Curated OER
Musical Medley (French)
Students listen to the songs "Tous les Blues Sont Crits Pour Toi" by Celine Dion and the song " 'Ti Monde" by Beausoleil. Students write their impressions of the song. They look up and write vocabulary definitions in the target language...
Curated OER
Off Times of Slaves on the Sea Islands
Sixth graders explore the aspect of slave life on the Sea Islands. They explore the Gullah language, folk tales, music and games during the "off" times of slaves. Students read and interpret Gullah folk tales. They recognize music in the...
Curated OER
Underground Travelers
Young scholars are introduced to new vocabulary associated with the Underground Railroad. Using primary sources, they evaluate the railroad's impact on society in the past and today. They also make a judgment about the morality of the...
Curated OER
Creating, Notating and Recording an Original Song
Students are provided with a set of parameters, including theme, time
signature, number of measures, and form. Working within these parameters, the class , step by step, goes through the process of
creating, notating, and recording a...
National First Ladies' Library
Synthesizing Music with the Technology Invention of the Modular Synthesizer
Learners explore how to create synthesized music and discuss what they believe music would sound like without electronics. They explore a given website to determine how different types of instruments can be digitized. In groups, students...
Curated OER
THE TRAVELS OF BABAR: An Adventure in Scale :Interpreting the music of Raphael Mostel's Dance/Movement exercise
Young scholars explore how dance/movement tell a story. They analyze the elements of dance through interpretation of the story. Students exercise how the feelings and moods of the music suggest certain body movements and actions.
Curated OER
Twelfth Night-The Musical!
Learners read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In groups, they divide Act 2 and add a new character or direction to the plot. They reinterpret the scene as a musical, using contemporary songs.
Curated OER
The Power of Music
Learners analyze the music Shakespeare chose for his play The Tempest. They seek to research why he alluded to popular music and contemporary artists. Students make connections between their own musical knowledge/tastes/interests and the...
Curated OER
Time in Jazz
Students examine time and meter in the jazz idiom. They analyze Take the A Train and Take Five. They research websites featuring Ella Fitzgerald and her music.
Curated OER
Tone Poem Composing Project
Students explore role of music in storytelling by watching and discussing effect music has on perception of scene from movie, and using Sibelius program to compose single excerpt of music, considering dynamics, timbre, and articulation,...
Curated OER
Comparing Cultural Holidays
Third graders explore art that reflects their cultural background. In this writing and research lesson students compare and contrast the Halloween with El Dia de los Muertos. Students study the visual art of these holidays. Then students...
Curated OER
Night on Bald Mountain
Students use appropriate terms to reflect a working knowledge of the musical elements. Then they use terminology from music and other arts to analyze and compare the structures of musical and other artistic and literary works. Students...
Curated OER
Patriotic Songs
First graders recognize patriotic songs of America. In this historical music lesson, 1st graders discuss the historical background of the song "Yankee Doodle" and repeat the lyrics after the instructor. Students read the lyrics to the...
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
B-A-N-J-O: A Bluegrass Version of Bingo
Students explain the history and relevance of the following instruments in bluegrass music: fiddle, guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin and stand-up bass.
They identify the defining characteristics of each bluegrass instrument and participate...
Curated OER
The Tabloid Ballad
High schoolers explore the poetic ballad. They examine the rhythm of a typical ballad and listen to recitations of sample ballads. They choose an article from a supermarket tabloid and write a comical ballad using rhythms and...
Curated OER
Variations of Pain
Students listen to the song :King of Pain" by the Police. They identify different instrumentation and different rhythmic accompaniments to the opening vocal phrase and explore the text in-depth, discussing the various poetic images of...
Curated OER
The Story of an Old Piano
Students read excerpts from The Story of an Old Piano. They choose a personal object and write paragraphs from the object's point of view. Their stories can be bound for the class library.
Curated OER
Mozart: Piano Sonata in B-Flat
In this music worksheet, students read about a sonata. Students also answer twenty questions about Mozart's Piano Sonata in B-flat.
Curated OER
Much Ado About Illumination
Students analyze the language and characters in the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. In this Shakespeare play activity, students read section of the play and discuss the speech of Benedick and Claudio. Students record the speech...
Curated OER
Rewording Nursery Rhymes
Third graders write a song. In this melody lesson, 3rd graders discuss their favorite nursery rhymes. Students sing two songs and compare their melodies. Students use the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to write a...
Curated OER
Conflict Diamonds
Students examine how diamonds are portrayed in American culture. They identify the political and social implications of conflict diamonds and the locations of these diamonds in Africa. They evaluate the effectiveness of the Kimberley...
Curated OER
"Taming the Bicycle"
Eighth graders discuss invention of bicycle and early obstacles to riding, listen to and discuss short story "Taming the Bicycle" by Mark Twain, define vocabulary words from story, and create and present humorous "how to" project to...
Curated OER
Best Breakfast Authors
Third graders write a story. In this breakfast authors lesson, 3rd graders write about a breakfast food and why it is a good selection. Students may illustrate stories and share with their peers.