Lesson Plan

Name: Jacob Morese Date: 3/28/19

Grade: 9 Class Type: General Music

1. Measurable Objective(s):

Students will explore and learn about diatonic seventh chords and their qualities in both major and
natural minor keys by:
 Beginning with reviewing diatonic triads and their qualities in major and minor keys.
 Then hearing the difference between diatonic triads and seventh chords.
 Then students are to explore the diatonic seventh chords and their qualities in both major
and natural minor by taking notes on the material written on the board, as well as student
involvement in determining correct chord construction, and proper chord qualities after
being given examples of how to determine these things.
 And conclude with an assignment in which the students are to compose their own harmonic
progression using diatonic seventh chords.

2. Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:

Students should be able to read and recognize notes in both the treble and bass clefs. Students should
also be familiar with diatonic triads in major and minor keys, as well as being able to determine and
identify intervals between notes.

3. Review Needed:

The content that needs to be reviewed includes:

 The notes in both the treble and bass clefs.
 Major and minor key signatures with flats and with sharps.
 Diatonic triads in both major and minor.
 Intervals between notes.

4. Materials, Repertoire, Equipment needed:

 PowerPoint to review notes in the treble and bass clefs, major and minor key signatures with
flats and with sharps, diatonic triads, and intervals.
 Staff paper for each student.
 Markers for writing on the board to further explain and convey the new musical concepts
being taught.
 A piano or keyboard to play some examples for the students.

5. Agenda:

 PowerPoint Review
 Difference in Sound Between Triads and Seventh Chords
 Diatonic Seventh Chords in Major
 Diatonic Seventh Chords in Natural Minor
 Composing Harmonic Progressions
 Questions/Conclusion

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6. Lesson Sequence Pacing
A. Brief Opening:

Students will be presented with a PowerPoint, which will review the musical 10 Minutes
concepts that they should know prior to diving into this lesson. As mentioned, this
review includes: the notes in the treble and bass clefs, major and minor key
signatures with flats and sharps, diatonic triads in both major and minor, and
identifying intervals between notes. Throughout this review, students will be called
upon at random to answer questions pertaining to these musical concepts. This is to
ensure that each student has an understanding of the old material before moving on
to the lesson on diatonic seventh chords. To introduce diatonic seventh chords,
triads and seventh chords will be compared and played at the piano, and students
will be asked to share the difference they hear between triads and seventh chords.

B. Learning Activities:

1. Students will first explore diatonic seventh chords in major by taking notes on the 1. 10 Minutes
following information, as well as being involved in determining the correct chord
construction and qualities of the chords once it has been explained how to
determine such things. To keep things simple and easily digestible, students will be
taught diatonic seventh chords in the key of C Major (which has no flats or sharps).
As this material is taught and written on the board, students are to take notes and
answer the teacher’s questions that are intended to guide students to determine the
qualities of these chords themselves. First, the notes diatonic to the key of C Major
will be written out as a scale (C, D, E,F, G, A, B). To construct the diatonic seventh
chords, each note in that scale is to have 3 notes added to it, stacked in thirds using
every other note in the scale (Example: C-E-G-B, D-F-A-C, etc.). The diatonic triads in
the key of C Major will then be written out. The students will be asked at this point
to build seventh chords using the diatonic triads as reference and by stacking 4
notes in thirds. As this is the first time that the students are constructing diatonic
seventh chords, the teacher will guide the students to the correct answer if they
seem to be struggling or confused. Going around the classroom, students will spell
and construct each of the seven diatonic seventh chords found in C major. Next,
each of the constructed seventh chords will be named and given a quality by
comparing them to the diatonic triads and analyzing the intervals between each
note in the chords. It will then be explained to the students that in every major key,
the first diatonic seventh chord will always be Major 7, the second will always be a
Minor 7, the third will always be a Minor 7, the fourth will always be a Major 7, the
fifth will always be a Dominant 7, the sixth will always be a Minor 7, and the seventh
will always be a Half-Diminished 7 (-7 b5). A Major 7 chord is a major triad with a
major 7th, a Minor 7 chord is a minor triad with a minor 7th, a Dominant 7 chord is a
major triad with a minor 7th, and a Half-Diminished 7 chord (or -7 b5) is a
diminished triad with a minor 7th. All diatonic seventh chords for C Major will be
written out, and then the students will be asked to spell the diatonic seventh chords
in the key of F Major. In determining the diatonic seventh chords for F Major,
students will work independently for a couple of minutes and write down what they
think is the correct chord structure, quality, and name of the chords. As the students
work on this, the teacher will walk around the classroom and check their answers.
Feedback and help will be given to those students with incorrect answers before
having the students write the correct answers on the board.

