Curated OER
Set a Poem to Music
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...
Curated OER
Music in Words
Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...
Curated OER
Create a Composition
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.
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. For this music composition lesson, students collaborate in small groups with their instruments and compose a short song which they will play for class....
Curated OER
Music Composition
Students compose a simple melody using the notes of the D Major Scale. Criteria/Rubric for evaluation is provided with variations depending on skill level of students. A minimum of one forty-five minute class period is needed for this...
Curated OER
If Paintings Could Talk: Art and Language
Middle schoolers learn about the artist Canaletto, play a vocabulary game, and create a landscape using collage technique. Background information on the artist is provided along with instructions for the game and vocabulary words to...
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by reading sheet music. In this musical score analysis lesson, students utilize their individual instruments to play the song "Peter and the Wolf." Students listen to an online version of the song and...
Curated OER
Singing the Blues with Garageband
Music composition can be easy with a little software assistance. The class uses Garageband to listen to, write, sing, and record a blues song. They listen to the song provided through the software, write their own lyrics to the song,...
Curated OER
Symphonic Poetry
Students interpret the themes in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, create a 6-line poem based on the themes in the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and define musical terms related to the study of programmatic music in...
Curated OER
Set a Poem to Music
Students consider the role of rhythm and meter in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry and use their music skills to set picture book poetry to music by creating "singable" poems.
Curated OER
Learning to Resist: Watercolor
Consider wax resist drawings as a way to bridge art and science. Learners view, discuss, and practice drawing insects or animals using waxy crayons. They pay attention to the creature's features as they create images with watercolor and...
Curated OER
Rhythm In Motion
Sixth graders work independently and with a partner to demonstrate proficiency of steady beat, meter and basic note values while creating written rhythmic patterns for class performance. State and National Standards are addressed.
Curated OER
Learning through The Duke
Students examine the important contributions made by Duke Ellington to the field of jazz, as well as some of the factors that led to his involvement in the field. As they explore the language of the 1920's, connections will be drawn...
Curated OER
Tuning the World One Note at a Time
Students investigate music around the world and work with a photographer to understand elements of photography. In this photography lesson, students visit a dance hall and interview the dancers. Students gather ideas and create a video...
Curated OER
West Virginia Def PB Wants You!
Students write, adapt, and compose a song related to the West Virginia State Museum. In this music lesson, students create a composition for a work of visual art. Students incorporate major and minor melodies.
Curated OER
Haring Inspired CD Covers
Students create CD covers from their music-inspired drawing sessions. They compare what they drew while listening to classical, punk and rap music. They scan their drawings into Adobe Photoshop and design their cover.
Curated OER
Dizzy Gillespie
Students compare and contrast two songs by Dizzy Gillespie and identify elements of bebop. They construct a Web page about Gillespie and his music.
Curated OER
Chinese Calligraphy
Young scholars explore Chinese culture and Chinese calligraphy. In this Chinese calligraphy lesson plan, students create paintings using Chinese techniques. Young scholars describe the differences in Chinese art and other culture's art....
Curated OER
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Students improvise then compose and notate melodies with appropriate accompaniments that are inspired by events that transpired during their summer vacations. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
Curated OER
Singing The Blues with Garage Band
Students demonstrate writing lyrics for a twelve-bar blues pattern by writing two verses of a blues song and then recording themselves singing over a stock blues pattern using Apple's Garage Band. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
Curated OER
Swing Your Partner!
This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...
Curated OER
Building Canons on Pachelbel's Canon in D
Students demonstrate the structure of a canon by composing melodies and variations over Pachelbel's Theme from the Canon in D. Requires a networked keyboard lab and computers.
Curated OER
Creating an Original Opera
Students research the lyrical and dramatic structure of opera through Internet sources and audio examples, cooperatively discuss elements of opera stories vs. their own lives and create one-act opera based on their own life experiences.