Curated OER
Global Music Patterns- Islamic Art
Students compose music using Islamic patterns. In this cultural arts lesson, students examine Islamic art and analyze the patterns. Students incorporate various Islamic patterns into a musical composition.
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Global Music: Steve Reich – Ghana, Bali, America and Germany
Students explore the music of Steve Reich. In this global music lesson, students compare the music compositions of Steve Reich to African and Balinese music. Students discuss their personal comparisons.
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Signin' the Blues with Rock, Rap 'n Roll
Sixth graders listen to recordings and study jazz and the blues music. They identify the instrumentation and explore the 12-bar blues progression. After experimenting with different sound, 6th graders create their own arrangement, with...
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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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Percussion Composition
Students create and present a short composition. Using skills, techniques and processes, students select, combine and manipulate sound and silence.
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Musical Form and Sibelius Groovy Music Shapes
Learners create a song using the form ABACADAEA. Students listen to a musical piece created by Vivaldi that is an example of this musical form. Then
learners use software to create their own musical forms representing this pattern.
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Making CD's from MIDI Compositions
Students complete their own composition (ABA song form, C Major scale, 32-60 measures) using the keyboard and sequencing software on the computer to playback the song. They fill in answers in their workbooks and watch how to transfer...
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"Humor" Afro-American Symphony (Third Movement)
A fun way for young learners to explore music and their personal reaction to it, this worksheet includes a short reading passage about musician William Grant Still, a word scramble, a matching activity and two short writing prompts. Some...
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Twelve-Bar Blues
Students examine blues music. In this music genres instructional activity, students discover details about the history of the musical genre and compositional techniques. Students then compose melodies of their own with 12-bar blues chord...
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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.
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Compose Your Memory
Students notate a short musical composition using the notation software Sibelius. This composition is based on a the student's favorite childhood memory. Based on their emotions felt at this time, they incorporate tempo, range, and...
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Arranging Patriotic Music for Instruments
High schoolers 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.
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Exploring Musical Instruments of the Orchestra
High schoolers listen to "The William Tell Overture," identify instruments, sounds and other characteristics of the music. They compare and contrast orchestra music to large band music. Students discuss the musical composition and how...
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VH1 AIDS: A Pop Culture History Lesson 3
Young scholars investigate the relationship between music and culture, and how music conveys thoughts and emotions. They write their own song.
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Connecting Literature, Writing and Music
High schoolers assess the impact of music to portray emotions and tell stories. Examples are taken from the life of Rosa Parks and a piece of band music called "A Movement for Rosa". Evaluation is accomplished through in-class...
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Set a Poem to Music
Students consider the role of rhythm and meter in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry and use their music skills to set picture book poetry to music by creating "singable" poems.
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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...
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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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Lesson Plan for Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (1938)
Students study the life and music of composer, Samuel Barber. In groups, representing trees, water, and stars they use interpretive dance to tell the story of the musical composition, 'Adagio for Strings, Op. 11' by Barber.
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Classics for Kids: Dvorak's "Slavonic Dance No. 7"
This short biography of Antonin Dvorak and map of Eastern Europe could accompany and supplement listening to "Slavonic Dance No. 7." Four questions support reading the geographic map, a "Listening Map" outlines the form of the...
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Rock and Roll with Music and Movement
Fourth graders improvise music and dance to express their analysis of types of rocks. They discuss the three classes of rocks, list describing words, and create a short musical piece and dance to symbolize the rock they are dancing.
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Symphonic Poetry
Students interpret the themes in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, create a 6-line poem based on the themes in the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and define musical terms related to the study of programmatic music in...
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Focus on Form
Young musicians discuss musical form found in the song, The Star Spangled Banner. They review their parts for the song then practice playing it as a group. Cross-curricular activity suggestions are included.
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Trees-Whiz
A unique series of lessons on trees is here for you. The series has learners utilize visual art, musical compositions, and literature in order to examine how trees have a place in a culture. The classic tale, The Giving Tree is one...