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Handout
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Music Fun

Musical Instruments

For Students 2nd - 12th
Membranophones? Aerophones? How about strings? Percussion? You need not be a music instructor to benefit from a packet of 24 worksheets that introduce aspiring musicians to the various instrument families.
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Worksheet
Classics for Kids

Instrumental Sounds

For Students 4th - 5th
What sound does a piccolo make? What's the difference between a violin and viola? What family does a timpani belong to? Take a tour through the different sections of an orchestra with an interactive reference tool.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Ultimate Instrument!

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders identify the four instrument families of the symphony orchestra. They listen to the instruments and compare the similarities and differences of each of the four families. They design and create an instrument that belongs to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet the Instruments of the Orchestra

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students examine the characteristics of the four families of instruments. They read an eBook, unscramble instruments and categorize them in the correct families, take a quiz, and explore the San Francisco Symphony website.
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Activity
It's About Time

Sounds in Strings

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
How many of your pupils play an instrument? A musical science lesson will help all of them understand how string instruments work. Young scientists construct a string-and-pulley system to test frequency and pitch. The lesson ends with a...
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Worksheet
Classics for Kids

Instruments Have a Family

For Students K - 3rd Standards
Are the instruments in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in the same family as those in George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue? Elementary musicians work on their music theory and their instrumental ear as they listen to clips of famous...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chinese Instruments

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore Chinese instruments. In this Chinese instrument music lesson, students listen to a performance by Liu Fang and describe the sounds they hear. Students classify western and Chinese instruments according to their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woodwind Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics lesson, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Students research "pitch" and what causes pitch fluctuation by...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Guitar Family

For Students 6th - 7th
In this music learning exercise, learners analyze 5 pictures from the guitar family. Students also see how many parts of the guitar they can label by drawing a line from the correct word to the picture.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet the Instrument Families

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders listen to a recording of a string quartet and ask questions about what kinds of instrument they think they are listening to and describe what they think the instruments look like. Then they discuss musical ideas such as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

String Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Learners make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and identify...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Topic Books: Musical Instruments

For Students 2nd - 5th
In this ESL musical instruments worksheet, students assemble the booklet and read about various musical instruments. Students then respond to 6 fill in the blank questions and 4 matching questions regarding the information they read.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Is My Family Name?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students listen to selected solo instruments and place the instrument in its correct family of instruments; students also identify from listening to examples: orchestra, band, vocal solo, and choral performance.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Brass Family

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students observe a PowerPoint presentation to explore how brass instruments produce wounds. They observe the teacher demonstrate the proper use of the mouthpiece and slides to produce a tone. With and without the mouthpiece, students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Orchestra: Exploring the Instruments

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore the instruments of the orchestra. In this music appreciation lesson plan, students discover the four families of instruments and research each of them using selected Internet sources.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Instruments - Strings

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore various string instruments in this multi-week music lesson for the upper-elementary grades. Emphasis is placed on group violin lessons, listening to and identifying string instruments, and researching non-European...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bedrich Smetana

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss the Genesee River and they describe the different things they might see on its shore. They are asked to name different activities people do around the river. Students related the Genesee to the Moldau, they are told a...
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Worksheet
Classics for Kids

A Composer Leads the Way

For Students 4th - 5th
What song is playing? A music activity focuses on composers throughout history, their famous works, and the instruments in each piece. As pupils complete the learning exercise they play a short game to review music theory terms.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Instrument families

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners brainstorm to list as many instruments as they can and try to guess which instrument family into which they fit. They research each instrument on a website and find the family, hear the sound and learn about each one.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet The Instruments Of The Orchestra

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students identify brass, woodwind, string, and percussion instruments and group them into appropriate families in this technology-based Music lesson for 2nd through 5th grades. Each students is required to have a handheld device or laptop.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Just Stringing Along

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students learn the string instruments of the symphony orchestra and recognize their "relatives."
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Timbre II

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this timbre of instruments worksheet, students explore the concept of timbre meaning four different kinds of sounds: string, brass, choral and percussion. Students locate those concepts in a word search puzzle.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Percussion Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students play string instruments to discover how the pitch changes on various string instruments.  In this pitch instructional activity, students listen to video clips and play an online music game.  Students become familiar with music...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

KEYBOARDS

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders become familiar with appearance and characteristic sound of piano, identify piano as part of percussion family, find middle C on the keyboard, observe scale, chord, and "broken" chord, and listen to a well-known classical...