Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Brass Family

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders explore the four basic instruments of the Brass Family in the four lessons of this unit. The French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba are inspected as students develope a familiarity with their sight and sounds.
Lesson Plan
Berklee College of Music

Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The backbone of Latin American music is the beat! Young musicians work on blending Afro-Latin rhythms and beat patterns before incorporating the major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales in their own compositions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reviewing Good Playing Habits

For Teachers 5th - 8th
The string section of your school orchestra can get a proper form make-over by incorporating this lesson. They reestablish proper playing form, posture, and sound as they compose an essay on how to maintain good playing habits during...
Unit Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Instrument and Visual Appreciation of Art

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Instrument Research

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders work in pairs and choose one instrument from the orchestra to research. They are introduced to the software and use it to search for their instrument. They then may go onto the website, "DSOkids.com" to find out more about...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Families of Instruments

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students identify families of instruments. In this music activity, students read Berlioz the Bear and identify the families of instruments. Students sing "Mr. Gus Goes Goofy," and listen for the sounds of the instruments.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Conducting: Classroom Activities

For Teachers K - 8th
Turn the class into a percussive orchestra and let the kids take over as conductor. You'll explain a few ins and outs of what a conductor does. Then you hand over the baton and let your budding Beethovens conduct each other as they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woodwind Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson plan, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Young scholars research "pitch" and what causes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Bolero

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students discuss the structure of the musical film "The Bolero."  In this film arts instructional activity, students watch "The Bolero" before participating in discussion questions and watching a second performance of the same...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grouping Musical Instruments

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students study about musical instruments and group them into these categories: percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass. After discussing these instruments, they independently complete the worksheet.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Classical Orchestra

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study the classical orchestra in this technology-based general music lesson for the high school classroom. Emphasis is placed on the use of the "Microsoft Musical Instruments" software. This lesson can be accomplished in one...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Instruments

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners invent a musical instrument to be played by them. They invent a nonstandard notation for music and compose a short piece to preform for the class using their instrument.
Assessment8:51
Mathed Up!

Pie Charts

For Students 8th - 10th
Representing data is as easy as pie. Class members construct pie charts given a frequency table. Individuals then determine the size of the angles needed for each sector and interpret the size of sectors within the context of frequency....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Arranging Patriotic Music for Instruments

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students arrange a short piano composition for a group of four to six instruments of their choice. The musical arrangements should be then demonstrated and analyzed by the class as a unit study.
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Pianist

For Students 2nd - 3rd
Do you play any musical instruments? Consider using this question to interest readers in this short passage. Then, have them read the passage and answer the multiple-choice questions that follow. 
Worksheet
Curated OER

Orchestra: Wordsearch

For Students 4th - 7th
In this word-search instructional activity, student search for twenty-nine music terms having to do with instruments of the symphony orchestra.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Peter And The Wolf: Instrument Listening Game

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners match the instruments to the characters they represent in Peter and the Wolf. They also identify the instruments by name from listening to their sound.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhythm, Math, Rhythm

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students play instruments in math class to learn the interconnectedness between math and music. In this math instructional activity, students subdivide a piece of music, clapping rhythms and charting rhythm patterns in the song. A guided...
Lesson Plan
Perkins School for the Blind

Familiar Sounds

For Teachers K - 6th
To foster concept development and auditory discrimination skills, learners with visual impairments listen to identify a variety of common sounds. The teacher makes recordings of various sounds, including those found in the home, at the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

MUSICAL MYSTERIES

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students explore the orchestra and identify the sounds of common musical instruments.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Musical Instruments

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this music worksheet, students write the name of a musical instrument that they would like to play. Students do research and list as many instruments as they can find.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Is My Family Name?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners listen to selected solo instruments and place the instrument in its correct family of instruments; students also identify from listening to examples: orchestra, band, vocal solo, and choral performance.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Antonio Vivaldi-The Four Seasons

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders uncover the form, timbre, and the significance of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" in the five lessons of this unit. The use of instrumentation forms the basis of the lessons.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov!

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students listen to music and review instruments of the orchestra. They explore musical terms, solo, texture and theme of the music and discuss other features of the music. Students research and discuss the life of Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov.