Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Elements of Music—How do Composers Plan?
The introduction to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and the finale of his Symphony No. 4 provide young musicians with an opportunity to investigate the music elements composers employ to develop the themes they want to create. They compare the...
Curated OER
Music: Off the Wall & Onto the Stage - Composing
Kids explore Gullah music from Africa and then create original compositions based on what they've learned. They practice traditional melodies and rhythms then make some of their own, which they then perform for the class.
Curated OER
A Musical Composition Experience
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,...
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Set a Poem to Music
Fun awaits both you and your class as you embark on a musical activity. After discussing different rhythmic meters they choose a poem to set to music. The poem must rhyme and be set to a melody in the key of C Major. Because the activity...
Curated OER
Using Poetry As Inspiration for Composition
A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...
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Composing with Non-Chord Tones to Ornament a Melody
Students develop melodies based on a simple chord progression. They develop the tools need to begin to compose their own music. Students explore the qualities of each NCT and identify them in a composition. They develop listening skills...
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Student Composers with Music Ace
Learners compose short compositions using Doodle Pad. In this Musical composition activity, students a clef and note lines to prior knowledge of the treble clef and note lines to write short songs on the computer. Learners use Music...
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Composing Project
Students design, compose, and present short musical compositions for keyboard in this lesson plan meant for the high school choir class. This lesson can be adapted to any time frame, but the author suggests a considerable amount of time...
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Rewording Nursery Rhymes
Third graders write a song. For 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 Thanksgiving...
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Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Young scholars identify what Tchaikovsky's personality was like and what kind of school he attended first. Then they identify and research what was happening in Russian politics during his lifetime. Students also identify who the...
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Illustration # 5: Phone Number Melodies
Fourth graders create their own melodies by making up a phone number with the numbers of the C major scale (the number 9 will be played by double the C at an octave. Students are encouraged to end their piece with V, I progression in...
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Melody Words
Fourth graders compose a melody by placing words on the music staff. They play their melody words for the class.
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Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Music has been used to convey thoughts, feelings, and the human condition for thousands of years. Your class will analyze several songs hear in the animated classic, "Charlie Brown." They will listen to several jazz pieces from the show,...
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Melodies and Math: Creating Music with Non-Traditional Instruments
Review the 4/4 and 2/4 time signatures in music with a helpful music theory lesson plan. Young musicians experiment with electronic sounds and create their own musical performance using instruments made from materials found in the...
Curated OER
Echo Me! - A Melodic Dictation and Tonal Memory Game
Students demonstrate five-finger hand positions (C, G, D, etc.) by playing short melodic phrases using only those notes in the given position and creating short melodies. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
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Building Canons on Pachelbel's Canon in D
Learners demonstrate the structure of a canon by composing melodies and variations over Pachelbel's Theme from the Canon in D. Requires a networked keyboard lab and computers.
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Music Theory
Students properly notate a short melody within a given framework. They pay much attention to rhythmic notation. Students compose and harmonize their own melodies. They work individually on composing a melody on their preferred...
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Misic: Stephen Foster's Folk Songs
Fifth graders examine the life and music of Stephen Foster. Via a Powerpoint presentation, they inspect a timeline of the composer's life. On a Website, 5th graders listen to different Foster songs including his parlor ballads,...
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Musical Imagery
Students experience musical imagery. They link this musical concept to literary imagery to gain an understanding of the use of imagery in both genres. After listening to a varriety of sounds, students will compose and perform a melody.
SoundTree
When The Saints Go Marching In: A Lesson for Middle School Keyboard Lab Students
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.
Curated OER
"Movies That Rock": Moulin Rouge
Upper graders explore musical film and the Bohemian lifestyle common in Europe during the turn of the century through the musical Moulin Rouge. After listening to (or viewing) songs from the movie, they discuss the Bohemian era and how...
Curated OER
Twelve-Bar Blues
Students examine blues music. In this music genres activity, students discover details about the history of the musical genre and compositional techniques. Students then compose melodies of their own with 12-bar blues chord progression.
Curated OER
Using Garage Band to Enhance 2nd Grade Composition
Your second graders can become composers with a little help from the Garage Band software. You pre-select several drum, piano, and guitar loops for the groups to choose from, then they put them together following an ABA looping pattern....
Classics for Kids
"Mars" from The Planets
Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in detail,...