Pick a Bale of Cotton | Free Music Lesson Plan (Tempo Terms)

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Ready to ramp up the fun to new levels in your next music lesson? The "Pick a Bale of Cotton" music lesson plan teaches tempo terms with a movement activity. Students learn the lyrics and actions to kids song, 'Pick a Bale of Cotton,' and perform the song at three different tempos: adagio, andante and allegro.

Level

Grade 1-3

Objective

Students will learn about tempo (Adagio, Andante, Allegro) through movement. This music lesson plan is designed to fulfill Standard #5 of the National Standards for Music: Reading and notating music.

Materials

Sheet music for Pick a Bale of Cotton


Lesson

Step 1
Teach Pick a Bale of Cotton.

Step 2
Tell students, "We are going to learn about tempo. Tempo has to do with how fast or slow the music goes. There are many different tempo terms that tell the performer how fast to play the music. We will learn about three."

Step 3
Tell students, "The first tempo term we will learn about is Andante. Andante is an Italian word which means walking speed".

Step 4
Ask students to spread out around the room and face you.

Step 5
Tell students, "I will teach you the actions to Pick a Bale of Cotton and then we will perform the song at an Andante tempo."

Step 6
Teach actions as suggested by the song.

Step 7
Ask the students, "How fast is Andante?"

Step 8
Perform Pick a Bale of Cotton at an Andante tempo.

Step 9
Tell students, "The second tempo term we will learn about is Adagio. Adagio is an Italian word which means slow".

Step 10
Perform Pick a Bale of Cotton at an Adagio tempo.

Step 11
Ask the students, "How fast is Adagio?"

Step 12
Tell students, "The second tempo term we will learn about is Allegro. Allegro is an Italian word which means fast.

Step 13
Perform Pick a Bale of Cotton at an Allegro tempo.

Step 14
Ask the students, "How fast is Allegro?"

Step 15
Review all tempo terms.

Step 16
Perform Pick a Bale of Cotton at an Allegro tempo one more time to send the kids away smiling!


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