The story behind the Star Spangled Banner sets off this singing and music lesson. Emergent singers study facts about Francis Scott Key and his famous song, they then discuss and practice singing the first verse paying close attention to...

Can school children change the world? With a social or environmental issue in mind, 5th graders use what they know about advertising media to make t-shirts that have something to say. They research the issue they'd like to focus on,...

High schoolers combine creativity with the rigor of careful editing by adding music to their story. It forces them to focus on how they communicate the meaning of their story to the listener.

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,...

Students explore the Gullah culture. In this social studies lesson, students construct and play instruments similar to those of the Gullah people.

Third graders create a rap using basic AB form composition. Evaluation of performances are based on rubric formed during the first activity by all students. This three to four day activity culminates in student performances and...

Students write, adapt, and compose a song related to the West Virginia State Museum.  In this music instructional activity, students create a composition for a work of  visual art. Students incorporate major and minor melodies.

Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music instructional activity, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their...

Students are divided into groups of employees of a jazz radio station and a classical radio station. They role play their own broadcasts.

Students sight-read a piece of music and analyze two unfamiliar pieces of music. They discuss performance aspects of a piece of music.

Students sing a song and figure out the rhythm notation for pharases while describing the benefits of broccoli. They compose a four-measure pattern using the rhythms of these phrases. They play the rhythm patterns with the recording.

Second graders write their own version of the book "Somewhere" in this lesson. They listen to the book and locate the rhyming words within the text. They find the number of syllables per word in the text, and compare the number of...