Unit Project

Student
Impact Project: Elementary Band

Improving students knowledge of Fingerings through Mary Poppins and Jurassic
Park
Unit Objectives
• Students can identify fingerings based on a picture of their instrument
• Students can identify different notes and fingerings in the context of different
Music
• Students can describe different fingerings when given notes
• Students can compare and contrast different closely related fingerings

Standards
• EI. 1 The student will echo, read, and notate music including
o Identifying, defining, and using basic standard notation for pitch,
rhythm, meter, articulation, dynamics, and other elements of music
• EI.5 The student will identify and notate key signatures of scales and
literature being performed
• EI. 11 The student will demonstrate proper instrumental techniques,
including
o Finger/slide placement, using finger/slide patterns and
fingering/positions

Pre-‐test/Post Test
On the next page is an example of the test I administered at the beginning and end of
the unit to assess student’s growth. For this project I focused on a sixth grade
saxophone class.

Class Average: 12/20

Student 1: 12/20

Student 2: 11/20

Student 3: 13/20

Student 4: 14/20

Student 5: 13/20

Student 6: 17/20

Student 7: 6/20

Student 8: 6/20

Student 9: 18/20

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1:

Objectives
• I can identify and describe different fingerings when given a picture
• I can identify and describe different fingerings in the context of music
• I can play measures 1-‐11 of Mary Poppins with
• I can play measures 1-‐29 of Jurassic Park
Materials
• Fingering Pre-‐test
• Jurassic Park
• Mary Poppins
Procedures
• As students walk in have them take a Fingering pretest
• Give students 5 minutes to take the pretest
• Have students get their instruments out
• Have the students warm-‐up by playing their G scale in half notes and then in
quarter notes
o The teacher can address posture and tone
• Have students take out Mary Poppins
• Have students look at the key signature for the song to figure out if there are
any accidentals
o Review the fingerings for F natural
• Have students from both saxophone parts say and finger the notes for
measure 1-‐4
o Isolate measure 2 and review the fingering for A# (the teacher can
write it on the board)
o The teacher can have everyone play the A# out of context
• Have students play measures 1-‐4
o The teacher can isolate the dotted quarter note rhythm in the second
measure if students are having trouble with it
• Have students playing the second alto Saxophone part to say and finger the
notes for measures 5-‐11
• Have students playing the second alto part to play from measures 5-‐11
o The first altos can finger along
• Have students playing the first alto saxophone part to say and finger the
notes for measure 5-‐11
o Those playing the second part can finger along with their notes
o Make sure to go over the fingerings for G and D# (ask students for the
fingering, writing it on the board and have them play it out of context)
• Have students playing the first part to play measures 5-‐11
• Have both saxophone parts play measures 5-‐11
• Have both saxophone parts play from the beginning to measure 11
• Have students pull out Jurassic Park
• Have students review the measures that they learned two weeks ago
o The teacher can go back and break down measures that students are
still having trouble with
• Have students sing and finger measures 17-‐21
• Have students sing and finger measures 21-‐29
o Review the fingering for C# and play the notes out of context
o The teacher can isolate the measures with eighth notes
o The teacher can isolate measures 27 and 28
• Have students play from the beginning to measure 29
•
Extensions
• If students get through the sections of Jurassic Park and Mary Poppins they
can go on to additional sections in the songs

Adaptations
• Size: The teacher can break down songs and measures so students can
understand notes and rhythm
• Pacing: the teacher can adjust the pacing depending on which songs need
more/less work
• Modality
o Visual: If students forget fingerings, the teacher can write them on the
board for them to reference
o Aural: The teachers can help students with notes and rhythm by
singing them and having students sing with her
o Kinesthetic: Students can tap their toe or move to keep the beat

Lesson 2:

Objectives
• I can play the G and D scale in different rhythms
• I can identify different notes and fingerings based on a picture
• I can play measures 1-‐11 of Mary Poppins with correct notes and fingerings
• I can play measures 1-‐29 in Jurassic Park with correct notes and fingerings
• I can play measures 1-‐ 29 of Beauty and the Beast with correct notes and
fingerings

Materials
• www.musicracer.com
• Mary Poppins
• Beauty and the Beast
• Jurassic Park

Procedures
• Have students crowd around the Smart board
• Have students go through all three levels of the fingering game for saxophone
o The teacher can isolate different fingerings that students are having
trouble with and review them using the white board
• Students will play a G scale in half notes
o The teacher can give feedback on students sound and posture
• Students will play the G scale in quarter notes
• Students will play the D scale in half notes
• Students will play the D scale in quarter notes
o The teacher can use these scales to review the fingerings for F#, F
natural and C#
• Students will review measure 1-‐11 of Mary Poppins
o The teacher can go back and review any notes/rhythms that students
are still having trouble with
o The teacher can review the fingering for A# by writing it on the board
o The teacher should review the fingerings for G and F/F# on top of the
staff that students learned the previous week
• Have students take out Jurassic Park
• Have the students play measures 1-‐ 17
o The teacher can check individual measures and rhythms
o The teacher can review the fingering for Bb by writing it on the board
and having students play it out of context
• Have students take out Beauty and the Beast
• Have students review measures 1-‐ 5 in Beauty and the Beast
• Have students say and finger the notes in measures 5-‐13
• Have students play through measures 1-‐13
• Have students play from the beginning – measure 13.
• Have students say and finger the notes for measures 13-‐21
o The teacher can isolate individual measures
• Have students say and finger measures 21-‐29
• Have students play from the beginning to measures 29
• Have students pack up their instruments and music
Assessment
• Students can check-‐off portions on their practice charts by playing their
music for the teacher by themselves or in small groups
Extensions
• If there is time students can learn more measures in Beauty in the Beast,
Mary Poppins or Jurassic Park
• Students can learn another scale in addition to G and D major

