All the Buzz About Baroque - December's Integration Idea of the Month
To learn about the artistic forms of a historic period is to investigate a tangible piece of the period's culture. .This lesson is designed to enlighten students about a period of music known as the Baroque (1600-1750). How much do your students know about this period of history? What strides were made in scientific discovery, architecture, and mathematics? What does the word "Baroque" mean?

In this lesson, students will pair up to research the musical period and a significant composer for a particular country during the Baroque Period. They will, together, produce a poster which highlights the composer. This poster will include a minimum of eight noteworthy facts about the life and times of the country and the musical style. The poster will include graphics downloaded from the Internet and will make use of MS Word's " Callout" feature. Students will create callouts that describe a minimum of 8 noteworthy facts about the composer, including their style of composition, and the life and times of their country.

Curriculum Area: Music/Music History
Grade Level: 6-8
Skills Developed: Working with a partner, utilizing the library and the Internet for research, creating a visually attractive and content rich poster as a product of the learning experience, presentation sharing and peer evaluation
Student Grouping: partners of two students
Time: 8 class periods
Technology Used: Internet, word processor (e.g., MS Word)

Procedure:

  1. Students will work in pairs and will be assigned a country and a composer at random.
  2. In each group, students will research and create a poster as directed by the Student Directions handout (Note: All of the handouts for this lesson are provided in a single pdf file).
  3. Students will spend three days in the library gathering the information required on the Fact Finding sheet, listening to musical examples, and obtaining a picture of their composer.
  4. Students will spend three days creating their poster according to the Poster Format and Guidelines sheet.
  5. Using the Rubric (provided as a handout), students will spend one day reviewing and grading their own poster, and another group's poster. Presentations of the posters will be 4 minutes. Groups will begin 4-minute presentations each of their poster to the class.
  6. Students will spend one day finishing the presentations and discussing the Music of the Baroque, guided by the Discussion Sheet

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Last updated, December 3, 2001