Curated OER
Rhythm Compositions
Fourth graders collaborate in small groups to create simple rhythmic patterns in different time signatures. Each group creates rhythms in a competitive "game" atmosphere and then constructs entire rhythmic groups for presentation to...
Curated OER
Create-a-Composition
Students creatively express themselves by creating simple pieces of music.
Curated OER
Music Technology
Pupils practice using keyboard and sequencing software to expand their compositions. They use the notes in the C Major Scale and playback their song written in an ABA song form. They complete pages in a basic piano workbook and discuss...
Curated OER
Composing with Non-Chord Tones to Ornament a Melody
Young scholars 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...
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Can You Hear a Story?
Young scholars listen to, analyze, and describe music. They explain relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
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The Bolero
Students discuss the structure of the musical film "The Bolero." In this film arts lesson, students watch "The Bolero" before participating in discussion questions and watching a second performance of the same musical. Included in this...
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Introduction to New Technologies in Music Education
Fifth graders compose in C-pentationic using quarter notes, eigth notes, and quarter rests. They are told that the composition should be at least four measures in common time. Students use notation software to write the composition.
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Music in West Africa
Students listen to music at a designated website. They demonstrate how to make musical sounds with symbols and create their own musical composition. From activities on the website, students begin to train their ear to hear pitches and...
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Conveying Message Through Musical Composition
Students listen to and discuss various protest songs from the 1960's, and write original lyrics for a song addressing global or societal issues. They write a paragraph evaluating the efficacy of the song to convey a message.
Curated OER
Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson plan is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as...
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"Mambo" from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
Students encounter and study "Mambo" from "West Side Story," by Leonard Bernstein. They practice utilizing musical elements (instrumentation, tempo, and dynamics) to create a certain mood for a scene with music. Each student interprets...
Curated OER
Notating a Rainy Day
Young singers learn how to notate the rhythms and melodies of a familiar song using Kodaly hand signals and manipulatives. Individuals then create their own compositions and sing them using Kodaly notation.
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Singing The Blues with Garage Band
Students demonstrate writing lyrics for a twelve-bar blues pattern by writing two verses of a blues song and then recording themselves singing over a stock blues pattern using Apple's Garage Band. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
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Ostinato Patterns.
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the creation of music using ostinato patterns. They listen to music composed with these patterns and focus upon compositional techniques. Students examine the pattern with the help of...
San Francisco Symphony
By the Great Horn Spoon!
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
San Francisco Symphony
Washington Portrait
Fifth and second graders pair up to create mini dance scenes based on the image Washington Crossing the Delaware. Second graders create the movements while their fifth grade partners play the musical accompaniment. Leadership skills,...
Museum of Tolerance
The Role of Citizens in a Participatory Democracy
Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...
Curated OER
200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Learners define the term "exoticism" and identify musical elements used by 19th and 20th century composers and modern pop icons to convey exoticism.
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H1 Classic Presents: Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Lesson 2
Students are introduced to the various songwriting techniques of Paul McCartney. They explore and compare the basic melodic, harmonic, and lyrical tendencies of the different types of pop music.
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Groovy Time
Students compose their own eight measure melody in a D scale. Using a software program, they enter the half, quarter and eighth notes in the order they prefer. To end the lesson, they play their music for the class and critique their...
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Misterioso: Thelonius Monk
Learners examine the musical style of Thelonius Monk, particularly Misterioso. They write in their journals how the song sounds and fits with the way Monk dresses. They journal about how their own music might sound if they wrote jazz music.
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Meet Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov!
Learners 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.
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Lesson Plan for Danse by Claude Debussy
Students study the life and music of Claude Debussy. They listen to and compare the orchestration and compositional technique of the Debussy composition, 'Danse.' They compare a piano arrangement to an orchestrated version.
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The Life and Times of Gioacchino Rossini
Students discuss Gioacchino Rossini's life and musical culture. In this music lesson plan, students are introduced to "biofacts" about Rossini and listen to excerpts of his music. Students identify characteristics of Rossini's musical...