A. Dance / C. Music · Music and Dance

Music: Composing and Performing Like a Musician

C1.3 C1.4 C1.5 C2.3About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can compose a short piece for a purpose and an audience I know.
I can use musicianship skills when I perform: good posture, breathing at the ends of phrases, watching the conductor and keeping a steady beat.
I can write my music down using rhythm symbols, solfa or invented symbols.
I can name my strengths and areas for growth as a performer, composer and audience member.

Words to know

compose
To create new music.

purpose
The reason for something. A song's purpose might be to celebrate, teach, or help someone fall asleep.

audience
The people who will listen to or watch a performance.

accompaniment
Music that goes along with a melody, a poem or a dance to support it.

musicianship
The skills musicians use to perform well: posture, breathing, steady beat, singing in tune, following a conductor, playing together.

breath mark
A small mark like a comma (,) above the music that shows a good place to breathe.

phrase
A musical sentence, often sung in one breath.

Remember from Grade 2

In Grade 2 you composed a short song for someone you know and wrote it down with symbols.

This year your compositions will have a clear purpose, and you will practise performing like a real musician.

Composing for a purpose

Composers think about two big questions:

Purpose: Why am I making this music? (To celebrate? To teach? To calm? To accompany a poem or a dance?)
Audience: Who will hear it? (My little brother? My class? My grandmother?)

Then they choose elements to fit. A song to wake up a sleepy class might be fast and forte. A song for a baby would be slow, piano and legato.

A sunny music room with a music stand, a chair holding a flute and a small drum, and a piano and guitars in the background. — A music room ready for a performance. Musicians set up their music, warm up and practise before they share their compositions. AI-generated image

Purpose and audience	Elements that fit
Lullaby for a baby cousin	slow or largo, piano, legato, melody that moves down to low so
Cheer for my hockey team	fast, forte, staccato, strong beats, lots of repetition
Song to help my class remember the planets or the days of the week	steady beat, catchy repeated melody, words that fit the rhythm
Accompaniment for a poem about snow	soft, light shakers or finger taps, piano, sustained sounds
Music for a dance in ABA form	an A section, a contrasting B section, and A again

Choose elements that fit the purpose and the audience.

Two purposes, two very different sets of elements. The slur shows legato; the dots under the notes show staccato.

Ways to compose

Rhythms from key words: take important words from a poem and turn them into a rhythm. ("Snow-flakes fall-ing" = ti-ti ti-ti; "wind" = ta. Say the words with a steady beat and listen for short and long sounds.)
Change a song you know: keep the melody and write new words, or keep the words and change the rhythm or dynamics.
Add an accompaniment: a repeated pattern (ostinato) on a drum or a bordun on do and so under a melody or poem.

Performing like a musician

These tools and techniques of musicianship make any performance better:

Posture: stand or sit tall, shoulders relaxed, feet flat.
Breathing: take a breath at the end of a phrase, not in the middle of a word. Composers often mark this with a breath mark ( , ).
Steady beat: don't speed up or slow down by accident.
Watch the conductor: the conductor shows when to start, stop, get louder or softer.
Dynamics with the melody: many musicians get a little louder as a melody climbs and softer as it falls.
Listen to others so your group sounds like one team.
If you have a recorder: cover the holes with the pads of your fingers and blow gently, like warm air on a cold window. Blowing too hard makes a squeak!

Breath marks ( , ) go at the end of a phrase. Taking a breath in the middle of "merrily" would break up the phrase.

Worked example

Example: Composing an accompaniment for a poem

Let's compose an accompaniment for this poem for a Grade 1 class (our audience). The purpose is to make the poem fun to listen to.

Snowflakes falling, soft and white, dancing, twirling, through the night. Then the north wind starts to blow, swirling, whirling, drifting snow!

Key words to rhythm: "Snow-flakes fall-ing" → ti-ti ti-ti. Repeat it as an ostinato on a shaker, p, throughout lines 1 and 2.
Lines 3 and 4 (the wind): add a pot drum on the first beat of every bar, with a crescendo (<) to show the wind getting stronger.
Ending: a sudden silence after "snow!", then one soft shake.
Write it down: a rhythm line for the shaker (ti-ti ti-ti), a line for the drum (ta and rests), and the symbols p, < and f, with a key for anything invented.
Check the purpose: Will Grade 1 students enjoy it? Is it easy to follow? Yes: short, repetitive and exciting at the end.

