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Activity
Amani Project

The 5 Elements of Music

For Students 3rd - 8th
A series of activities teach young musicians that they don't need a room full of instruments to make music. The second activity in the Amani Project has participants use their hands, feet, and voices to demonstrate the five elements of...
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Activity
Amani Project

Make an Instrument

For Students 3rd - 8th
Create a little harmony with Amani Project! Young musicians create their instruments using found or recycled objects. As an introduction, class members first experiment with sounds they can make with their bodies (clapping, stomping...
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Unit Plan
Institut Obert de Catalunya

20th Century Music: Jazz

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
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Activity
Canada's National Arts Center

Vivaldi and The Four Seasons

For Students 4th - 6th
Did you know that Vivaldi’s orchestra was largely made up of girls from an orphanage? Fun facts like this fill a 34-page teacher's kit designed to accompany a cross-curricular study of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. 
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Activity
Kansas Music Educators Association

Games for the Elementary Music Classroom

For Teachers K - 6th
Perfect for music specialists, classroom teachers, and substitutes, a packet of 18 games includes complete lessons as well as short activities for when you have some extra time at the end of class.
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Lesson Plan
Concordia College Archives

History and Musical Aesthetics

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
What are the musical elements that characterize a school's fight song or its alma mater? Class members listen to examples of fight songs and alma maters from various schools, play a listening game, and then create a list of the...
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Activity
Leading Learner

Using Music to Tell a Story or Describe a Scene

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Young composers demonstrate their understanding of the stylistic features of descriptive music, including pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre, by developing a melody and countermelody for a main character in a story. As part of...
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Worksheet
Classics for Kids

Hurry Up – Slow Down

For Students 4th - 5th Standards
Is your music appreciation class feeling a bit adagio this afternoon? Pick up the pace and get them feeling andante with a straightforward music theory activity. After defining several terms for musical dynamics and musical tempos,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Conducting: Classroom Activities

For Teachers K - 8th
Turn the class into a percussive orchestra and let the kids take over as conductor. You'll explain a few ins and outs of what a conductor does. Then you hand over the baton and let your budding Beethovens conduct each other as they play...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Name That Tune

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Integrating technology and music can be a snap with lessons like this one! Kids in a junior high band class took to the Internet to download and practice playing their instrument with a computer generated back up band. They practice...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My (musical) Valentine

For Teachers K
Get out those bells, sand blocks, and sticks! Your kindergarteners use their singing voices to ask and answer friendly questions while keeping rhythm. They take turns in a group and in pairs singing questions and answers while keeping...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kindergarten Music Time

For Teachers K
Little ones are led through a series of rhythmic songs and chants while they march, clap, and use their tummies as percussive instruments. They work on singing in pitch, chunking, and keeping a steady beat. 
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PPT
Curated OER

Exploring Pulse & Rhythm

For Teachers K - 2nd
When we play music, we count beats both high and low. This introductory music activity explores tempo and rhythm. Learners will follow along as they clap to the beat, they clap high in the air and low. A very good introductory lesson.
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PPT
Curated OER

Musical Terms

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Are you starting a recorder lesson with your elementary students? Use this helpful slide-show, perfect for introducing basic music terms such as tempo, dynamics, pitch, and duration. Each slide provides a definition and example of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Music has been used to convey thoughts, feelings, and the human condition for thousands of years. Your class will analyze several songs hear in the animated classic, "Charlie Brown." They will listen to several jazz pieces from the show,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Green Light

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
How is music like reading? First, listeners rank music from slowest to fastest. How does the music's pace affect your mood? How does this same theory compare to reading? Spark a discussion to identify the similarities. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Garage Band Introduction

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a new project. They are told that the Garage Band is a program that comes on Macintosh computers. Students are told that they project doesn't matter what tempo or key if they are recording live music. They go back to the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching the Musical Concept of Tempo

For Teachers K
Intended for an Autism class, this lesson teaches self-expression through music while facilitating an understanding of the concept of tempo. Pupils engage in a call-and-response song, clap, discuss, and sing keeping feelings and tempo...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moving and Grooving with Tempo

For Teachers 1st
First graders recognize the variations of tempo in music as it changes. They repeat movements, define tempo and distinguish between fast and slow tempo while playing a teacher led game.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Overture to 'William Tell' by Gioacchino Rossini

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create an awareness of how music creates a setting in a story or legend. They identify the instrumentation, dynamics and tempo used to create various settings for a musical story. They perform rhythmic patterns from listening...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Let's Write a Song"

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders analyze, brainstorm and practice playing a melody/pattern with rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and instrumental pieces of many styles. In addition, they create an original piece of music.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moving and Grooving with Tempo:

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners are able to repeat various movements. They are able to state the definition of tempo. Students are able to distinguish between a slow temps and a fast tempo. They form a circle and play the music detective game.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Silhouettes and Interiors

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create a multimedia piece that integrates drawing and collage. Students learn about metacognition and the discovering of self through genres of art and literature by using these steps: inspiration, brainstorm, application,...
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PPT
Curated OER

Sounds Interesting

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Play a music game with your budding musicians! They pick various sound cards out of a bag and make those sounds in different ways.