This is the Greatest Show

Today we wrapped up our mapping unit by creating a music map of "A Million Dreams" from the movie, The Greatest Showman. In the music video, the young P.T. Barnum sings the main theme, followed by the adult P.T. Barum repeating the same theme. Charity, P.T.'s wife comes in to sing the bridge, the first section of the piece with a significant change in musical idea. The song ends with P.T. and Charity singing the familiar refrain together. We split this song into it's four distinct sections. The kids listened to each of the four sections, listening for the melody. When they heard the familiar refrain we drew zigzags in the shape of the melody. When they heard something differnt, we drew loopy lines. This used the musical elements of melody blended with their understanding of differnent types of lines from art class. Attached is a scan of the sample map I created for the students, and a few pictures of students holding their own maps. This activity was so fun for the kids as they blended popular music with art, creating a visual representation of their mental "image" or understanding of the music.