Tonic Chord in “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Grades 5–8 Chorus

Objective

• Students will demonstrate perception of the root, third, and fifth of the tonic chord by appropriate movement responses.

National Standard

6C: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music: Students demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions in their analyses of music.

Materials

• Songs or recordings of music with prominent use of the tonic chord; for example, “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “The Marines’ Hymn.” Also, “In the Mood,” “Amazing Grace,” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
• Audio-playback equipment (if recordings are used).

Prior Knowledge and Experiences

• Students can read standard notation symbols for pitch and rhythm.
• Students have begun to work on audiating the tonal center and tonic chord intervals.

Procedures

1. Play C above middle C on the keyboard and ask students to sing it on the syllable do. Tell students to be ready to sing that C (do) on cue whenever you conduct it. After talking for a few minutes, give students the cue to sing the C on do. Talk for a longer period, and cue the do again. Continue to experiment to see how long students can remember do.

2. Challenge students to listen carefully as you play the various pitches of the tonic chord. Ask students to respond with the following movements or gestures:

root–sit or remain sitting
third–stand
fifth–stand with arms extended forward, shoulder height
octave–stand with arms stretched overhead
fifth below tonic–sit and touch the floor

3. Reinforce each pitch before you add the next pitch, allowing students to experience success before adding a pitch.

4. Play songs or recordings in which the tonic chord is melodically prominent. Challenge students to identify the tonic chord intervals when they hear them in these examples by standing and singing on a neutral syllable or words.

Indicators of Success

• Students identify tonic chord intervals within melodies of music of various styles.

Follow-up

• Help students progress to aural identification of dominant-tonic progression by playing the progression in several keys.
• Play recorded examples of V-I, such as the coda of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5, fourth movement. After students have heard the coda two or three times, ask them to sing sol on the root of the dominant chord and do on the root of the tonic chord as they listen.

From Strategies for Teaching Elementary and Middle-Level Chorus. Compiled and edited by Ann R. Small and Judy K. Bowers. Copyright 1997. MENC, Reston, VA.

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