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A Song By Any Other Name Would Be a Poem
Students examine the poetic elements of a piece of music. They discuss favorite songs, select a song, and write a persuasive essay identifying the poetic qualities of the song lyrics.
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25 Greatest Protest Songs
High schoolers analyze the lyrics of protest songs as a catalyst for social change. They discuss the influence of music on behavior and explain the use of music as historical record.
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Tradition through storytelling and music
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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What Does This Song Really Say?
Young scholars investigate communication by analyzing lyrics from a song. In this music arts lesson, students discuss slavery, the Underground Railroad and African American traditions while listening to a song called "This Train." Young...
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The Vietnam War: A Popular Music Approach
Students explore the Vietnam War in music. In this Vietnam lesson, students listen to and analyze popular music from the Vietnam era in order to understand the use of propaganda regarding the controversial war. Students develop questions...
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Comic and Film Strip Writing
Students write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. In this comic strip instructional activity, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Students then write a short story and illustrate it using a...
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Sounds of the Season
During Christmas time, use common carols and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker music as the basis for writing advertisements. Learners can work in teams or individually as they listen to songs via the links provided. A "Christmas Music Comparison...
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Music of the People - Native American Music
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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Troublesome Word Rap
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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Scops, Rappers and You: Historians with Style!
Students examine the epic poem Beowulf. For this analyzing poetry lesson, student compare listen to the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" and read Beowulf. Students analyze the song and the poem. Students then research an influential...
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Music and Lyrics
Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....
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General Spanish Music
Students explore Spanish music. In this cultural traditions lesson, students listen to a brief lecture on Spanish music and then research the regions of Spain to study the cultural diversity there. Students share their findings with...
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"Let's Write a Song"
Fourth graders analyze, brainstorm and practice playing a melody/pattern with rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and instrumental pieces of many styles. In addition, they create an original piece of music.
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Carerrs in Song And Dance
Young scholars write a job posting for a career in the performing arts. They view a Discovery Channel video as an introduction to the types of performing art careers are possible. They choose one that they are most interested in to...
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Ice -T's Rap School
Learners research the history of rap and gain an understanding of the components of rap music. They experience the correlation between Shakespeare's poetry and rap music of today.
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Fisheries And Songs
Students view examples of songs that have the ocean and its life as their themes. After hearing and reading them, students write their own, having done research on the social and political issues of the ocean's environment.
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Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
High schoolers explore the American dream. In this contemporary music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. High schoolers create 3-D representations of the American dream...
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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,...
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12 Days of Christmas
Students utilize different problem-solving strategies and creative writing when dealing with the words from the song, "12 Days of Christmas." They try to problem solve how may presents were given and then explain their sequence in the...
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Movie Music
Young scholars discover film making by participating in a music performance. For this performance arts lesson, students perform music and physical acting to convey an already written script for their peers. Young scholars collaborate...
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Civil War Music - Irish Folk Songs
Young scholars determine what it was like to serve as an Irish-American in the American Civil War. In this Irish folk song lesson plan, students use the provided worksheets to analyze selected Irish folk songs and make inferences about...
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Music and Technology
Students analyze the lyrics, instruments, sounds and technology from the song "Vertigo" by U2. They view a video presenting interviews with the band and complete a stage design for the live playing of the song.
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Activity 5: Creative Writing/Expression About Child Labor
Students research child labor using Internet resources. They present the information in a creative writing piece and post it on Chalkboard.
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Black History in Music
Young scholars relate musical styles with US historical context through research and presentation.