Lesson Overview:
Students will learn about the life of J.S. Bach by viewing a film about the composer. They will write an essay comparing and contrasting Bach’s struggle to achieve musical independence and growth with their own experiences as young musicians. This lesson should be taught when the ensemble is learning one of the many pieces written by Bach for young string orchestras.
Length of Lesson:
Two 45-minute periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- view the film Bach’s Fight for Freedom to become informed about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach.
- follow the writing process and compare and contrast J.S. Bach’s personal passion for personal musical growth with their own passion for musical growth and accomplishment.
Supplies:
- Video: Gillard, Stuart T. (dir.). Bach's Fight for Freedom
- TV/Monitor
- VCR or DVD Player
Instructional Plan:
Warm Up
Ask students to brainstorm about what drives them to play a string instrument and what provides the passion to play it well. Write the ideas on the board.
Developmental Activities
Before viewing the film about Bach, review the writing process with students:
- View the film and take notes.
- Organize thoughts on paper using a Venn diagram, outline, or list.
- Write a rough draft.
- Have a peer review the draft.
- Write a final draft.
Have students view the film Bach's Fight for Freedom.
Guided Practice
Review with students the essay format (provided in the accompanying Bach Essay Format handout).
Independent Activities/Meaningful-Use Tasks
Students should complete their own graphic organizer, list, or outline. Then, they should formulate their rough draft. Finally, students should revise their work and complete their final draft.
Closure
Ask students some post-writing questions to promote higher-order thinking. Suggested questions include:
- Do you think Bach’s passion was so direct because of the time period in which he grew up?
- Do you think if he lived today—with all the choices kids face—that he would have been so passionate about his music?
- If you lived in his time, would your passions have been shaped differently than they are today?
- How do you feel about a href="/bridge/?type=INT&url=http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/classmus.html" target="_blank">classical music? If your passion in life is not music, what is it?
Assessment:
Students will receive a participation grade for the class based on preparedness and effort applied in class.
If the class is being taught independently by the music teacher, he or she must check with language arts teachers to confirm the school’s policy for grading written essays. Questions to ask include:
- Is there a standard scoring rubric?
- How much is subtracted for grammatical errors such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.?
- How many sentences are required in each paragraph?
- Is content the most important element?
- How does the grading system apply when a student writes a beautiful essay but does not answer the questions?
Sources:
Media:
- Gillard, Stuart T. (dir.). Bach's Fight for Freedom. New York: Sony Classical Film and Video, 1995. VHS
Web:
Authors:
-
Leslie Thomas, Teacher
Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School
Landover, MD
