Upper graders having skills in music performance will extend their abilities through creative musical composition. They'll use Finale 2000 to explore facets of music composition, they'll then compose a piece for their instrument in C, F,...

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...

VH1 Music Studio has put out another great lesson 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 location....

Kids explore Gullah music from Africa and then create original compositions based on what they've learned. They practice traditional melodies and rhythms then make some of their own, which they then perform for the class. 

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...

Your second graders can become composers with a little help from the Garage Band software. You pre-select several drum, piano, and guitar loops for the groups to choose from, then they put them together following an ABA looping pattern....

A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...

This may be a lot to ask of a high schooler, but then again, who knows? Pupils work in groups to explore, write, and then perform an original opera. They view versions of The Magic Flute and La Traviata, then compose a plot, characters,...

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...

Students compose music with musical instruments, and write the proper notation for the songs they have created.

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...

Young scholars 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. Young scholars hum and record their pieces.

Assess your class's understanding of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a fun and creative final project. Using what they have learned about the novel's characters, they create presentations featuring music and images that...

This outstanding lesson plan will encourage your students to combine their knowledge of rhythm, pitch, tone and color with their imaginations to create original compositions about animals. They create a music carnival to "Peter and the...

Young scholars create abstract art using acrylic paints and canvas in this lesson provided by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The lesson includes information on abstract art and video links.

Students create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...

Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this instructional activity is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral...

The backbone of Latin American music is the beat! Young musicians work on blending Afro-Latin rhythms and beat patterns before incorporating the major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales in their own compositions.

Students discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by writing...

Young scholars explore music appreciation by creating their own music pieces in class. In this music composition lesson, students collaborate in small groups with their instruments and compose a short song which they will play for class....

Learners compose short compositions using Doodle Pad.  In this Musical composition lesson, students a clef and note lines to prior knowledge of the treble clef and note lines to write short songs on the computer.  Learners use...

Students examine the traditional Mexican musical form of corridos. In this cross curricular history and music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of popular corridos and the corridos' importance in Mexican culture. Students will...

Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this activity from Media Smarts that asks students to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible functions...

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.