Ragtime Lesson Plans

First graders view video of dancers and compare the dance and the time periods in which they took place.  For this Renaissance and Ragtime Eras lesson students look at primary source material and list differences in the time periods.

Students will explore ragtime music and gain an understanding of its development in relation to jazz. They will also investigate the historical events during the time the genre evolved.

Students 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 short syncopated rhythm examples of music in various meters.

Students examine the origins of ragtime music in American and analyze its musical form.

Learners enact scenes similar to silent films using the Olympic Games as their subject. For this Olympic Games enactment lesson, students view film from the last century to learn about the silent film genre. Learners then work in groups using ragtime music to act out scenes of Olympic Game activities in that style.

Students investigate the concept of Rag Time Music and the times associated to it in American History. They conduct research using a variety of resources and listen to a sample before writing down some of the results of the information search.

Students browse current issues of Targetnewspaper and their local newspaper and look for articles/advertisements featuring jazz, blues, funk, hip-hop, gospel or ragtime musicians. They discuss the African American roots in these types of music.

First graders study Scott Joplin. For this music lesson, 1st graders read articles about Scott Joplin and listen to recordings of his music. Students complete a worksheet about Scott Joplin.

Students listen to, analyze, and describe music. They explain musics relationship to history and culture.

Melodic phrases in pieces of music are the focus of this music lesson. Young musicians study melodic phrases in vocal and instrumental music pieces. They listen to a variety of musical examples in order to identify the different phrases in each.