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Interactive
Classics for Kids

Composers Timeline

For Students K - 12th
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...
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Activity
Quaver

World Percussion — Latin America Project Book

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What's the most popular music style in Brazil? What about Cuba? Or the Dominican Republic? An immersive project teaches young learners about the salsa, the samba, and the merengue with research assignments and dance performances.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Styles in Context: Is it Music?

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students view the video, Behind the Music: 1992, and discuss the new genres of pop music that were emerging in that era. They discuss the content of the music and what it's like on the surface. They write an essay comparing it to other...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Country Music Mourns A Legend's Passing

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students investigate the history of country music. They explore various websites, identify the different types of country music, read about members of the Country Music Hall of Fame on their official website, and answer discussion...
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Lesson Plan
National First Ladies' Library

Ragtime: The First "American" Music?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners investigate the concept of ragtime music and the times associated with it in American history. They conduct research using a variety of resources and listen to a sample before writing down some of the results of the information...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cover the Music

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore U.S. history by listening to musical pieces in class. In this Civil War era instructional activity, students discuss the types of musical instruments that were available to soldiers during the war and the themes of their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letter Sound Accuracy, Musical Chairs

For Teachers K
Students explore word structure by participating in a game of musical chairs. In this phonics instructional activity, students discuss the letters of the alphabet and identify words that begin with each letter and the sounds they make....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mozart and Music

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders experience performing arts by participating in a music performance. In this music history lesson, 5th graders practice playing notes on an instrument in class and discuss the challenges associated with making music....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tradition through storytelling and music

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Music and Message of Lauryn Hill

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students explore the music of artist Lauryn Hill and analyze the way she uses her music in a socially responsible manner. For this music artist lesson, students read the lyrics to Hill's songs and listen to some example songs. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Vietnam War: A Popular Music Approach

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore the Vietnam War in music. In this Vietnam instructional activity, students listen to and analyze popular music from the Vietnam era in order to understand the use of propaganda regarding the controversial war....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Studying The American Musical Theatre

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover the group dynamics necessary to produce an American musical in this six day lesson. Themes and characterization techniques are explored during collaborative small group research projects.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry and Hip Hop

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
High schoolers compare and contrast the genres of poetry and hip-hop. They view a poetry slam and write about it in their journals. Learners view a Lauryn Hill music video and respond to it in their journals. They compare and contrast...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grand Canyon Suite

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Take a trip to the Grand Canyon! Lesson one explores how Ferde Grofe painted a musical landscape of America when he wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Learners then examine art that shows the Grand Canyon in lesson two. Finally, lesson three...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Brass Instruments and Pitch

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students observe the sounds of different brass instruments in order to understand how to create different pitches. In this musical lesson, students create a "brass" instrument from everyday household objects. The students discuss the...
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Songs, Sounds and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands

For Teachers K - 12th
American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The blues highway: An integration of music with geography

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners analyze the movement of the blues from rural Mississippi to urban Chicago and how place and the environment affected the development of the blues. They define the blues, where it originated and how and why it moved to Chicago....
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Sixties: Hitsville USA

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history detectives...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music of the People - Native American Music

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders complete a unit of lessons on the singing, instruments, and dancing of Native Americans. They identify and play various instruments, complete worksheets, define key vocabulary, sing songs, and perform dances.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Individuality: India Arie Music Video

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine individuality.  In this music video lesson, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry.  Activities are related to Stargirl. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Troublesome Word Rap

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Create songs and raps to develop an understanding of the proper use of common misused words and homophones. First, your class defines misused words and homophones correctly by utilizing the words in a rap or song. Then they use poetry...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music for Alice

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders explore Japanese culture. They read the story Music for Alice. Students write a paragraph defining what happiness means to them. They discuss Alice's culture and their own cultures. Students create a brochure about Japanese...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...

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