A Stomping Good Time:
Using Found Instruments and Invented Rhythms
To Make Beautiful Music

Subjects

• Dance, Music

Grades

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Objectives

• explore the work of STOMP by viewing videos of the group's performances.
• work in small groups to list and gather common objects and found materials that might be used as instruments in a performance.
• create a system of notation to document the music and movement of a 2-minute performance.
• videotape their own performances.

Keywords

Materials Needed

• a videotape or downloaded video(s) of performances by STOMP (sources provided)
• a variety of objects to be used as instruments (gathered by students from their homes)
• video camera (optional)

Lesson Plan

Are you familiar with the work of the group called STOMP? STOMP combines rhythm, movement, sound, and more to create an exhilarating experience for audiences. In this lesson, you will share STOMP performances with your students and challenge them to work in small groups to combine found sounds and imaginative rhythms and movement to create a memorable mini performance.

To start, you will want to be sure all students are familiar with the work of STOMP. You can do that by sharing with students a video/DVD (your local video rental store is bound to carry one) or by downloading audio or video clips from STOMP's Web site.

Discuss with students some of the common objects that STOMP performers use to make sound. You might make a list of items students saw performers use in the video clip(s). The list might include some of the following: brooms, lids, bins, poles, sand, drumsticks, water, oil drums, and ballpoint pens.

Arrange students into small groups. Four is a good size; six is workable if you're comfortable that your students are mature enough to focus in a group that size. Students work together to create their own lists of common objects that make sounds. Their homework assignment for the night is to go home, look around their homes, and come in with additional objects to add to their lists.

The next day, have students look at their group's list and determine a variety of objects that each student in the group has access to that, together, would make interesting instruments for an imaginative performance.

Note: Because you are working in a school setting, you might want/need to set some rules that will keep the noise level to a minimum. While that might cool the intensity of the final performances, limiting students to using quiet instruments such as ballpoint pens that click, brooms that swoosh, and plastic containers of water and sand will challenge them to be even more creative.

In the next step, students gather the materials they need to create a 2-minute mini performance to share with their peers. If possible, move this part of the activity into a large rehearsal space, where students have more room to move and experiment. Give students two class sessions to invent their performances.

Finally, when performance day arrives, have video equipment ready to record.

After the performances, spend a class period reviewing the video, talking about the most creative elements of student performances, sharing how different groups committed their performances to memory (the music/movement notation systems they used), and sharing how the performances of STOMP inspired their efforts.

Building Skills/Concepts
The STOMP Web site offers a handful of pages devoted to lesson plans that challenge students to explore the concepts of sound, rhythm, and the difference between noise and sound. You might select from those lessons some activities that students can apply as they create their performances. The Web site also provides a wonderful series of rain forest activities among the STOMP lessons. All those materials can be found by clicking Download the Study Guide on STOMP's Learn What All the Noise Is About page.

Assessment

During the debriefing session after their performances, assess students willingness to verbalize and put into writing what they learned from the lesson.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

FINE ARTS: Dance

• GRADES K - 4
  NA-D.K-4.1 Identifying and Demonstrating Movement Elements and Skills in Performing Dance
  NA-D.K-4.2 Understanding Choreographic Principles, Processes, and Structures
  NA-D.K-4.3 Understanding Dance as a Way to Create and Communicate Meaning
  NA-D.K-4.4 Applying and Demonstrating Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Dance
  NA-D.K-4.5 Demonstrating and Understanding Dance in Various Cultures and Historical Periods

• GRADES 5 - 8
  NA-D.5-8.1 Identifying and Demonstrating Movement Elements and Skills in Performing Dance
  NA-D.5-8.2 Understanding Choreographic Principles, Processes, and Structures
  NA-D.5-8.3 Understanding Dance as a Way to Create and Communicate Meaning
  NA-D.5-8.4 Applying and Demonstrating Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Dance
  NA-D.5-8.5 Demonstrating and Understanding Dance in Various Cultures and Historical Periods

