A. Dance / C. Music · Music and Dance

Music: Music in Our Communities, Then and Now

C3.1 C3.2 C2.1About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can describe ways music is used in my community: to celebrate, bring people together, dance, communicate, entertain, advertise and help us learn.
I can listen to and perform music from different communities, times and places, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit music and music from early Upper Canada.
I can respond to music from other cultures with respect, using music words.

Words to know

community
A group of people who live in the same place or share a culture, interests or way of life.

jingle
A short, catchy song used in an advertisement to help people remember a product.

voyageurs
Canoe paddlers, many of them French-Canadian and Métis, who carried furs and goods across Canada long ago. They sang as they paddled.

fife
A small, high-pitched flute that soldiers played with drums long ago.

social song
A song sung at a gathering for everyone to enjoy and dance to, often open to everyone.

heritage
The traditions, languages and culture passed down to us from the people who came before.

Remember from Grade 2

In Grade 2 you learned reasons people make music: to celebrate, comfort, worship, tell stories, work, play games and cheer. You heard powwow drums, the Haudenosaunee water drum, Métis fiddle music and Inuit throat singing.

This year, we will look at what music does in a community, and travel back to Upper Canada about 200 years ago.

Ways music is used in a community	Examples
Marks celebrations	birthday songs, wedding music, Canada Day concerts, Diwali and Lunar New Year festivals, powwows
Unites groups (brings people together)	singing "O Canada" at an assembly, a community choir, a school band, a family singalong
For dancing	fiddle music for jigs and square dances, music at a school dance, waltzes
Communicates	a bugle call, a school bell melody, a song that shares a message or a feeling
Entertains	concerts, shows, music in movies and video games
Advertises (helps people remember)	jingles in ads that get stuck in your head
Helps us learn	the alphabet song, counting songs, songs about the planets or the days of the week

Music has many jobs in a community.

Music in Upper Canada, long ago

About 200 years ago, the land that is now southern Ontario was called Upper Canada. What music might you have heard?

First Nations music: First Nations, including Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples, were making music on this land long before settlers arrived, with songs, hand drums, water drums, rattles and flutes. Haudenosaunee social songs, for dances like the Women's Shuffle Dance, are still sung today with a water drum and a horn rattle.
Fiddle music: settlers from Scotland, Ireland, England and France brought fiddles. Fiddlers played reels and jigs for dances after a bee (a work gathering).
Voyageur songs: voyageurs paddling canoes sang French songs like En roulant ma boule and À la claire fontaine to keep a steady paddling beat together.
Métis music: Métis fiddlers created their own lively style. The Métis fiddle tradition is still strong today.
Bagpipes: many Scottish settlers, for example in Glengarry County in eastern Ontario, played bagpipes.
Fife and drum: soldiers marched to fifes and drums. Today, at historic sites such as Fort York in Toronto, you can still hear fife and drum music played the way soldiers did long ago.
Singing at home and in places of worship: families sang songs and hymns together. There was no radio. If you wanted music, you made it!

A violin and bow on a rough wooden table inside a log house with a stone fireplace. — A fiddle in a pioneer log house at a heritage village today. Fiddle music was often played at gatherings in Upper Canada. AI-generated image

Music	Community, time or place	What you might hear (music words!)
Haudenosaunee social songs	Haudenosaunee, long ago and today	singing with a steady beat on a water drum (struck) and a horn rattle (shaken)
Anishinaabe hand drum songs	Anishinaabe, long ago and today	a singer with a hand drum (struck), steady beat
Métis fiddle tunes	Métis, from the 1800s to today	fast, lively fiddle (bowed) with foot tapping
Inuit drum songs	Inuit, long ago and today	a large frame drum struck on its rim, with singing
Inuit throat singing (katajjaq)	Inuit, long ago and today	two singers trading quick, rhythmic sounds, low and high
Voyageur songs	French-Canadian and Métis canoe paddlers, 1700s–1800s	unison singing, steady beat, a leader sings and others answer
Fife and drum	soldiers in Upper Canada, early 1800s	high fife (blown) and snare drum (struck), marching tempo
Steel pan	Trinidad and Tobago; Caribbean communities in Canada today	bright, ringing struck metal pans
Dhol drumming	Punjabi communities; Canada today	a two-headed drum (struck), forte, energetic, for bhangra
Koto music	Japan, long ago and today	a long string instrument (plucked), often gentle and smooth

Music from different communities, times and places.

Listening with respect

Listen with an open mind. "That's new to me!" is a great thing to say.
Some songs are sacred or belong to a family or a ceremony. We listen to and learn about them, but we do not sing them as a joke or a game.
Social songs and many folk songs are shared openly. Learn them from people of that community, or from recordings and books they share.
First Nations, Métis and Inuit music is not only from the past. Indigenous musicians in Canada today make traditional music and also rock, pop, country, hip hop and electronic music.

