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...
Curated OER
Get Your Mojo Workin': Part 1 Writing Your Very Own Blues Tune!
Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...
Curated OER
Composing Music
Students explore music appreciation by reading sheet music. In this musical score analysis lesson, students utilize their individual instruments to play the song "Peter and the Wolf." Students listen to an online version of the song and...
Curated OER
Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music
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...
Curated OER
Electronically Composing Music
Students complete a worksheet and discuss components of musical composition. Students familiarize themselves with the program, Finale. Students then work cooperatively to compose a musical suite.
Curated OER
Singing the Blues with Garageband
Music composition can be easy with a little software assistance. The class uses Garageband to listen to, write, sing, and record a blues song. They listen to the song provided through the software, write their own lyrics to the song,...
Curated OER
Twelve-Bar Blues
Students examine blues music. In this music genres activity, students discover details about the history of the musical genre and compositional techniques. Students then compose melodies of their own with 12-bar blues chord progression.
Curated OER
Conveying Message Through Musical Composition
Students listen to and discuss various protest songs from the 1960's, and write original lyrics for a song addressing global or societal issues. They write a paragraph evaluating the efficacy of the song to convey a message.
Curated OER
Rhythm Compositions
Young scholars investigate the concepts that focuses upon the musical rhythms. They conduct class discussion and use questions in order to clear up any misconceptions. Students create art compositions that illustrate rhythm and then...
Curated OER
Can You Hear a Story?
Students listen to, analyze, and describe music. They explain relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
Curated OER
The Life and Times of Gioacchino Rossini
Students discuss Gioacchino Rossini's life and musical culture. In this music lesson, students are introduced to "biofacts" about Rossini and listen to excerpts of his music. Students identify characteristics of Rossini's musical...
Curated OER
Interactive Timeline
Middle schoolers examine the development of ragtime music and its relation to jazz. They participate in an online Interactive timeline and read about the history of ragtime music, listen to examples of music, and in small groups create...
Curated OER
Learning Styles/Holistic Lesson Plan
Students, in groups, research a music composer of their choice. They create a video showing the composer's life in which students act in it. They also create a pamphlet for a future band concert for that composer.
Curated OER
Malambo
High schoolers use appropriate terms to reflect a working knowledge of the musical elements and use terminology from music and dance to analyze and compare structures of musical and other artistic works. They also identify the purpose of...
Curated OER
Introduction to New Technologies in Music Education
Fifth graders compose in C-pentationic using quarter notes, eigth notes, and quarter rests. They are told that the composition should be at least four measures in common time. Students use notation software to write the composition.
Curated OER
Virtual Museum of Musical Instruments
Learners incorporate elements of photo composition and demonstrate how to upload digital pictures to the computer. They create their own instrument utilizing resources from home as well as specialized music hardware. They participate in...
Curated OER
Beethoven Manuscript Sold at Auction
Students react to a series of statements about Beethoven, then read a news article about the sale of a 179-year-old manuscript by the musical genius. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and...
Curated OER
The War of the Words
“Who’s This Guy Dylan Who’s Borrowing Lines From Henry Timrod?” The basic question in this lesson from the New York Time’s Learning Network is whether artists and authors who use the words of others are stealing from that artist or...
Library of Congress
Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal: An Educational Voyage
Following the book, Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal, readers complete an activity for each chapter, take part in discussions, and respond to several questions. To show what they know, scholars create an alphabet book using primary...
Curated OER
Groovy Time
Students compose their own eight measure melody in a D scale. Using a software program, they enter the half, quarter and eighth notes in the order they prefer. To end the lesson, they play their music for the class and critique their...
Curated OER
Mozart vs. Beethoven - Real Classical Composers
Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...
San Francisco Symphony
Admirable Armonica Admirers
What do Ben Franklin and Wolfgang Mozart have in common? Find out about the musical invention, the armonica or glassy-chord. Learners will read about how Ben Franklin invented this new instrument and how Wolfgang Mozart came to play it....
Curated OER
Graphs of the Heart
Students study Greek literature. In this Greek tragedies instructional activity, students explore the dance-dramas of Martha Graham. Students study the choreography that brings ancient Greek literature to life.