Curated OER
Music from the Silk Roads
Students explore different types of musical instruments. In this musical instrument instructional activity, students create a replica of a sheng. Students utilize this instrument to understand different types of breathing used in...
Curated OER
Musical Role Models
Students identify instruments and their sounds and use them to model their own orchestra. After choosing an instrument to investigate further, they research to become familiar with the sound of the instrument, how the sound is created,...
Classics for Kids
Musical Time Travel
Young musicians learn more about the greats with a straightforward activity on historical composers. As they click through a navigation guide, they choose a musical time period and a composer from that period before taking a short quiz.
Curated OER
Reviewing Good Playing Habits
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...
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Families of Instruments
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.
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Orchestra: Wordsearch
In this word-search instructional activity, student search for twenty-nine music terms having to do with instruments of the symphony orchestra.
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Instrument Research
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...
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...
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Exploring the Families of Instruments
Students investigate the families of instruments. In this instrument lesson plan, students discuss how each instrument family makes their sound. Students then make their own instruments. Students write a paragraph about their favorite...
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Respecting the Differences of Others
Fifth graders discover the importance of respecting the differences of people around the world in different situations in order to avoid conflict and promote peace. Students compare the sounds of a symphony and the instruments creating...
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Meet Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov!
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.
Curated OER
Instrumental And Orchestral Development
Learners use the computer software "Sibelius" to investigate the development of the Orchestra and specific instruments throughout human history. This lesson can be used in conjunction with other lessons or as a stand-alone, small group...
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Chinese Instruments
Students explore Chinese instruments. For this Chinese instrument music lesson, students listen to a performance by Liu Fang and describe the sounds they hear. Students classify western and Chinese instruments according to their...
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String Instruments and Pitch
Young scholars make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and...
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The Brass Family
Learners observe a PowerPoint presentation to explore how brass instruments produce wounds. They observe the teacher demonstrate the proper use of the mouthpiece and slides to produce a tone. With and without the mouthpiece, students...
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Meet the Instrument Families
Fourth graders listen to a recording of a string quartet and ask questions about what kinds of instrument they think they are listening to and describe what they think the instruments look like. Then they discuss musical ideas such as...
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Just Stringing Along
Learners learn the string instruments of the symphony orchestra and recognize their "relatives."
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Grouping Musical Instruments
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.
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Musical Instruments
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.
Berklee College of Music
Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove
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.
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Timbre: Identifying the Tone Color of the Saxophone
Students explore the concept of timbre. In this timbre lesson, students experience timbres produced by saxophones in contemporary music. Students explore the science behind the music.
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"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Mozart was an amazing composer and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was one of his best-loved orchestral pieces. This handout provides a brief description of the instruments for which it was written, and how each section and part should be...
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MUSICAL MYSTERIES
Students explore the orchestra and identify the sounds of common musical instruments.
Curated OER
Musical Instruments
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.