We composed for a purpose (make the poem fun) and an audience (Grade 1), used key words for our rhythm, and wrote it down so we can play it again.

Just for fun

Just for fun: Blow too hard into a recorder and it squeaks like a surprised mouse. Gentle, warm air keeps the mouse away!

Worked example

Example: Reflecting after a performance

Leo sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat in a round at a family gathering. How can he reflect as a performer?

Strength: "I kept my part going even when my sister started the round. I sang in tune."
Area for growth: "I took a breath in the middle of 'merrily', which broke up the phrase. Next time I'll breathe after 'stream' and after 'dream'."
As a composer: "My ending for the round was a strength: we all finished on a long note together."
As an audience member: "When my cousins played, I listened quietly and clapped at the end. Next time I'll tell them one specific thing I liked."

Leo named specific strengths and areas for growth, including musicianship skills like breathing at the end of phrases.

Hands-on activity

Compose and perform for someone you love

You need: paper, a pencil, and a home-made or real instrument.

Choose a purpose and an audience: a lullaby for a baby, a cheer for a team, a thank-you song for a grandparent, a clean-up song for your family, or an accompaniment for a poem.
Choose elements that fit: tempo, dynamics, articulation, timbre.
Compose 4 to 8 bars. Use key words for rhythm, and solfa (do, re, mi, so, la, low la, low so) for the melody.
Write it down: rhythm symbols, solfa or a melody map, and dynamic marks. Add a breath mark where a singer should breathe.
Practise with good posture, a steady beat and breathing at phrase ends.
Perform it for your audience! Then name one strength and one area for growth.

Your turn

What two things should a composer think about first?

Choose elements for a lullaby.

Where should a singer breathe: in the middle of a word or at the end of a phrase?

Show good singing posture.

Turn the key words "Ca-na-da Day" into a rhythm.

What does a breath mark look like and mean?

Name one strength you have as a singer or player.

More practice: warm-up

What does compose mean?

What is an audience?

What does a conductor do?

Should you speed up when you get excited in a song?

What is a phrase?

More practice: on your own

A cheer for a team should be ___ (loud or soft) and ___ (smooth or bouncy). Why?

Your song for your little cousin is long and has hard words. How could you change it to fit your audience better?

Why do many musicians get louder as a melody goes up?

You are playing a drum accompaniment for a poem. The reader speeds up and you don't. What musicianship skill do you both need?

Name one strength and one area for growth as an audience member.

Challenge

Compose a 4-bar clean-up song for your family in 4/4 time (4 beats per bar). Write the rhythm and say why your choices fit the purpose.

Mark the best breath places in: "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream." Explain.

How could you check whether your composition worked for its purpose?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Before composing, what should you think about?

Which choices fit a lullaby?

Where is the best place to breathe when singing?

A small comma-like mark above the music is a ___.

Which is a musicianship skill?

"I sang in tune, but I need to breathe at the end of phrases." The second part is ___.

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 3 students compose for a specific purpose and a familiar audience (C1.3), for example writing accompaniments for poems or dances, building rhythms from key words, or changing a known song. They use tools and techniques of musicianship (C1.4): posture, breathing at phrase ends, steady beat, watching the conductor, dynamics that follow the melody's shape, and (in many schools) beginning recorder. They write music with standard and invented notation (C1.5) and identify strengths and areas for growth as performers, creators and audience members (C2.3).

How to help at home:

Be a willing audience! Ask your child to explain their purpose before they perform.
Praise specific things: "Your steady beat really held the song together."
If your child plays recorder at school, short daily practice with gentle breath works best.

Common difficulties:

Rhythms that don't fit the words. Say the words with a steady beat and listen for long and short syllables.
Breathing in the middle of words or phrases. Mark breath places in pencil before singing.
Only naming weaknesses ("I was bad"). Ask for a strength first, then one specific next step.

A note on rhythm answers: many rhythms can fit the same words; accept any rhythm that matches the syllables and keeps a steady beat.