Orchestra Cover Song
                                                                       By:  Sarah Lenhart

Project at a Glance :

This project is for a middle school orchestra class, students will work in small groups to decide how to perform cover a song of their choice. 
       
 Driving Question:

How can musicians cover a song they want to play?             

Standards:

• Composition
• Performance
• Music Theory

Team / Culture Building:

• Students will complete the Creative DNA protocol to dive into group dynamics and roles for rehearsals.

​Entry Event:

• Students will have Zoom call with a professional musician who has done a cover song, such as:  Cori Smith, Brad Phillips, etc. This expert will later become an interview.
  
• Students will watch cover songs on Youtube. Then, they will find a cover song on Youtube and create a Google sheet with all of the links in Google classroom. ​​

Stakeholders:

• Audience Members
• Performers

 Empathy Building:

• Students will create an Empathy Map for audience and performers.

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Need to Know protocol 
• AEIOU
• Five Whys​​

• QFT- interview performer
• Explore Musictheory.net to gain insights
• Mini lessons on lead sheet and chord structure

Incubation:

• How would _____. solve this? 
• What if it _____ were____? 
• I like, I wish, What if . . .
• Subtract Something activity​​

Checking in:

• Tell it to a Toddler 
• How Might We 
• Pluses and Deltas ​

---

Solution Building:

•  Storyboarding - create 6-8 scenes for the song, think about lyrics, create a picture for each section of the song, this helps the group have discussion about ideas. 
  
• Metaphor Making - “Our song should be like _____because ____.” 
• Use Dot Voting - to narrow down song choice, instrumentation choice, and arrangement choice.

Critique and Revision: 

• Gallery Walk (Musical Version) play the song 3 different ways and have the class dot vote or give feedback on the different choices. 
  

• Put two groups of students together and have them explain their process, perform their song, and then hear feedback. 
  
• I like, I wish, What if? 
  
• Give the group time to process the feedback and make changes in their songs.​

Authentic Audience:

• Audience Members
• Student Performers

Final Presentation:

•  Students will perform for the class and another music class. The performances will be video recorded and shared with parents.​

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Perform and use Critical Friends protocol with another small group. ​​

• Design a rubric for planning, arranging, instrumentation, preparation, rehearsal strategies,  and performance. ​
• Submit Flipgrid video where the teacher gives feedback and the professional performer can give feedback. 
• Implement the Single Point Rubric ​

Meet the Educator:
​
Sarah Lenhart teaches middle school orchestra in Hudsonville, MI.

​      "Design Thinking really increases student engagement and ownership in the process."