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The Sound of Music: Do-Re-Mi
Seventh graders create a simple melody using the Solfedge syllables. In this melody lesson plan, 7th graders watch the movie The Sound of Music and focus on the "Do Re Mi" clip. Students examine solfege syllables and create a melody...
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Movie Music
Students discover film making by participating in a music performance. In this performance arts lesson, students perform music and physical acting to convey an already written script for their peers. Students collaborate with their...
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Vocabulary Songs: Vocabulary Reinforcement Activity
Students compose songs using vocabulary words. In this vocabulary lesson, students are introduced to a new set of vocabulary words and their definitions. Students collaborate in groups of three or four to write new lyrics to the tune of...
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A Chorus For Us
Students examine "serious" choral music written for student choirs and the composers who write it. They reflect upon the notion of "serious" music, and examine the trend of concert composers writing pieces for student chorus
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Create a Composition
Students select an instrument and create a musical composition. In this musical composition lesson, students invent an original piece of music that is 16 measures long. Students hum and record their pieces.
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Sounds Like Science- Jamboree
Students explore sound, pitch, volume, frequency, and musical notes. In this homemade instrument lesson, students use materials such as jars, buckets, strings, rackets, rubber bands, and bottles to create their own unique instrument....
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Comparing Composers: Beethoven and Mozart
Students read brief biographies of Mozart and Beethoven and identify the composer identified in each of 15 statements on the student work sheet.
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Creating Musical Notation
In this creative music activity from Scientific American, students learn about musical notation and then design their own notations. Great web resource links are alsp provided
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Aesthetics and Affect in Music from Around the World
High schoolers explore traditional music of different societies around the world by listening to number of different musical recordings, discuss how music makes them feel, examine how music is central to cultural traditions, and compose...
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A Penny for Your Thoughts, Movies, or Music?
Students investigate copyright violation laws. In this media copyright lesson, students read two articles that discuss copyright laws, then they develop their own perspective on the laws. Students then divide into small groups and...
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Electronically Composing Music
Students complete a worksheet and discuss components of musical composition. Students familiarize themselves with the program, Finale. Students then work cooperatively to compose a musical suite.
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Reading Music Notation
Ninth graders develop an understanding of music notation and become proficient at reading rhythms by sight. They explore rhythms base on divisions of two and four and triplets.
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Introduction to Ludwig van Beethoven
"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...
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My Antonia: Guided Imagery
Willa Cather's novel My Antonia is full of vivid imagery. Encourage your pupils to visualize and translate images from the text into original writing with this guided imagery activity. Learners listen to an excerpt, take a moment to...
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Feelin' Swing, Part 2
Upper elementary schoolers listen to and reproduce the rythm of Mary Lou William's musical piece, "Scratchin' in the Gravel." The swing song was written at a time that women did not play jazz. She broke the rules by playing and writing...
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El Mundo Maya
Learners conduct Internet research on the Mayan world, both past and present. They complete a worksheet, create a logo that represents the Mayan world, and write a Mayan legend, glyph, or music.
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Interactive Timeline
Middle schoolers examine the development of ragtime music and its relation to jazz. They participate in an online Interactive timeline and read about the history of ragtime music, listen to examples of music, and in small groups create...
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Music to Your Ears
Students explore how the sounds made by everyday objects can be transformed into musical experiences, composing and performing musical pieces using non-traditional instruments.
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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...
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Mysterious Music
Eighth graders investigate how to compose music for a detective program. The goal is for them to discover the method needed. The idea was simple, they were told to compose the music with emotional tension that climaxed and then relaxed...
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Carnival of the Animals
Learners listen to music to study the various sounds instruments make and feelings they incur. In this music analysis instructional activity, students listen to musical extracts from 'The Carnival of Animals' describe the music. Learners...
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VH1 Driven: Kanye West, Lesson 2
Young scholars compose an original rap. They discuss the career and music of Kanye West, discuss their pre-writing worksheet, and write an original rap using a Final Draft Worksheet.
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Writing Lyrics
Pupils examine the themes and structure of a bluegrass song and identify the common themes in bluegrass music. They practice songwriting by rewriting the lyrics of "Oh! Susanna" as a bluegrass tune.
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Ray Charles
Learners read the book Ray Charles by Sharon Bell Mathis. For this biography instructional activity, students read about the life of Ray Charles. Learners answer pre-reading questions about senses, strengths, and weaknesses they have....