Curated OER
Investigating Brass Instruments and Pitch
Students observe the sounds of different brass instruments in order to understand how to create different pitches. In this musical instructional activity, students create a "brass" instrument from everyday household objects. The students...
Curated OER
Making Music
Budding musicians engage in an exciting instructional activity which has them make musical instruments out of ordinary household items. By using paper plates, plastic cups, rubber bands, storage containers, and wooden spoons they make a...
Curated OER
Teaching the Instruments of the Orchestra to Young Students using the San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Website
Using the San Francisco Children's Orchestra web site, first graders build listening and instrument identification skills. Each child wears head phones, listens to ID, and finds various instruments on the included worksheet.
Science 4 Inquiry
Musical Vibes with Palm Pipes
Ancient people used musical pipes as early as the third millennium BCE. Young scientists explore the workings of musical pipes to better understand the relationship with frequency, length of pipe, and sound waves. They determine the...
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. In 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
Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
Young scholars explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson plan, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Young scholars research "pitch" and what causes...
Curated OER
Musical Sounds
Students investigate music appreciation by completing worksheets. In this musical arts lesson, students complete worksheets in which they identify different musical instruments, the sounds they make and the family of instruments they...
Curated OER
Making Waves, Making Music, Making Noise
Middle schoolers construct "talking cans" and instruments to explain how vibration of objects produces various sounds.
Acoustical Society of America
Musical Instruments
Mix it up and engage learners in a lesson on music and physical science. Using cups, strings, guitars, and voice, the class will experiment with sound vibration and frequency. They'll use each instrument and fill out a worksheet that...
Curated OER
Rubber Band Banza
Third graders review ideas about sound and vibration to make their own stringed instrument. They review what a pictograph and bar graph are. Pupils conduct a survey within the classroom to choose the four favorite string instruments and...
Curated OER
Name That Tune: Matching Musical Tones Through Waveform Analysis
Pupils detect the waveform of musical notes to determine the code for the "safe" in this forensics simulation lesson. They use a microphone and tuning forks along with Vernier EasyData on their graphing calculator to analyze five musical...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Instruments from Various Cultures
After a review of orchestral instruments and instrument families, learners make their own. They listen to the song "Simple Gifts" and identify the instruments heard in the piece. Then they draw an instrument of their own invention,...
Curated OER
Music
Fourth graders are introduced to the ABA form of music through singing and playing instruments. Using music, they practice reading the notations and improvising melodies. They also sing in duets and trios in various keys to end the...
Curated OER
Music in Kindergarten
Students in kindergarten are introduced to various forms of music. As a class, they listen to the differences between singing and speaking. They practice matching pitches and using a good singing posture. They sing a song to end the...
Curated OER
Designing Musical Instruments
Students examine musical instruments as main part of the study of sound energy. In this designing instruments lesson plan, students focus on the elements of an instrument that cause sound to be created and design a unique musical...
Curated OER
Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
Curated OER
African Popular Music
Students explore popular music of West Africa. In this musicians instructional activity, students complete listening tasks that challenge them to analyze the music of Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, and Baaba Maal.
Curated OER
String Instruments and Pitch
Young scholars make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and...
Curated OER
Mozart and Music
Fifth graders experience performing arts by participating in a music performance. In this music history lesson, 5th graders practice playing notes on an instrument in class and discuss the challenges associated with making music....
Curated OER
Making Waves, Making Music, Making Noise
Sixth graders watch a demonstration on how talking cans produce sounds. In groups, they compare and contrast the sounds from different sized cans. They participate in a variety of activities to discover how sounds are made and how...
Curated OER
Making a Musical Instrument
Students determine how music is produced through sound waves and how instruments produce music differently than others. They construct flutes out of straws and explore how to adjust the sound.
Curated OER
Sounds Good to Me
Young scholars determine density and hardness of wood samples based on several investigations. In this physical science and music lesson, students visit four centers and perform tests on wood samples to determine densities and...
Curated OER
Sound/Pitch
Students explore how pitch changes when using instruments that are plucked, blown, and hit. In this sound and pitch lesson, students blow across the top of bottles that are filled with water to create sound. Students use recorders...
Curated OER
Acoustical Science
Students explore musical instruments and the pitches and tones they make. In this acoustical science lesson, students create their own string instruments and explore how pitch is altered.