Curated OER
A Guide to Great Home Music Practice
To be the very best musician one needs to be wiling to practice at home. Here is a handy guide to give your young musicians a leading edge on home music practice. It includes a warm up, cool down, suggestions for setting goals and for...
Curated OER
Allegro Band Warm-Up & Joyance rehearsal
In need of a high school band lesson? This resource includes a warm up, objectives for learners to focus on, and notes for each part of the song being played. These notes are specific to the learners it is written for, but may give you...
Curated OER
Jewish Folk Song: Ya Ba Bom
Singing is a wonderful way to express an idea of any kind. This instructional activity is written expressly for use in directing a high school chorus. They work on using four-part harmony, expression, and melodic intervals while singing...
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Elements of Music—How do Composers Plan?
The introduction to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and the finale of his Symphony No. 4 provide young musicians with an opportunity to investigate the music elements composers employ to develop the themes they want to create. They compare the...
Curated OER
Music in Words
Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...
Hookshot Creative
Compose Your Own Music
Channel the masters with an interactive music composition activity! Learners use the online tool to create their own masterpieces one measure at a time.
Curated OER
Kotekan: A Cooperative Music Activity
Young musicians explore the rhythms and sounds of Balinese gamelan music, then create their own. They listen to several examples of gamelan music, then use their instruments to mimic the rhythms they hear. After a warm up and practice,...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Violin" by Nikki Wallschlaeger
Nikki Wallschlaeger's Violin is the featured poem in a lesson that uses music and multiple readings to delve deep into its analysis. After a writing warm-up, learners watch and listen to a video that showcases Regina Carter Quintet's...
Curated OER
Music Theories
Explore the inception and evolution of hip-hop music as a springboard for writing music reviews and researching other genres of music. Learners will read and discuss the Times' article, From Underground Music to Fashion Statement to then...
Curated OER
Home Music Practice Checklists
Music is great, but in order to play really well, you have to practice. Here is a printable checklist that will help your music students remember to practice playing their instruments everyday. The daily practice reminder includes a...
Curated OER
Set a Poem to Music
Fun awaits both you and your class as you embark on a musical activity. After discussing different rhythmic meters they choose a poem to set to music. The poem must rhyme and be set to a melody in the key of C Major. Because the activity...
Curated OER
Disney Mambo #5 Warm-up
When the music starts to play, everyone wants to get up and move to this song. Teach your class some basic steps and body moves to the beat of this mambo song. Each of the movements is repeated, which means that youngsters are not having...
Curated OER
Hip-Hop Warm Up Dance
Students in a middle elementary physical education class participate in a warm-up activity in which they perform several hip-hop dance moves. They do the mountain climber, the coffee grinder, the seat spin, and others. They even come...
Curated OER
High Five Dance Warm Up
Students participate in a variety of warm ups. In groups, they form a circle and only perform their dance when their number is called. While completing their dance, they give each other high fives. To end the instructional activity, they...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Moving to the Poems of Angel Island
A poem carved on Angel Island's walls is the guiding text of a lesson that challenges scholars to put movement into a written piece of art. After warm up-activities, learners play a game of "Pass the Clap" and "Pass the Line," in which...
Phys Ed Games
Fitness Musical Hoops
A new take on musical chairs! Pupils run, skip, jump, high knees, etc. around the perimeter of the gym, making sure not to cross through the middle, as music is being played. Then, when the music stops, children have to put their feet in...
Smithsonian Institution
American Sabor: Word Search #1
Find la guitarra and el charango with a short and straightforward word search focused on Latin American music. Learners check through a list of popular instruments and dances before delving into the puzzle.
Curated OER
Warm Up to Weaving With the Right Lesson Plans
Explore the process of creating the fabrics, cloths, blankets, and rugs that warm the chilly months of winter with weaving lesson plans.
Lauren Kitchin
Singing in the Classroom
Those new to the Kodály Method of music instruction, as well as experienced educations, will find everything they need in a resource designed to launch a five-week vocal music program. Packed with warm ups, games, activities, and...
Curated OER
Identifying Musical Instruments
First graders identify different musical instruments. In this music appreciation lesson, 1st graders discover the different groups and sounds of instruments while learning their names as well. Students write about an instrument they...
Curated OER
Responding Syllables: Reading and Music
Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...
Curated OER
Warm-Up
Students warm-up their lungs for playing. Students watch the band director and respond appropriately to his gestures. They help create a proper balance in the band. Also, students warm-up their fingers for playing, and students play...
Curated OER
Michael Jackson's "Beat It" Dance
Learn this 32-count line dance. There are four eight-counts that repeat throughout the song. The steps include walking forward, walking backward, pivots, grapevine, and some jumps. All in all this is a simple and quick dance to learn....
Curated OER
Michael Jackson's “Beat It” Dance
Looking for a line dance? Look no further. This dance is performed to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". It is comprised of four eight-counts. The moves consist of walking forward, swinging the hips, doing the grapevine, walking backwards, and...