Curated OER
Music Composition
Are your learners ready to compose their own music? If so, this worksheet will help them do it. The sheet is broken into several staffs where they write the tune, riff, and chords. They can put them together to create a unique piece....
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...
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...
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.
Illinois Music Education Conference
Taking the “General” Out of Middle School General Music!
Middle schoolers will sing the praises of this music program. The resource, designed as an overview for music instructors, is loaded with ideas, activities, and links. Not a sour note in the packet.
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...
Curated OER
19th & 20th Century Composers: Exoticism
VH1 Music Studio has put out another great activity that incorporates analysis, compare/contrast, and musical terminology. Kids will listen to the song "Habanera" considering the use of specific instruments in evoking a sense of...
Curated OER
Create a Composition
Students select an instrument and create a musical composition. In this musical composition lesson, students invent an original piece of music that is 16 measures long. Students hum and record their pieces.
Curated OER
Pictures at an Exhibition
Students discuss how the musical composition was created. They listen to "Pictures at an Exhibition." Students discuss how the Promenade in the beginning of the opus is based on Mussorgsky walking through the exhibit of paintings....
Classics for Kids
Composers Timeline
Take a quick tour through the last 350 years of music composition with an interactive timeline tool. As learners scroll through the years, they see which composers were born and working during the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern...
Curated OER
Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
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,...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Arts Showcase
An art showcase encourages class members to explore the themes of social justice and tolerance. They create an original artwork, engage in group discussions, and journal writing. The art gallery also provides a chance for families and...
Curated OER
High School Lesson Plan
Learners compose and arrange music within specific guidelines. They # identify and explain compositional devices and techniques used in a musical work. They compare and contrast the use of those techniques between different compositions.
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. For this music composition lesson, students collaborate in small groups with their instruments and compose a short song which they will play for class....
Curated OER
Graphic Scores
You can write some music scores using images rather than musical notation. Kids learn how they can become musical composers by using graphics or images in place of musical notation. An interesting slide-show, but a more interesting...
Curated OER
Elements of Music
In this music instructional activity, students study the elements of a musical composition: silence, pitch, texture, dynamics, tempo, attack and decay and duration. Students complete 7 questions about these elements. Prior knowledge is...
Curated OER
"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Mozart was an amazing composer and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was one of his best-loved orchestral pieces. This handout provides a brief description of the instruments for which it was written, and how each section and part should be...
Curated OER
Global Music Patterns- Islamic Art
Students compose music using Islamic patterns. In this cultural arts lesson, students examine Islamic art and analyze the patterns. Students incorporate various Islamic patterns into a musical composition.
Curated OER
Music Composition
Students compose a simple melody using the notes of the D Major Scale. Criteria/Rubric for evaluation is provided with variations depending on skill level of students. A minimum of one forty-five minute class period is needed for this...
SoundTree
When The Saints Go Marching In: A Lesson for Middle School Keyboard Lab Students
After listening to a variety of interpretations of "When the Saints Go Marching In," partners compose and then perform their own renditions of this classic before joining a full-class jam session.
Curated OER
If Paintings Could Talk: Art and Language
Middle schoolers learn about the artist Canaletto, play a vocabulary game, and create a landscape using collage technique. Background information on the artist is provided along with instructions for the game and vocabulary words to...
Curated OER
Music Knowledge: pre/post test
While this is not a instructional activity, it could potentially take as long as one. This is a 73-question test to administer to those studying music. They'll need to answer questions regarding general music terminology, theory, and...
Curated OER
Music from the Silk Roads
Students explore different types of musical instruments. In this musical instrument lesson, students create a replica of a sheng. Students utilize this instrument to understand different types of breathing used in different sounds....
Curated OER
Rhythm, Triads, Intervals
Let the class show what they know about rhythm, triads, and intervals with this quiz. They complete the rhythm on staff one and two, identify the intervals on staff three, and identify the triads on staff four. This is a well-thought-out...