Music Composition Teacher Resources

Upper graders having skills in music performance will extend their abilities through creative musical composition. They'll use Finale 2000 to explore facets of music composition, they'll then compose a piece for their instrument in C, F,...

Are your learners ready to compose their own music? If so, this worksheet will help them do it. The sheet is broken into several staffs where they write the tune, riff, and chords. They can put them together to create a unique piece....

Now that's music to my ears. Learners choose one of two activities to complete: continue the music video from the previous lesson, or design a new program that composes music. They learn how to apply several new code blocks while...

Students discuss how the musical composition was created. They listen to "Pictures at an Exhibition." Students discuss how the Promenade in the beginning of the opus is based on Mussorgsky walking through the exhibit of paintings....

Fourth graders work in small groups using SMART Board Technology to write a 4 measure music composition. studying the basic structure and vocabulary of written music is the goal of this experience.

Fourth graders compare experimental results with predicted results. In this probability instructional activity, 4th graders list the different possible musical arrangements. They create a musical composition based on sequence given.

Fifth graders create their own chance music (aleatoric music) compositions using standard music notation.  In this integrated composition and probability lesson, 5th graders experiment with simple music composition on tuned instruments....

Fifth graders create a musical composition, a drawing, or a 3D structure to show how math connects to other subjects. In this math and other subjects lesson plan, 5th graders present their presentations to the class and explain the...

Students select an instrument and create a musical composition. In this musical composition lesson, students invent an original piece of music that is 16 measures long. Students hum and record their pieces.

VH1 Music Studio has put out another great instructional activity that incorporates analysis, compare/contrast, and musical terminology. Kids will listen to the song "Habanera" considering the use of specific instruments in evoking a...

Students compose a piece of music and then hear their composition performed. They put their ideas down on staff paper using musical notation. This music will then be performed by the students on the instruments for which the...

Fun awaits both you and your class as you embark on a musical activity. After discussing different rhythmic meters they choose a poem to set to music. The poem must rhyme and be set to a melody in the key of C Major. Because the activity...

Here's an activity sure to be music to your ears. Pupils create a music composition using block-based computer coding. They add different sound rings, and then adjust the number and speed of sounds to create their composition pieces.

Your second graders can become composers with a little help from the Garage Band software. You pre-select several drum, piano, and guitar loops for the groups to choose from, then they put them together following an ABA looping pattern....

Kids explore Gullah music from Africa and then create original compositions based on what they've learned. They practice traditional melodies and rhythms then make some of their own, which they then perform for the class. 

Seventh graders work in groups and choose a song from a packet. They discuss ways they could alter the melody to create a variation. Groups experiment with their melodies and notate onto staff paper. Students practice performing their...

Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A activity like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...

Young musicians explore the rhythms and sounds of Balinese gamelan music, then create their own. They listen to several examples of gamelan music, then use their instruments to mimic the rhythms they hear. After a warm up and practice,...

After a brief introduction to Balinese culture and Indonesian colotomic forms, the class composes an original piece. They study the tempo, melody, form and rhythm of Gamelan music and then apply those skills to an original Gamelan...

This may be a lot to ask of a high schooler, but then again, who knows? Pupils work in groups to explore, write, and then perform an original opera. They view versions of The Magic Flute and La Traviata, then compose a plot, characters,...

Let the class show what they know about rhythm, triads, and intervals with this quiz. They complete the rhythm on staff one and two, identify the intervals on staff three, and identify the triads on staff four. This is a well-thought-out...

Get ready to write some music! First learners practice identifying and creating rhythmic phrases and sentences, then they get acquainted with the G Major scale. Finally, they compose a jingle on human rights. A well-organized music...

Students create short musical compositions. In this music lesson, students use the "Doodle Pad" (a component of "Music Ace") and take turns to create short melodies. Students share their musical pieces with their classmates.

In this music worksheet, students study the elements of a musical composition: silence, pitch, texture, dynamics, tempo, attack and decay and duration. Students complete 7 questions about these elements. Prior knowledge is assumed.