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Senior Learning Designer for Music: Take-home task

Task 1. Plan note sequences to teach concepts

OBJECTIVE: Review the note sequences and gapped notes in Lesson 1-4 and suggest any changes you would recommend. Then, create a note sequence for Lesson 4 and indicate which note to gap. Briefly explain your rationale.

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Exercise 1

Exercise 2

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First bar, 4th beat

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(Slide 7 below)

(Slide 8 below)

Exploring Music Intervals Through Popular Songs: A Gamified Approach to Learning

From my experience, I've noticed that the most effective way to learn music intervals is through interpretation by association with popular songs. When learners hear a particular music interval, such as the opening of "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran, they can associate that melody with the specific interval Minor 3rd. This relationship becomes evident when playing the "Shape of You" intro starting from any musical note, allowing for a seamless translation of the melody with the Minor 3rd interval.

 

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This association strengthens the learner's understanding and cognitive recognition of intervals in music. My approach resembles to visual learning techniques, where learners connect concepts with visual aids to enhance memory retention. In this case, I'm trying to associate the concept of intervals with audio aids.

 

Therefore, my approach recommends the creation of a fun and gamified version as shown below for interval learning. By showcasing samples from various popular songs, learners can engage with intervals in an interactive and enjoyable manner. This approach leverages the familiarity and appeal of popular music to enhance interval recognition skills, ultimately making the learning process more effective and enjoyable.

Half Step Exercise Simulation

I've created a visual simulation of how I imagine this exercise to look in the Duolingo app. Several such iterations could be used to explain the concept. The same idea could be used for Lesson 1 (octave) and Lesson 3 (whole step).

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**Imagine Fallstaff singing a half step B to C in any syllable like Na-Na or La-La)

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"Jaws" soundtrack
00:00 / 00:09
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"Jaws" soundtrack in Piano (key E)
00:00 / 00:04
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**The 15th slide is an example of creative ways to teach intervals. Other such ideas are Interval Puzzle Quest, Interval Car Racing, Interval Recognition Ear Training Challenge, dating app style left-right swapping to match intervals etc. 

Task 2. Review a lesson-aligned song arrangement

OBJECTIVE: Review the song arrangement and create a revised version incorporating any necessary changes. Briefly explain the reasoning for the changes.

Explanation

 

As mentioned in the assignment, at this point in the course, learners have been taught to read and play only the following notation:

 

  • Treble clef pitches: C4, D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B4, C5, D5, E5

  • Note values: Quarter notes/rests, paired eighth notes, half notes/rests, whole notes/rests

  • Time signatures: 4/4, 3/4

  • Signs/symbols: Treble clef symbol

  • The preceding lesson: single eighth notes and rests.

 

Therefore, I’ve composed a simplified version for ‘The Entertainer’ by only keeping the above and removing concepts that have not been taught yet:

 

  • bass clef

  • sharps

  • flats

  • naturals

  • dynamic markers like mf, mp

  • chord structures

 

As a result, I have a version with only the main melody. I’ve crafted this by analyzing the most suitable and playable melody deduced by combining all three clefs and introducing a new note within the scale wherever necessary to have a decent flow in the melody. The combination of all three clefs doesn’t mean that I’ve included all the notes from each, but only the most viable note arrangement such that the melody is easy to play, recognizable and has a playful tonal quality.

 

Although the lead sheet is now in the tempo of 160, I’d recommend the tempo to be slower around 100 or 120 as the learner is still a beginner.

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