Art of Music: Collaborative Project

Collaborating with Art on a whole new level.

“The Art of Music” is a collaborative lesson done between the art teacher and the music teacher. This lesson can be done with choir, band or general music classes. This is how we implemented this assignment for art and general music classes. ENJOY!

BUT FIRST, you might want to watch this video which gave us inspiration! You can even show this to your kids!

ART:

1. The art teacher cut up cardboard boxes into 4×7 rectangles.

2. The students took yarn and glue and sculpted a line onto the cardboard.

3. Tin Foil was put over the cardboard and yarn (covered and taped on the back). This was cool, because it created raised areas on the art work.

4. Students drew a music staff on the tin foil and then added colors with permanent markers.

MUSIC:

1. I discussed with the students on music interpretation and how everyone’s view is different.

2. Student determined what the line and colors meant to them. For Example: The curves mean More or Less instruments and the colors mean what instruments OR curves could mean dynamics and the colors mean different notes or rhythms.

3. My general music class interpreted their art work as notation through Garage Band on our iPads (you can also use Band Lab - which is free!). We used the “smart” instruments or the loop effects in Garage Band.

4. After they were done, they titled their music with their name and I downloaded them on to my Google Drive account. I got the link to their downloaded songs on Google Drive and converted the links to QR codes. TIP: You can create a Google Sheet and use the QR code description in the next column. Pretty cool. Here is the description I used that you can copy and paste into your sheet: =image(“https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chs=150×150&cht=qr&chl=”&A2)

5. Print off the QR codes, cut them out and put them on the art work to display in the hallway.

Where the QR is placed is where I entered the formula mentioned about. Press "ENTER" and it create the QR code.

This is great for Parent Teacher Conferences because they can find their child’s artwork and scan the QR code to listen to their song they created!!!!

If you are wanting to do this for band or choir, have your students use their respective “instruments” to create their music. This doesn’t have to be traditional sounds either; mouthpieces, clicking of keys, flutter tonguing, beat boxing, etc. GET CREATIVE! You can even have other kids interpret each others art work!

If you are looking for more resources for your music classroom or band classroom, please feel free to visit my other blog posts below!

• How to Create Band Lesson Plans to Engage Students on Multiple Levels

• 5 Incredibly Easy Middle School Music Games for the Classroom

• 3 Fantastic Music Activity for Kids in Middle School