Exploring Highs & Lows

Unit: Musical Explorations: Hands-On Fun

Lesson: 3 of 10

Year Level: Year 1

Subject: Music

Duration: 30 minutes

Class Size: 1 student (individual session)

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🎯 Curriculum Links

Australian Curriculum: The Arts – Music (Version 9.0)
Level: Foundation to Year 2

Strand: Exploring and responding; Developing practices and skills; Creating and making

Content Descriptions:

• AC9AMU2E01: Explore how sound sources can be used to make music and how music can represent ideas.
• AC9AMU2P01: Develop and practise the technical and expressive skills needed to communicate ideas in music they make.
• AC9AMU2P02: Create, perform and record music ideas using voice, instruments and body percussion.

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🎵 Learning Intentions

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

• Identify and describe the difference between high and low sounds
• Use a xylophone or keyboard to demonstrate high and low pitches
• Match sounds to corresponding visual symbols representing pitch

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✅ Success Criteria

I can:

• Listen to a sound and say if it is high or low
• Play a high or low pitch sound confidently on an instrument
• Match a drawing or visual cue to the correct sound

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🧠 Prior Knowledge

• Basic understanding that sounds can be loud/soft (from Lesson 2)
• Exposure to tuned percussion instruments (e.g. glockenspiel or xylophone)
• Comfort with identifying and copying rhythmic patterns using body percussion

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🎉 Hook (5 minutes)

Activity: “Sound Detective – Up or Down?”

• The student listens to a series of 5 pre-recorded or teacher-played sounds (e.g., squeaky mouse, deep drum, bird chirp, rumbling thunder, whistle).
• After each sound, the student decides: was that sound high or low?
• Use a "Pitch Paddle" (teacher-made): one end has a picture of a mountain for "high", and the other has a picture of a cave for "low". The student flips it to show their guess for each sound.

🎤 Teacher Prompt: “What do your ears hear? Does that sound live up in the sky or deep in the ground?”

This sets up the visual and conceptual understanding of pitch using metaphor and vivid imagery – ideal for Year 1 imagination!

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🛠 Explicit Teaching (7 minutes)

Introduce the Concept of Pitch (High vs. Low)

• Model using a xylophone or keyboard:
  • Start at the lowest note and slowly go up the scale
  • Describe visually and aurally what’s happening: “We’re climbing a ladder of sound!”
  • Use hand gestures: raise hand up high for high pitch, down low for low pitch
• Explain that musicians use special signs to show high and low, and we’ll be using pictures today.

🎹 Visual Aid: Create a “Sound Ladder” on the wall (or paper) with images: balloons/kites at the top, rocks/frogs at the bottom. These will correspond to notes on the instrument.

👏 Encourage the student to trace the shape with their hand in the air as you go from high to low.

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🤲 Guided Exploration (8 minutes)

Activity: “Play the Picture!”

Materials Needed:

• Xylophone or keyboard
• Printed visual cue cards (mountain = high, cave = low, bird on tree, fish under water, etc.)

• Place two or three visual cards in front of the student
• Ask: "Which one should we play?"
• Student chooses a card and uses the instrument to play a sound that matches the picture

🎤 Teacher Tip: Guide student fingers gently if needed—let them explore while giving encouragement.

🎶 Extend: Try matching multiple cards in a sequence: high–low–high (e.g. kite, fish, kite).

Visual support like happy and sad emojis can also be layered in to let the student reflect on how pitch can show feelings.

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🦘 Independent Practice (6 minutes)

Challenge Game: “Colour My Pitch!”

Materials Needed:

• Coloured tokens (blue = low, yellow = high)
• Printed “Pitch Paths” worksheet with dots at varying vertical positions

• Student looks at each dot and places the correct coloured token on it (blue on low dots, yellow on high dots)
• After ‘colouring’ with tokens, they go back and play the matching pitch on the instrument

🎯 Extension Task: Create their own “Pitch Path” on paper — just dot stickers or draw lines — then play it!

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🤩 Reflection & Wrap-Up (4 minutes)

🎤 Verbal Reflection Prompts:

• “Which sound was your favourite today – high or low?”
• “What do high sounds remind you of? What about low sounds?”
• “Can your voice make a high sound? What about low?”

Invite the student to demonstrate with their voice and body. Encourage them to draw how a sound felt or where it "went" — up or down.

🎖 Celebration: End with a silly, improvised short "Pitch Parade" – the student plays a short tune choosing only one kind of pitch (either only high ones or only low ones). March, tip-toe, or crawl around the space to reflect the sound!

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🧰 Assessment Opportunities

Formative Assessment Through Observation:

• Does the student accurately identify pitch direction (high/low)?
• Can they physically and instrumentally represent pitch?
• Do they engage confidently with the sound-symbol matching task?

Evidence Collection:

• Photograph their “Pitch Path” or visual sorting task
• Audio or video sample of the student playing their own pitch sequence

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🔄 Differentiation & Adjustments

Support:

• Provide extra modelling or hand-over-hand assistance on instruments
• Use simplified tasks with only two pitch options to reduce cognitive load

Extension:

• Introduce three-step pitch sequences (e.g. high–middle–low)
• Student copies simple played sequences (aural memory development)

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🎒 Resources & Materials Checklist

• Xylophone or keyboard
• “Pitch Paddle” visual
• Picture cue cards (birds, caves, balloons, fish, mountain, etc.)
• Colour-coded tokens
• “Pitch Paths” worksheet
• Drawing materials
• Audio recording if needed for intro sounds

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🌟 Next Lesson Preview (Lesson 4)

Title: "Move to the Beat"
Focus: Exploring how movement connects to beat and rhythm using body percussion and simple rhythms.

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“Music is a place for imagination. Today we learned how sounds can go up and down — just like us!”

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