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Activity
PBS

Broadway and The American Dream

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Considering a unit study of American Musical Theatre? What better way to start than at the very beginning. Eight pairs of cards provide class members with background information about the genre from 1893 through 2004. The cards are...
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Unit Plan
Washington University in St. Louis

Teaching Jazz as American Culture

For Students 6th - 12th
Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Singing for Justice: Following the Musical Journey of “This Little Light of Mine”

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars go on a musical journey to discover the origin, importance, and evolution of the song, "This Little Light of Mine". Class members boost their voice talents and clap to the beat while learning the lyrics in both English and Zulu....
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Songs, Sounds and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands

For Teachers K - 12th
American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Epic Improvisation

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
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Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

Music Evokes Memories and Emotions

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...
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Handout
Music Fun

Time Signatures

For Students 2nd - 12th
You'll never miss a beat with a resource packet filled with puzzles, quizzes, and activity worksheets that focus on time signatures. Don't quaver or rest until you score this packet.
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Unit Plan
Orange Public Schools

Stagecraft

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The house lights dim, the curtain parts, lights slowly come up, revealing the stage. Before the actors appear, before a word is spoken, the audience is drawn in by the lighting, by the colors, by lines of the set, by the props, and...
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Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

The Metamorphosis

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed Standards
How can something be true even if it didn't happen? Invite your classes to investigate the truths found in the world of magical realism as they analyze short stories, poems, informational texts, video, and art from this genre.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

"Viennese Musical Clock" from Hary Janos by Zoltan Kodaly

For Students 5th - 6th
Young musicians follow a colorful map that helps them identify the various themes as they listen to a recording of the rondo "Viennese Musical Clock" from Hary Janos by Zoltan Kodaly. The activity includes information about Kodaly.
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Lesson Plan6:21
TED-Ed

From Aaliyah to Jay-Z: Captured Moments in Hip-hop History

For Teachers 4th - 8th
To take "the definitive portrait of that person in that moment" is the quest of photographer and hip-hop historian Jonathan Mannion. In this short video, Mannion details his dedication to his art and the process he goes through to catch...
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Lesson Plan
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California Department of Education

Creating a Therapeutic Soundscape: Ambient Improvisations and Planned Catharsis (CTE)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How is music a form of therapy? Scholars explore the topic using the fourth and final instructional activity from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM series. Learners explore the relationship between music and the mind and...
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Lesson Plan
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California Department of Education

Consonance and Dissonance: Creating Intervals for Emotions (CTE)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How are music and emotion related? Using lesson plan two of four from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM Integrated Project Series, scholars explore the connection between the two topics. They learn to recognize different...
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Worksheet
Fun Music Company

Treasure Island Clues: Rhythm

For Students 2nd - 12th
Designed for rhythm level 1, the two games in this packet ask young musicians to identify the number of beats represented by a series of notes and notations, and then to use those numbers to answer a music trivia question.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Responding Syllables: Reading and Music

For Teachers 1st - 2nd Standards
Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Affirmation, Assimilation, and Acculturation: Middle School

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Latin American culture is deeply embedded in American culture as a whole. From the Latin rock scene in San Francisco to the hip-hop world of New York, Latin American artists have influenced every genre of modern music. Learn about the...
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Handout
Fun Music Company

Working Out the Key

For Students 2nd - 12th
"Gimme an E minor!" Or any key for that matter. But how do you figure out the key of a piece of music? Here's a worksheet that shows young musicians three easy steps to help them identify the key of a piece of music.
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Handout
Fun Music Company

Completing Measures with Rests

For Students 2nd - 12th
Rests. Eighth rests, quarter rests, and half rests are the focus of a one-page worksheet that asks music theory students to complete a series of measures with rests and bar lines.
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Unit Plan
Johnny Mercer Foundation

Project-Based Songwriting

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Project-based learning in a music theory class? Take note. Young songwriters compose, record, copyright, and promote their original songs. They even design their own CD cover.
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Activity
Canada's National Arts Center

Vivaldi and The Four Seasons

For Students 4th - 6th
Did you know that Vivaldi’s orchestra was largely made up of girls from an orphanage? Fun facts like this fill a 34-page teacher's kit designed to accompany a cross-curricular study of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. 
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Worksheet
Fun Music Company

Name the Instrument

For Students 2nd - 8th
Here's a word scramble activity that asks kids to identify a series of instruments and then transpose the circled letters to reveal the name of the world's oldest playable musical instrument.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tears of Joy Theatre Presents Anansi the Spider

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science, and arts...
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Lesson Plan
SoundTree

When The Saints Go Marching In: A Lesson for Middle School Keyboard Lab Students

For Teachers 6th - 8th
After listening to a variety of interpretations of "When the Saints Go Marching In," partners compose and then perform their own renditions of this classic before joining a full-class jam session.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Great Gatsby's Jazz

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...

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