Boom! Crash! Splash! A Weather Themed Composition Project.

Teaching students to compose music independently can feel chaotic, complex, and even a little risky. Some kids dive in with excitement, while others freeze, unsure of where to begin. That’s why, when we start teaching composition, we break it down and provide plenty of scaffolding:

• “Here are some rhythms—try putting them in an order.”
  
• “Choose body percussion or an instrument to play these rhythms on.”
  
• “These are the notes—assign each one a rhythm.”
  
• “Your composition needs this many beats—now create a melody and rhythm to fit.”
  

Each step builds their confidence and gives them the tools they need to eventually compose from scratch. By the end of Grades 5 and 6, my goal is for students to create a complete, original piece of music. One of my favourite ways to bring everything together? Weather sound poems—our final composition project that blends creativity, structure, and expression. 

To begin, I show my students “The Magic of Sound” video found on YouTube. This is a video about how sound effects are made for different types of weather. After the video, we discussed what sound effect they were most surprised by. For me, it was the cornstarch for crunchy snow footsteps!

​Just a Little Bit more Scaffolding!
Now, because we don’t want to take the scaffolding out from under the completely, the next step is to do a weather sound poem as a class. 

I teach the students the poem by rote, the same way I would teach them to sing a song. Then I tell the students that we are going to add a percussion instrument to the poem, making it into a soundscape.  

We discuss what instrument would be good to add to the poem.
Where would we add this instrument?
Why that instrument, in that place, is a good musical choice. 
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As we discuss and choose instruments, I record the chosen instruments, the words to say them with, and the reasoning for choosing those instruments on a recording sheet. I have learned through trial and error that students often choose the fun, novelty instruments because they want to play them. Not because they make sense musically - thunder can in a poem about a sunny day, anyone?

Once we have chosen our instruments, it’s time to test out our creation. We will play through the poem, students will suggest changes, and I will give them the opportunity to play different instruments in the poem.

Set them free!
Once we have the group's sound poem sound solid and I have some confidence that they will create musical masterpieces, I will send them on their way to create their own sound poem! 

Now, you could totally have your students write the poem and add the sound effects, but I personally don’t want to dedicate that much time to this composition project. And I also know that I would likely have some students who would completely shut down if I told them that they needed to write a poem. Long explanation short- I give my students prewritten poems! 

If you’re in the same boat as me and want to give your students ready-to-go poems. I have a ready-to-present PowerPoint for free!

​Free Weather Soundscape Lesson Pack

Since I create the poems for the students, I read each poem to the class first. Once I have read the poems, I will pull sticks with student names and have them choose which poem they will want to work on. This still gives students a choice, but it makes sure that no one is left out while making groups, and it can prevent some management problems 

Then the students get to work. I tell my students that they have to have their entire planning page filled out and checked by me BEFORE THEY TOUCH an instrument. If they want to know what one sounds like, I will play it for them. And I always let them make changes if they start practicing and don’t like their instrument choice.

I find this whole process — right from watching the video to the group composition, to composing, practice time, and wrapping up with performances — to take about 4-5 of my 35-minute classes if that's the only thing we are working on. In the past, I have also invited lower elementary students and their classroom teacher to watch the final performance!

This composition has yielded some great, well-thought-out and well-put-together performances, as well as some that were a bit of a train wreck. Throughout the entire process, I support students by offering musical suggestions and resolving disagreements; however, I truly believe this is one of the most authentic music-composition activities my students engage in during their entire elementary music career. And the cross-curricular component with weather is an added bonus!

Make sure you grab my free lesson pack for this project- with it, you will get all the poems and recording sheet! 

Enjoy! 
Jayna​