Acidentals Lesson Plan for 7th Grade Students

Topic: Accidentals

Objectives & Outcomes

• By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify and name the seven musical accidentals.

Materials

• Music sheets with examples of each accidental
• Pencils and erasers

Warm-up

• Ask students what they know about musical notes and pitch.
• Play a few examples of music with different pitches and ask students to identify the high and low pitches.
• Ask students if they have ever heard of the term 'accidental' before. Ask them to explain what it is.

Direct Instruction

• Introduce the concept of accidentals and their function in music. Explain that accidentals are symbols that appear next to a note to indicate a change in its pitch.
• Use the whiteboard to demonstrate how to use each accidental. Show how to raise a note by a semitone using the sharp symbol (#), and how to lower a note by a semitone using the flat symbol (b).
• Explain that there are also two other kinds of accidentals: the natural symbol (n) and the sharp-flat symbol (sharpsharp-flat).
• The natural symbol indicates that a note is intended to be played at its natural, unaltered pitch.
• The sharp-flat symbol indicates that a note is intended to be played at a pitch that is one semitone higher or lower than its written pitch.
• Use examples from the warm-up phase to demonstrate how to use accidentals in music.

Warm-up

• Use the warm-up worksheets to have students practice identifying and writing the correct accidental for each note. These worksheets can be completed as individual or group work.
• Assist students as needed and provide feedback and encouragement.

Independent Practice

• Have students use the blank staff to write a passage with one or more notes that require an accidental.
• Encourage students to check their work for accuracy and to justify the accidental(s) they have written.

Closure

• Review the names of the accidentals and the notes to which they apply.
• Ask students to share one thing they learned about accidentals during the lesson.

Assessment

• Observe students during the guided practice activity to assess their understanding of the concept of accidentals and the notes to which they apply.
• Collect and review their completed worksheets to assess their ability to apply the names and symbols of the accidentals to the correct notes.