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...
Curated OER
The Producers
Young scholars design attractive posters to promote the work of Leroy Anderson, an American composer with an unusual style.
Curated OER
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
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. In this music composition lesson, students collaborate in small groups with their instruments and compose a short song which they will play for class....
Curated OER
Poetry/Music: Let It Snow!
Students create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by reading sheet music. In this musical score analysis lesson, students utilize their individual instruments to play the song "Peter and the Wolf." Students listen to an online version of the song and...
Curated OER
Singing the Blues with Garageband
Music composition can be easy with a little software assistance. The class uses Garageband to listen to, write, sing, and record a blues song. They listen to the song provided through the software, write their own lyrics to the song,...
Curated OER
Mozart vs. Beethoven - Real Classical Composers
Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...
Curated OER
Notable American Composers
Students visit web sites for each of the composersand listen to selections of each composer's music and place important dates of the composers into a pre-printed time line.
Curated OER
Tradition through storytelling and music
Students discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by writing...
Curated OER
Creating Musical Notation
For this creative music activity from Scientific American, learners learn about musical notation and then design their own notations. Great web resource links are alsp provided
Curated OER
Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music in America - Lesson 4
Learners choose a theme for a song. They compose a poem, and write music to go along with their poem. The instructor plays the musical accompaniment, and the class votes on the most appropriate rhythmic pattern.
Curated OER
Storytellers: Coldplay
Students discover the importance of lyrics in the successful combination of music and words in the process of composing a song. They discuss how emotion-based lyrics influence the creative aspects in composing a song.
Curated OER
Can You Hear a Story?
Students listen to, analyze, and describe music. They explain relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
Curated OER
Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson 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 the...
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...
Curated OER
Misterioso: Thelonius Monk
Students 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.
Curated OER
A Song for Today - Lesson 3
Students analyze musical and topical elements in popular songs and compose song as a classroom effort. They write a short paragraph evaluating the effectiveness of the song in conveying the message of the lyrics.
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And You Don't Stop - 30 Years of Hip-Hop
Students discuss the role of the rapper in Hip Hop music and how the rapper promoted their group's DJ. They compose a short rap about a fellow student highlighting that student's accomplishments and good traits.
Curated OER
Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain - Kenya
Students accompany music to the story Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain - Kenya to show how sound and music can accompany story description. In this music instructional activity, students learn how to show sound during a story.
Curated OER
Soundtrack to War
Students discuss the important role of music in lives of soldiers stationed in Iraq. They identify and demonstrate skills in creating compositions with limited resources, similar in concept to the soldiers viewed in the documentary.
Curated OER
Can You Hear a Story?
Students gain an understanding of relationships between music and language arts. They analyze a story and create a musical composition that reflects and enhances the story. The musical accompaniment will be produced in a book on tape.
Curated OER
Black and Blue: Jazz in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
High schoolers analyze the impact of jazz on the novel, "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison. They read and discuss excerpts of the novel, write an essay on the influence of jazz on Ralph Ellison as a writer, and view video excerpts on...
Glacier Peak High School
Huckleberry Finn Theme Project Ideas
Looking for a project list to conclude a study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? The six suggestions included in the menu (a song, thematic box, CD case, book jacket, blog, scene) could be assigned to individuals or groups....