2. Students will then explore the diatonic seventh chords in natural minor by a 2. 10 Minutes
similar process to how they explored the diatonic seventh chords of major keys. To
help avoid any confusion and to help draw comparisons to the major key diatonic

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seventh chords, diatonic seventh chords in natural minor will be taught in the key of
C Minor (which has the same notes as C Major with a flat 3,6, and 7). Just as was
done with the major key, the notes diatonic to the key of C Minor will be first
written out as a scale (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb). As this is first being introduced,
students will take notes on the material as they did when being taught the diatonic
seventh chords in major. The diatonic triads in the key of C Minor will then be
written out on the board by the students. Again, just as with the diatonic seventh
chords in major, the students will construct the seven diatonic seventh chords in
natural minor by stacking 4 notes in thirds by going up the scale that was written
out. Once these seven chords are spelled out, it is to be explained that in every
natural minor key, the first diatonic seventh chord will always be a Minor 7, the
second will always be a Half-Diminished 7 (or -7 b5), the third will always be a
Major 7, the fourth will always be a Minor 7, the fifth will always be a Minor 7, the
sixth will always be a Major 7, and the seventh will always be a Dominant 7. The
students will determine the qualities and names of the chords by comparing them to
the diatonic triads of natural minor, as well as by analyzing the intervals between
the notes of each chord. All diatonic seventh chords in the key of C Minor as well as
their names and qualities will then be written out. Again, just as with the diatonic
seventh chords in major, students will work independently to construct, name, and
determine the quality of the diatonic seventh chords in the key of D Minor. The
teacher will walk around the classroom to check answers and help those students
who are struggling. Once every student has written the correct answers, they will
come up to the board and write out the correct diatonic seventh chords in the key of
D Minor.

C. Assessment:

As an informal assessment, students will be instructed to compose their own 10 Minutes

harmonic progressions using diatonic seventh chords. Students are to use the grand
staff and are to utilize both the treble and bass clefs when constructing their chords.
Their harmonic progression must be in 4/4 and must only use diatonic seventh
chords in any major or minor key that has 3 or less sharps/flats in the key signature.
The harmonic progression will be a total of five measures with the fifth/final
measure being the 1 chord on whole notes. The first four measures are to be…
written in half notes only (2 chords per measure). Each chord is to be written in
root position and labeled (Example: C-E-G-B is to be labeled C Maj 7). Also, the
concept of a cadence will be briefly explained so that students end their harmonic
progression with V-I. If time, once every student or most of the students have
finished their compositions, one or two volunteer students will have their harmonic
progression played at the piano.

D. Closing/Wrap-up:

To conclude, the class will recap what they learned in this lesson, and questions will 2 Minutes
be taken to clarify any potential confusion or problems.

E. Assignment:

As an informal assignment, the students are to play their harmonic progression on a

piano or keyboard before the next class. If access to a piano or keyboard isn’t
possible for a student, he/she should download a keyboard app on their phone or
find a way to listen to it using online resources.

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7. Accommodations:

If there are students who may have some form of dyslexia or difficulty seeing the information on the
board, everything will be gone over more slowly and everything written on the board will be sure to
be said out loud for them to process the information by ear. Also, as often as possible, the music
written on the board will be played on the piano so the students with difficulty seeing can get a sense
for the sound of the chord. For the final assignment, these students will be told to try their best to
write their harmonic progression in whatever way is easiest for him/her. For ELL students,
explanations of these musical concepts will be mainly conveyed through notation, while using as
little English as possible. Playing as many examples as possible on the piano will also help ELL
students to hear and understand the musical concepts being taught.

8. Teacher Reflection/Self-Evaluation:

N/A (This reflection will be in the form of a separate document that will be completed and handed in
after teaching this lesson in class).

9. National Standards:

MU:Cr2.1.8b Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or audio/ video recording to document personal
rhythmic phrases, melodic phrases, and harmonic sequences.

10. State Standards:

4.6 Improvise and compose simple harmonic accompaniments

5.12 Demonstrate an understanding of how musical elements interact to create expressiveness in music