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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic instructional activity introduces...
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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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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Instrument Families

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Using graphics, and an easy-to-understand format, this resource outlines the different kinds of instruments and their characteristics. This presentation could be used as an introduction to instruments for students getting ready to...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways activity. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as...
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Activity
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Curated OER

Rhythm Jam

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Groups create, memorize, and perform for the class a 4 beats per measure rhythm pattern using percussion instruments including xylophones, rhythm sticks, and drums. The pattern is recorded on the worksheet provided in the resource.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nepalese Drum on a Stick

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students create a two sided percussion instrument designed to look like a damaru drum from Nepal. They locate Nepal on a map and conduct research on Nepal and the damaru. Students then create a damaru drum using a small plastic container...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Applying Music to Literature

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Kids explore music, history, culture, and literature in a multi-faceted lesson plan. They discuss how both historical and cultural contexts shape music, art, and literature, and then apply these concepts as they engage in a listening...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Drum

For Teachers 1st
First graders read and discuss the folktale from India "The Drum." They locate India on a map, compare and contrast "The Drum" with other stories, and participate in a Words For Storytelling game. Students also complete an adjective...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"The Drum"

For Teachers K
Students listen to and discuss the folktale from India, "The Drum," written by Rob Cleveland. They discuss the "Golden Rule," and answer story comprehension questions. Students then complete a drum phonics worksheet and a matching...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Drum

For Teachers K
Students complete a variety of activities related to the folktale from India, "The Drum." They listen to the story and answer comprehension questions, construct a coffee can drum, and complete a phonics and matching worksheet.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"The Drum"

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders read and discuss the folktale "The Drum" from India. They also answer story comprehension questions, complete an adjectives and verb worksheet, and label a map of India. Students sequence events from the story and make...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chinese Dragon Drum Lesson Plan

For Teachers K - 6th
Students research the significance of drums and the color red in Chinese culture. They make a replica of a Chinese drum using construction paper and art materials. They examine pictures of Chinese drums before decorating the ones which...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Movement

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students experiment and explore a variety of instruments and movements. They play rhythms on instruments, spell words using their bodies, act out the movements of a song, role-play machine parts as a group, pantomime an activity, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders study different bodies of water and how they fit into the water cycle. They explain that materials exist in different states (solid, liquid and gas) and change from one to another, that there are systems, order, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Percussion Composition

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students create and present a short composition. Using skills, techniques and processes, students select, combine and manipulate sound and silence.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock Music

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students create percussion instruments using limestone and other rocks. They use instruments to perform a song.
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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

Learning the Beat

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students identify gifts found in folktales. In this folktale activity, students read the Hindi folktale "The Drum" and discuss the value of gifts such as time, talent, treasure, etc. Students also create drum beats.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Patterns - Create, Analyze, and Predict

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders practice making patterns using Unifix cubes and identify, analyze, and determine rules for describing numerical patterns involving operations and nonnumerical growing patterns. They also find an example of a pattern in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Light, Sound and Energy

For Teachers 4th - 5th
The students will be given opportunities to work independently and in teacher-directed situations to study and discover the many facets of light and sound, and the uses of energy in our environment. The grade 4 students will learn the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dizzy Gillespie

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students compare and contrast two songs by Dizzy Gillespie and identify elements of bebop. They construct a Web page about Gillespie and his music.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

AT THE CORRAL

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students study dotted eighth/sixteenth note rhythm pattern using percussion instruments and alternating from "corral to corral" in groups of 4-6. They play the pattern while listening to selected American western theme songs.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kodaly Beat Lesson

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Introduce rhythmic beat and melodic beat with a upbeat activity that asks young musicians to clap the beat to their favorite nursery rhyme. To introduce the rest beat, class members use small drums or other percussion instruments to play...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Stomping Good Time: Using Found Instruments and Invented Rhythms to Make Beautiful Music

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Learners work in small groups to use everyday objects to create performances inspired by the work of STOMP. They create a system of notation to document the music and movement of a 2-minute performance.