• GRADES 9 - 12
  NA-D.9-12.1 Identifying and Demonstrating Movement Elements and Skills in Performing Dance
  NA-D.9-12.2 Understanding Choreographic Principles, Processes, and Structures
  NA-D.9-12.3 Understanding Dance as a Way to Create and Communicate Meaning
  NA-D.9-12.4 Applying and Demonstrating Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Dance
  NA-D.9-12.5 Demonstrating and Understanding Dance in Various Cultures and Historical Periods

• GRADES K - 4
  NA-M.K-4.2 Performing on Instruments, Alone and With Others, a Varied Repertoire of Music
  NA-M.K-4.3 Improvising Melodies, Variations, and Accompaniment
  NA-M.K-4.4 Composing and Arranging Music Within Specified Guidelines
  NA-M.K-4.5 Reading and Notating Music
  NA-M.K-4.7 Evaluating Music and Music Performances
  NA-M.K-4.8 Understanding Relationships Between Music, Other Arts, and Disciplines Outside the Arts
  NA-M.K-4.9 Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

• GRADES 5 - 8
  NA-M.5-8.1 Singing, Alone and With Others, a Varied Repertoire of Music
  NA-M.5-8.2 Performing on Instruments, Alone and With Others, a Varied Repertoire of Music
  NA-M.5-8.3 Improvising Melodies, Variations, and Accompaniments
  NA-M.5-8.4 Composing and Arranging Music Within Specified Guidelines
  NA-M.5-8.5 Reading and Notating Music
  NA-M.5-8.7 Evaluating Music and Music Performances
  NA-M.5-8.8 Understanding Relationships Between Music, Other Arts, and Disciplines Outside the Arts
  NA-M.5-8.9 Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

• GRADES 9 - 12
  NA-M.9-12.1 Singing, Alone and With Others, a Varied Repertoire of Music
  NA-M.9-12.2 Performing on Instruments, Alone and With Others, a Varied Repertoire of Music
  NA-M.9-12.3 Improvising Melodies, Variations, and Accompaniments
  NA-M.9-12.4 Composing and Arranging Music Within Specified Guidelines
  NA-M.9-12.5 Reading and Notating Music
  NA-M.9-12.7 Evaluating Music and Music Performances
  NA-M.9-12.8 Understanding Relationships Between Music, Other Arts, and Disciplines Outside the Arts
  NA-M.9-12.9 Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

• GRADES K - 4
  NA-T.K-4.1 Script Writing by Planning and Recording Improvisations Based on Personal Experience and Heritage, Imagination, Literature, and History
  NA-T.K-4.2 Acting By Assuming Roles and Interacting In Improvisations
  NA-T.K-4.4 Directing By Planning Classroom Dramatizations

• GRADES 5 - 8
  NA-T.5-8.1 Script Writing by Planning and Recording Improvisations Based on Personal Experience and Heritage, Imagination, Literature, and History
  NA-T.5-8.2 Acting By Assuming Roles and Interacting In Improvisations
  NA-T.5-8.4 Directing By Planning Classroom Dramatizations

• GRADES 9 - 12
  NA-T.9-12.1 Script Writing by Planning and Recording Improvisations Based on Personal Experience and Heritage, Imagination, Literature, and History
  NA-T.9-12.2 Acting By Assuming Roles and Interacting In Improvisations
  NA-T.9-12.4 Directing By Planning Classroom Dramatizations

• GRADES K - 12
  NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies
  NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

• GRADES Pre-K - 12
  NM-CONN.PK-12.1 Recognize and Use Connections Among Mathematical Ideas
  NM-CONN.PK-12.2 Understand How Mathematical Ideas Interconnect and Build on One Another to Produce a Coherent Whole
  NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics

• GRADES K - 12
  NPH.K-12.1 Movement Forms
  NPH.K-12.2 Movement Concepts
  NPH.K-12.3 Physical Activity
  NPH.K-12.5 Responsible Behavior
  NPH.K-12.6 Respect for Others

• GRADES K - 12
  NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and Concepts
  NT.K-12.4 Technology Communications Tools

Find more great music ideas in Education World's Music In Our Schools Month archive.

Click to return to this week's Lesson Planning article, Connect With Music: Lessons Any Teacher Can Teach.