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Music: Off the Wall & Onto the Stage - Composing
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.
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A Musical Composition Experience
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,...
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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...
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Using Poetry As Inspiration for Composition
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...
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Student Composers with Music Ace
Learners compose short compositions using Doodle Pad. In this Musical composition activity, 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 Music...
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Composing Project
Students design, compose, and present short musical compositions for keyboard in this lesson plan meant for the high school choir class. This lesson can be adapted to any time frame, but the author suggests a considerable amount of time...
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Rewording Nursery Rhymes
Third graders write a song. For this melody lesson, 3rd graders discuss their favorite nursery rhymes. Students sing two songs and compare their melodies. Students use the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to write a Thanksgiving...
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Illustration # 5: Phone Number Melodies
Fourth graders create their own melodies by making up a phone number with the numbers of the C major scale (the number 9 will be played by double the C at an octave. Students are encouraged to end their piece with V, I progression in...
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Echo Me! - A Melodic Dictation and Tonal Memory Game
Students demonstrate five-finger hand positions (C, G, D, etc.) by playing short melodic phrases using only those notes in the given position and creating short melodies. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
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Building Canons on Pachelbel's Canon in D
Learners demonstrate the structure of a canon by composing melodies and variations over Pachelbel's Theme from the Canon in D. Requires a networked keyboard lab and computers.
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Music Theory
Students properly notate a short melody within a given framework. They pay much attention to rhythmic notation. Students compose and harmonize their own melodies. They work individually on composing a melody on their preferred...
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Musical Imagery
Students experience musical imagery. They link this musical concept to literary imagery to gain an understanding of the use of imagery in both genres. After listening to a varriety of sounds, students will compose and perform a melody.
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"Movies That Rock": Moulin Rouge
Upper graders explore musical film and the Bohemian lifestyle common in Europe during the turn of the century through the musical Moulin Rouge. After listening to (or viewing) songs from the movie, they discuss the Bohemian era and how...
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Using Garage Band to Enhance 2nd Grade Composition
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....
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The Sound of Music: Do-Re-Mi
Seventh graders create a simple melody using the Solfedge syllables. In this melody lesson, 7th graders watch the movie The Sound of Music and focus on the "Do Re Mi" clip. Students examine solfege syllables and create a melody using the...
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Making Progress: From Chords to Melody
Students review chord progression while listening to tracks of music. They write melodies to fit a given chord progression. They sing their melodies and analyze how it compares to the original melody.
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A Round and A Round
Students practice singing rounds in daily warm-ups for 2 weeks prior to beginning this composition lesson. Students incorporate movement to the rhythm of each syllable, discuss syllables of words and their relationship to note values and...
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Be An Incredible Songwriter
Students write songs about something incredible they have experienced or know about. They consider topics of events, dreams, ideas, feelings, or animals. They accompany themselves with small musical instruments while performing the songs...
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VH1 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll Lesson 3
Students examine female artists who perform in the genres of rhythm & blues, jazz, soul, and hip-hop/rap. They compose lyrics and melody in one of these genres.
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What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Students improvise then compose and notate melodies with appropriate accompaniments that are inspired by events that transpired during their summer vacations. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
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Creating Folk Webs in General Music Class
Sixth graders demonstrate the musical and historical context of a given folk song by notating the melody, creating an accompaniment, and displaying it on the web for assessment.
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West Virginia Def PB Wants You!
Students write, adapt, and compose a song related to the West Virginia State Museum. In this music instructional activity, students create a composition for a work of visual art. Students incorporate major and minor melodies.
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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...