Adaptations
more/less work
• Modality
o Kinesthetic: Students can tap their toe or move to keep the beat

Lesson 3

Objectives
• I can name notes when given a picture of the fingering
• I can play a G and D major scale in whole, half, quarter and eighth notes
• I can play measures 1-‐24 in Mary Poppins with correct notes and rhythms
• I can play measures 1-‐37 in Handclap with correct notes and rhythms

Materials
• www.musicracer.com
• Mary Poppins
• Handclap

Procedure
• Pull up the Fingering game on musicracer.com
• Go through the three levels as a class to see how fast students can name
fingerings based on the picture
o Review fingerings by writing on the board
• Have students play a G major scale in Whole notes, half notes, quarter notes
and eighth notes
o The teacher can address tone and posture
• Repeat the same process with the D Major scale
• Introduce the C major scale and have students name all of the notes in the C
scale
o The teacher can review the fingering for low C by writing it on the
board and having students play it out of context
• Have students take out Mary Poppins
• Have students play measures 1-‐11 for review
o The teacher can isolate individual measures for rhythm (measures 2
and 6)
o The teacher can review the fingerings for A# and G
• Have saxophone 1 say and finger the notes for measures 11-‐24
• Have saxophone 1 play measures 11-‐24
o The teacher can isolate measures for rhythm and notes
• Have saxophone 2 say and finger the notes for measures 11-‐24
• Have saxophone 2 play measures 11-‐24
o The teacher can isolate measures for rhythm and notes
• Have all students play measures 11-‐24
• Have students play from the beginning to measure 24
• Have students take out Handclap
• Have students say and finger the notes for measures 1-‐4
o The teacher can isolate the fingering for G and write it on the board
o The teacher can isolate measures for notes or rhythms
• Have the Bari Sax part say and finger the notes for measures 5-‐9
o The teacher can isolate the dotted quarter note rhythm
• Have the Bari Sax part play measures 5-‐9
• Have the Alto sax part say and the finger their notes for measures 5-‐9
o The teacher can isolate measures for the eighth notes
• Have the Alto sax part play measures 5-‐9
• Have all parts play measures 5-‐9
• Have the Bari sax part say the notes for measure 10 (for the eighth notes)
• Have the Bari sax part play measures 9-‐19
• Have the Alto sax part say and finger the notes for measures 17 and 18
o Review what beat they come in on in measures 17
• Have the Alto sax part play measures 17-‐18
• Have all parts say and finger the notes for measures 19-‐23
• Have all parts play from the beginning to measure 37
• Pass out the Fingering Post test and give students 10 minutes to fill it out

Assessment
• The teacher can have students play individually or in small groups to assess
if they are playing correct notes and rhythms

Extension
• The teacher can work on additional sections of music if there is time left in
class
• The teacher can review sections of Beauty and the Beast or Jurassic Park if
there is time left in class

Adaptations
more/less work
• Modality
Kinesthetic: Students can tap their toe or move to keep the beat

Post Test

For the post-‐test, I gave the exact same worksheet from the Pre-‐test (see above).
This was to see how much students have grown over the course of the Unit

Class Average: 17/20 Student 5: 20/20

Student 1: 17/20 Student 6: 20/20



Reflection:

For my Elementary placement I wanted to pick something that students could use
additional practice on. In addition I wanted to plan something that students and my
cooperating teacher could use after I left. After observing all of the classes, my
cooperating teacher and I decided to do a Unit on fingerings. I used the music that
students would be using for their spring concert to help design a unit where
students learned new fingerings and practiced ones they already knew. For this unit
I focused on the sixth grade saxophone class. I used the songs “Themes from Mary
Poppins” and “Jurassic Park” to put everything I taught in context.

Some obstacles I faced over the course of the unit is all the snow days. With all of the
days off and delays we missed several classes. This meant that sometimes students
would get 1-‐2 weeks off before the next class, so it was harder to pick up on the
previous lesson because of all the time off. In addition this meant I had to alter
lessons to accommodate more time to review previous lessons since it had been a
long time since we had seen the class. Another obstacle I ran into was student’s not
practicing. When students didn’t practice week to week it made it hard to continue
on to the next lesson because we had to go over the same sections of music as the
previous week. This made it hard to put our new fingerings into context because we
couldn’t go over the sections with the new notes in it.

Through this unit project I was able to find new technology and strategies that
engaged my students and helped them understand fingerings. I discovered the
website musicracer.com that has games for note reading, fingerings, and music
vocabulary. I was able to use this in my unit project as a game every week before
we started playing. This helped me assess student’s progress every week because I
was able to see their growth after every lesson. This also helped me plan for the
following lesson because I was able to see what I need to focus on for the next
week. Overall, I think this Unit was successful because of all the growth shown by
students over the course the 3 lessons.

Unit Project

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