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Rhythm and Art: Gesture Drawing
Students make connection between music and art. In this integrated arts instructional activity, students complete gesture drawing activities as they listen to Cuban, flamenco, classical, jazz, and contemporary music.
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Hip Hop and Geography
Learners study the various geographic regions of the U.S. and discuss how popular music is influenced by cultural/regional factors. Groups choose East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, or South in rap/hip hop music and create a PowerPoint or...
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Bud, Not Buddy
Fifth graders read the book Bud, Not Buddy and participate in activities that generate understanding of the Great Depression. In this realistic fiction lesson, 5th graders read about a boy who grew up during this time. Students research...
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Learning to Play Together
Students listen to and discuss American music genres, specifically ragtime, bebop/bop, and swing, and experiment with improvisation on traditional tunes and rhythms.
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Thumbs Up For Movie Reviews
If your class loves movies, this instructional activity is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go...
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Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
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The Age of Sailing Songs
Learners explore various genres of spoken and written expression. While considering the era of the shipyard and sailing, students describe and document a favorite ship, captain, crew, or life of a sailor. Using this information, they...
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Boosting Rap's Rep
Students consider the negative image that some have of rap and hip-hop music through discussion and reading an opinion piece from The New York Times. They create CD cover artwork reflecting these messages.
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My Way
Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.
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Look, Listen and Learn
Students brainstorm what they know about the performing arts and research an artist or song and its related genre. Students work in groups to create an online banner to attract peers to their performing arts genre.
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All Mixed Up
Students explore the emergence of bootlegs, also known as 'mash-ups' (the combination of two songs into one), on the Internet. By researching the musical origins of songs and creating and performing their own bootlegs, students gain a...
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Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Learners create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition instructional activity, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In...
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Doo-Wop Pop
Doo-Wop Pop, by Roni Schotter is story that focuses on music and performing arts. Language arts activities include phonics, music, writing about dreams, poetry, and writing a letter are included in this literature guide. Furthermore...
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Soundtrack to War
Students discuss the important role of music in lives of soldiers stationed in Iraq. They identify and demonstrate skills in creating compositions with limited resources, similar in concept to the soldiers viewed in the documentary.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students discuss the style and characteristics of the Classical era and the genre of opera. They compare and contrast modern day popular icons to musical icons throughout history. They write original librettos to modern entertainment.
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Behind the Movie Chicago - Lesson 1
Students are introduced to the genre of the musical film. They become aware of the music and dance trends of the 1920s. They identify musical motive as a basis for unity in composition.
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Globe Trotting Cinderella
Students explore the fairy tale genre of literature. In this Cinderella lesson, students read fairy tales and discuss their attributes and cultural background. Students examine and write their own fractured fairy tales.
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iRock
Students explore, listen to and analyze songs that helped define rock and roll music. They read and discuss the article, "They're All Oldies, Dad Included." Research on contemporary artists is conducted and then the students choose who...
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A Journey Through The Seasons
Second graders demonstrate creative movement, singing in canon or rounds, and playing instruments while taking "a musical journey through the seasons" in this second grade General Music instructional activity. Songs and discussion...
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Somebody's Knocking At My Door
Students perform animal sounds and movements, demonstrate a steady beat using both feet, and perform portions of the song "Somebody's Knocking At My Door" in this Music activity for the Kindergarten classroom. State and National...
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The Rhythm of R & B - Lesson 8
Students describe some of the distinguishing characteristics background rhythms used in R&B. They perform typical R&B accompaniment patterns and develop their own horn section to play background rhythms.
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Babar's Travels
Students read the story The Story of Babar and have a class discussion about his travels, discuss their families, design a map, pick music, and more. For this cross curricular musical lesson plan, students create a music map for each of...
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Accelerando - Israel, Peru, Russia
Students complete activities to learn about the music concept of accelerando. In this accelerando lesson, students sing songs and learn tempo. Students use the Yiddish circle dance 'Bim Bam' to complete a circle dance. Students also...
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What is American Culture
Students create what they feel is American Culture using a video camera and capturing 5 frames. They are animating parts of a poem in small groups. They decide the set up, create movable figures, and have a music section. Each person...