Worked example

Example: Comparing music then and now

How is a fiddle tune at a bee in Upper Canada similar to and different from music at a community festival today?

Same role: both bring people together and are used for dancing and celebrating.
Different instruments: long ago, mostly fiddle, maybe a drum; today, maybe a band with electric guitars, a DJ, or a fiddle too!
Different technology: long ago, music had to be live; today, we can play recordings and use microphones and speakers.
Still here today: fiddle music is still played at many festivals, including Métis fiddle and jigging contests.

The role of music (bringing people together, dancing, celebrating) has stayed the same, even though the instruments and technology have changed.

What changed and what stayed the same. The instruments and technology changed, but the role of the music did not.

Worked example

Example: Singing a voyageur song

Let's sing a voyageur song the way the paddlers might have: En roulant ma boule.

Context: voyageurs paddled canoes for many hours. Singing helped them paddle together to a steady beat and made the work feel easier.
Call and response: a leader sings a line, and everyone answers with the chorus: "En roulant ma boule roulant, en roulant ma boule" ("rolling my ball").
Move: sit on the floor in a line, one behind the other, and "paddle" on the beat, switching sides together.
Music words: the beat is steady, the singing is in unison in the chorus, and the form is call and response.

Singing the song while moving shows its purpose (working together) and its context (voyageurs paddling canoes long ago).

Call and response in a voyageur song. The leader calls, the paddlers answer, and everyone paddles on the same beat.

Just for fun

Fun fact: A song that gets stuck in your head has a funny name: an earworm! Advertising jingles are made to become earworms, so you remember them.

Hands-on activity

Community music hunt

You need: a grown-up, a notebook, and a device for recordings.

For one week, write down every time you hear music in your community: at school, in stores, in ads, at a place of worship, at a game. Next to each, write its job: celebrate, unite, dance, communicate, entertain, advertise or learn.
With your grown-up, listen to two pieces from the table above. Look for recordings shared by the musicians or their communities (for example, a cultural centre or a historic site like Fort York).
For each, say how it made you feel, and name two music words (tempo, dynamics, timbre, instruments, texture).
Ask an older family member: "What music did you hear in your community when you were my age?" Compare it with music today.

Your turn

Name three ways music is used in a community.

What is a jingle?

Why did voyageurs sing while paddling?

Which instrument played for dances at bees in Upper Canada?

Name the two instruments used with Haudenosaunee social songs.

Name a learning song you know.

Listen to music from a culture that is new to you. Say how it made you feel and name one music word.

More practice: warm-up

What was Upper Canada?

Which instrument do soldiers play with a drum in fife and drum music?

Is a fiddle bowed or blown?

True or false: First Nations, Métis and Inuit music is only from the past.

What language are En roulant ma boule and À la claire fontaine in?

More practice: on your own

Why did families in Upper Canada make so much music at home?

How does a jingle use the elements of music to help people remember it?

How is singing "O Canada" at a hockey game a way music unites a group?

Compare Métis fiddle music and Scottish bagpipe music. Name one similarity and one difference.

Your friend laughs at a recording of Inuit throat singing. What could you say?

Challenge

Choose one piece of music from this lesson. Tell its community or time, its role, and describe it with three music words.

Music from long ago was always live. How might that have changed the way people experienced music, compared with today?

Plan a short community concert program with 3 pieces for 3 different jobs. Name each job.

Check your understanding

Quiz

A short, catchy song in an advertisement is a ___.

Why did voyageurs sing while they paddled?

Which instruments go with Haudenosaunee social songs?

Upper Canada is now part of ___.

Singing "O Canada" together at an assembly mostly ___.

Which is true about First Nations, Métis and Inuit music?

The alphabet song is used mostly to ___.

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 3 students identify and describe ways music is used in the community (C3.1): marking celebrations, uniting groups, dancing, communicating, entertaining, advertising and learning. They identify, through performing and listening, music from different communities, times and places (C3.2), including songs, instrumental pieces and dance music from early settler and First Nations communities in Upper Canada, which connects to Grade 3 Social Studies (Communities in Canada, 1780–1850). They also express personal responses (C2.1).

How to help at home:

Point out music's jobs in daily life: "Why do you think that store plays music? Why does that ad have a song?"
Visit or look up historic sites and museums (many Ontario historic sites have music demonstrations).
Choose recordings shared by musicians and their own communities.

Common difficulties:

Thinking Indigenous music is only historical. Point to living Indigenous musicians and events today.
Unkind reactions to unfamiliar music. Model curiosity: "What do you notice? What instruments do you hear?"
Mixing up roles and reasons. Both are fine at this age; the goal is to connect music with how people use it.