Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids
This interactive site offers students resource for learning about composers, their works, the logistics of orchestra seating, the functions of different instruments, and the like.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Percussion
A basic article on percussion instruments lists several examples of percussion instruments, provides a distinction between membranophones and idiophones, and lists instruments that are tuned vs. ones that are not.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Tambourine
Use this resource to learn about the percussion family of the orchestra, the tambourine in particular. Learn what it is made of and how it is played. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to listen to the tambourine alone and with the...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: Orchestral Instruments
This is a brief introduction to the various instruments on the modern orchestra. It is broken into sections based on the instrument families. Each instrument is briefly defined.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Instrument Families
[Free Registration/Login Required] Discover which musical instruments fit into which categories. A comprehensive listing of instruments with pictures is included in the flipchart.
Other
Vic Firth: Educator's Resource Library
This website is a cornucopia of resources for percussion instruction. There are videos, audiocasts, podcasts, interviews with talented percussionists. Please check out this website is you are interested in any aspect of percussion.
University of Michigan
University of Michigan: Instrument Encyclopedia: Tambourine
This brief article provides general information on the tambourine and references for further reading.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Timpani
A nice, factual encyclopedia entry from Wikipedia on the timpani. Discusses its origins, how it is played, how it is tuned, and its significance in an orchestra. Links are provided throughout the article for additional information.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Cymbals
Learn about the ways to play the cymbals and how they contribute to the sound of the orchestra. Use RealAudio to listen to cymbals alone and with the orchestra. Pictures of the instrument are also provided.
Other
Rhythm Web: Coffee Can Drums
Learn how to make a percussion instrument using a coffee can. This site provides instructions for making the coffee can drum. You can also listen to audio clips of coffee can drums being played in various ways.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Snare Drum
Use this resource to learn about the percussion family of instruments, especially the snare drum. Find out how it helps the orchestra make music. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to listen to the snare drum by itself and with the...
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Bass Drum
Read about the percussion family of the orchestra. Find out how the bass drum helps the sound of the orchestra. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to listen to the bass drum.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Piano
Read about keyboard instruments and the piano in particular. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to hear the piano alone and with the orchestra.
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: My Sound Is the Best! [Pdf]
In this lesson, students will use music as an impetus for stating and supporting opinions. They will compose an opinion poster based on a narrative about a train using percussion instruments. This will involve group work which can lead...
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Guiro
Use this resource to learn about the percussion family of the orchestra and the guiro. This instrument is untuned and comes from South and Central America.
California State University
Island Maracas
A great multicultural art lesson that also connects visual art to music. Students create a set of paper mache maracas emphasizing rhythm and expression in the painting details. Upon completion students will have the opportunity to try...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Good Vibrations
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart is intended to introduce fifth grade students to the science of musical instruments. Concepts covered include wind, percussion, and string instruments. Also, the relationship between...
Michigan Reach Out
Michigan Reach Out!: Drums (Sounds Like Science)
This site is provided for by Michigan Reach Out. Students experiment with the variables of force, pitch and volume after making a drum.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Orchestra Seating Chart: Baroque, Classical, Romantic
See how the number of orchestra members increased from the Baroque period through the Classical, up to the Romantic. You can print each orchestra seating chart.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Working the Battery!
This lesson focuses on teaching the final percussion number in a band performance. Learners practice the technique of marching while playing instruments. The lesson also focuses on rhythmic interpretation, timing, and musicianship....
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Rhythm in a Box: The Story of the Cajon Drum
Many modern musical instruments are complicated pieces of machinery with many moving parts. But the cajon is simply a drum and a stand and a seat all in one box. Paul Jennings explains the history behind the cajon and how it has become...
PBS
Pbs: Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life: Franklin's Glass Armonica
Read a short essay about Franklin's invention of a musical instrument--the glass armonica. Includes a sound file of a composition by Mozart played on Franklin's instrument.
San Diego State University
Sd State: Elements of Music: Media, Genre, Form Texture
One of the elements of music is "Texture." This site gives the definition, which basically is the relationship between melodic and harmonic.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Harpsichord
The harpsichord looks a little like a piano, but there are enough differences to place them in two different instrument groups even though both use keyboards. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to hear the harpsichord.