Curated OER
Mozart and Music
Fifth graders experience performing arts by participating in a music performance. In this music history lesson, 5th graders practice playing notes on an instrument in class and discuss the challenges associated with making music....
Curated OER
Beat the Beat!
Students develop a sense of pulse by listening to music with strong beats. In this music beats lesson, students listen to marching band music examples. Students then practice showing the beat while listening to the song.
Curated OER
Arranging Patriotic Music for Instruments
Students 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.
Curated OER
Melody: A Very Important Element of Music
Notes, lines, and spaces are the theme of this presentation. This is a basic lesson on music elements. As a first foray into music, this would be adequate, but it could be enhanced with additional information if so desired.
Curated OER
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....
Curated OER
Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
How do a person's musical preferences influence the way they compose music of their own? Learners analyze the sound and lyrics of Alicia Keys in relation to musicians that came before. Jazz, blues, and soul music from the past are shown...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song
A instructional activity all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American...
Curated OER
Peter and the Wolf: A Russian Fairy Tale
A wonderful presentation explains a musical fairy tale. Perfect for an independent work station or as a link to send home for homework, this slideshow comes equipped with full audio. Each character, theme, and instrument from the piece...
Washington University in St. Louis
Teaching Jazz as American Culture
Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...
Curated OER
Music Terms
Students review and define music terms. In this musical vocabulary lesson, students are given a list of terms, asked to unscramble them, then write the meaning of each term.
Curated OER
Draw To The Music
One of the best ways to inspire your young artists to create art is to play some soothing music, give them some art supplies, and let their imaginations guide their hands. It's fun to see what happens if you play some energetic music as...
Curated OER
Musical Vocabulary
A large Christmas tree covered in words from around the world adorns this lesson plan. Pupils hunt through the list of Christmas words from around the world and circle the musical vocabulary words hidden among them. A fun activity that...
Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society
Jobs in the Musical Theater
Much like an iceberg, the actors you see on stage are only a fraction of the number of people involved in a theatrical production. Introduce theatre arts high schoolers to the roles played by the behind-the-scenes- personnel with an...
Curated OER
Music Appreciation Lesson
Students discover the freedom of dance by performing physical expression with music. For this physical education lesson, students discuss ways their body can make noise such as snapping, patting, or stomping. Students utilize their...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Music Around the World: United Nations Week
Students discover the United Nations through the use of musical examples and performance. This two day lesson requires two forty-five minute sections and delivers information about different cultures around the world. Emphasis is on...
Curated OER
Using Garage Band to Enhance 2nd Grade Composition
Your second graders can become composers with a little help from the Garage Band software. You pre-select several drum, piano, and guitar loops for the groups to choose from, then they put them together following an ABA looping pattern....
Curated OER
From Page to Stage
Students, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into a...
Curated OER
Putting Pitch In Its Place
Students focus on reading musical notations. They see, hear, practice and write notations in the lessons to become more independent readers of music. They complete a Rubric for Pitch Worksheet.
San Francisco Symphony
Prehistoric Music
What was music like during the Stone Age? Learners listen to a CD entitled, Art of Primitive Sound as they consider the culture of people in the Stone Age. They use objects found in nature to create instruments, and then perform a...
Curated OER
The Sorcerer's Apprentice: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Upper graders view the animated short, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and analyze how the music score was chosen to express the scene. They create an animation as they listen to a classical recording to experience the connection between...
Curated OER
The Tango
Fourth graders explore the music of Buenos Aires as they hear and then dance the Tango. They practice basic Tango rhythm, learn to sing the song, "Any Turkey can Tango," then practice a few Tango-riffic dance steps with a partner. What a...
Smithsonian Institution
Affirmation, Assimilation, and Acculturation: Middle School
Latin American culture is deeply embedded in American culture as a whole. From the Latin rock scene in San Francisco to the hip-hop world of New York, Latin American artists have influenced every genre of modern music. Learn about the...
Curated OER
Wynton's Tune
Learners examine the serigraph, "Wynton's Tune," by artist Faith Ringgold. They discuss the painting, listen to jazz music, create a drawing that tells a story inspired by their favorite music, and write sentences describing their artwork.