Curated OER
Critical Listening: Music Vocabulary
The school band or orchestra analyzes their own performance after exploring musical terminology. They listen to a classical piece and describe it using only words. They look up musical terminology and then use those words to compare and...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian In Your Classroom: The Music in Poetry
Take poetry off the page and put it into terms of movement, physical space and, finally, music with this series of three lessons from the Smithsonian Institution. This resource introduces students to two poetic forms that originated as...
Curated OER
The Function of Music
Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks students to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible functions...
Curated OER
Adapting a Musical
Students transform literature into musical productions. In this integrated arts lesson plan, students discuss how musicals are written and produced. Students then select literature they are familiar with to adapt into musical productions.
Sargent Art
Kandinsky - Inspired by Music
Who is Wassily Kandinsky? Introduce your young artists to the wonders of abstract nonobjective art through music. They'll listen to music as they cut, paste, and paint emotional works of art. The activity suggests the use of soothing...
Curated OER
Point of View - Sharing a Perspective on Music
Students share their perspective about music. In this music perspective lesson, students complete a music notes handout and watch a segment of a band playing the "St. Louis Blues." Students write a critique of the music they just heard...
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
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....
Curated OER
Ensemble Rehearsal Critique
Learners discuss how to critique a musical piece properly. After listening to different types of music, they identify the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. They also develop solutions to the problems in the music for further...
Curated OER
Twelve-Bar Blues
High schoolers examine blues music. In this music genres lesson plan, students discover details about the history of the musical genre and compositional techniques. High schoolers then compose melodies of their own with 12-bar blues...
Curated OER
Writing a Music Review
Learners compose a written music review of one of today's popular bluegrass musicians after they read online essays and journals about the modern bluegrass music scene look over and discuss recent music reviews
Curated OER
Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
Students explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
Curated OER
Jazz Exploration: A Collage Project
Middle schoolers explore and experience jazz through collage. They listen to improvisational jazz, discuss the origins of jazz, then design and create a collage that shows jazz being played. This project will result in amazing works of...
Curated OER
Garage Band Introduction
Students create a new project. They are told that the Garage Band is a program that comes on Macintosh computers. Students are told that they project doesn't matter what tempo or key if they are recording live music. They go back to the...
EngageNY
Writing the Children’s Book: Day One
With a brief mini-instructional activity, scholars learn about using strong verbs, sensory details, and precise descriptions. Next, pupils continue working on their children's book storyboards before choosing their strongest pages for...
Curated OER
Scops, Rappers and You: Historians with Style!
Young scholars examine the epic poem Beowulf. In this analyzing poetry lesson, student compare listen to the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" and read Beowulf. Students analyze the song and the poem. Young scholars then research an...
Curated OER
American Rhythms
Young scholars combine elements of music with poetry. In this creative writing activity, students examine poems from a variety of authors with varying writing styles. Young scholars explore the different elements of poetry, including...
Curated OER
MTV and Othello
After reading Acts III and IV of Othello, give your class a fun, interactive, music-related activity. Begin by asking high schoolers about songs they have heard in movies or plays. Let them look up the lyrics online and ruminate about...
Curated OER
Sondheim: Secret Metaphors
Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and nonlinear structural patterns...
Curated OER
Ensemble Performance
Students sing or play music in order to complete a self-critique that performance. Working in ensemble groups, students practice and play a piece of music. Ensemble performances are recorded and each member's performance is critiqued...
National Arts Centre
Create a Set Design
Groups create a set for a play or story they select, build a model, and share their stage with the class. The team explains the rationale for their choices and the mood they feel their staging creates.
San Francisco Symphony
Instrument and Visual Appreciation of Art
There are a lot of great ideas to be found here. To better understand the connection between art and history, learners research several music and art pieces, then relate them to major social events. They study the lives and works...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Composers
Young scholars identify various pieces of music that are familiar to them and define how the music made them feel. Then they select their favorite piece of music heard and the activities in which they like to do. Students also attend a...
Curated OER
Elements of Music
Students identify three of the essential elements of music: rhythm, melody and harmony. They discover a simple song which will illustrate these three elements separately and bring them together in a final form. They analyze and critique...
Curated OER
Ancient Music Recreated in Scotland
Students read, analyze and critique a newspaper article about ancient musical tunes that have been found in a church in Scotland. They assess key vocabulary terms found within the article and compose lyrics for a song after answering a...