Music Mapping

 Lesson #3: A Music Map!

This week at Spanish Oaks elementary we began exploring music maps!

For our first activity, I showed the class I drawing I had done of my neighborhood. I pointed out places in my neighborhood that were important to me and that I had put little stars next to (my house, my friends' house, my church). The students then had about five minutes to create a map of their own neighborhood.

Class Discussion:

Then as a class we talked about some of the purposes of a map. Some of the things we came up with were:

• Maps show others where to go (could help a friend get to my house)
• Maps have symbols on them that represent something (little boxes represent houses, stores, and so forth)
• Maps show distance (e.g., how far away my house is from the neighborhood park)
• Maps aren't always 100% accurate--they are interpretations
• Maps show a specific place or location (or a specific neighborhood)

The students' maps were all unique and creative in their own way. Here is just a couple of them!

The Music Map:

Next I hung up on the board what is called a music map. This map "maps" out a song--using symbols, lines, and shapes to depict the different melodies throughout the song. I stood by the music map and as the song played, I traced my finger along each of the lines and symbols. The class was silent during this process! 

The song we used is from the movie soundtrack "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." (I chose this song and created this map in mind of this class--their classroom decoration has a Harry Potter theme.) Here is a link to the song as well as a close-up picture of the music map itself. 

"Book 2: Prologue and the Escape from the Dursleys"

Then I invited the kids to all put their fingers in the air and trace along with me.

Next I asked what the kids noticed about this map. Many students shared musical insights that they had noticed while listening and watching the map.

Some of their observations included:

• The map followed the melody in the song
• Symbols/lines in the map showed if sounds were short/long, slow/fast, and soft/loud
• Some parts were repeated in the song
• Lines showed whether the melody went up or down

Tie-In:

At this point, we revisited the class discussion we had earlier about the purposes of map. We talked about how this music map, although visually looks different than the neighborhood maps they drew, has the same functions as a regular map.

Music maps also can:

• Show a listener where the melody goes throughout a song
• Contain symbols that represent sounds, timbres, dynamics, tempos, and melodies
• Show distance (how far away different themes in the song are from one another)
• Are not 100% accurate--are interpretations!
• Show a specific song (using this map with another song would not be effective)

For the last activity, we listened to the song again and the kids were told to stand up and to use their bodies to follow along with what the music was doing (instead of just tracing with their finger). I traced for them and they did some movement (some of which was quite entertaining to watch)!

Music Standards Met:

3.M.P.5; 3.M.R.1