with extensive experience designing interdisciplinary curricula that foster student choice, meaningful assessment, and authentic learning.
