Substitute Lesson Plan: Basic Music Notation

Objective

Students will practice drawing and recognizing the basic building blocks of music notation: noteheads (open and filled), the four clefs (treble, bass, alto, tenor), and ledger lines (both alone and with noteheads attached).

Materials

• Printed copies of "Basic Notation: Noteheads, Clefs, Ledger Lines" worksheet (Chelsey Hamm, Open Music Theory)
• Pencils (erasers recommended, since students will be drawing repeated shapes)
• Optional: extra copies of "Note Identification and Writing" worksheet (Parts 1–3) in case time remains

Warm-up (~5 min)

1. Write "Notehead," "Clef," and "Ledger Line" on the board (or just say them aloud if no board is available).
2. Ask students to look at the top of their worksheet packet and find Activity 1, "Drawing Noteheads."
3. Explain that today's whole class period will be spent completing this one worksheet, in order, from Activity 1 through Activity 4.
4. Have students write their name at the top of the worksheet before starting.

Main Activity (~25 min)

Work through the worksheet in the order it is printed. Announce each section transition to keep the class together.

Activity 1 – Drawing Noteheads (~6 min)
Students draw, in order:

• Five open (white) noteheads, one on each line
• Four open (white) noteheads, one on each space
• Five filled-in (black) noteheads, one on each line
• Four filled-in (black) noteheads, one on each space

Activity 2 – Drawing Clefs (~7 min)
Students draw six of each clef on the given staves, in this order: treble clef, bass clef, alto clef, tenor clef.

Activity 3 – Drawing Ledger Lines (~6 min)
Students draw stacked ledger lines above and below the staff (no noteheads yet), increasing each time:

• 1 line above / 1 line below
• 2 lines above / 2 lines below
• 3 lines above / 3 lines below
• 4 lines above / 4 lines below

Activity 4 – Drawing Ledger Lines with Noteheads (~6 min)
Same pattern as Activity 3, but students now add a filled-in notehead on the highest and lowest ledger line each time (1 through 4 stacked lines above and below).

Sub tip: Circulate and check that students are working section by section rather than skipping around — the activities build in difficulty.

Wrap-up / Exit Ticket (~10 min)

On a blank sheet of paper (or in the margin of the worksheet), have each student complete this exit ticket:

1. Draw one filled-in (black) notehead on a line and one filled-in notehead on a space.
2. Draw a treble clef and a bass clef.
3. Draw two stacked ledger lines above a staff with a filled-in notehead on the highest line.

Collect these exit tickets as students finish to check for completion.

If Time Remains

Have students begin Part 1 of "Note Identification and Writing" (identifying notes by letter name only, writing A, B, C, etc. in the blanks under each numbered note). Students may work individually and can continue into Part 2 if time allows.