Over the history of the world, music has been at the heart of some of the greatest social and political movements. Scholars discover their musical roots as they dive into the sounds and emotions of renowned jazz players. They see how...

Students compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz. They watch an excerpt about Buddy Bolden from the PBS Ken Burns Jazz documentary, compare/contrast march and jazz rhythms, complete a worksheet, and notate and perform jazz...

Young scholars recognize significant developments in New Orleans jazz music. They improvise blues licks using notes from a minor pentatonic scale.

Playing piano is great fun and playing jazz is even better. Kids watch a video of Fats Waller playing the song, "Handful of Keys," they then use either a piano key print out or Orff instruments to practice his signature stride piano...

Students collect real data through listening, counting and timing jazz pieces.They use ratios, rates, and proportions to report collected data and demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of rhythm and tempo in music.

Students play "Ella's Match Game" to learn an overview of Fitzgerald's life and career. In this Ella Fitzgerald lesson, students listen to excerpts of Fitzgerald's music and respond by creating writing prompts.

Learners compare and contrast the basic vocabulary of ballet, modern, and jazz dance through observation and experience. This lesson plan correlates with the DanceSense Enhanced DVD.

Students watch a segment of the PBS Ken Burns JAZZ documentary about Buddy Bolden creating the "Big Four." They compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz based on the examples in the film, and explore notation, subdivision of...

Before there was Beyonce, before there was Madonna, before there was Cher, there was Ella. Introduce Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Jazz, with a reading comprehension exercise that presents a brief biography of her life and then asks...

The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...

Learners study the history of jazz music. They listen to various examples of jazz music and complete a worksheet in which they must identify the individual instruments they hear and identify characteristics of the genre of jazz music.

The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...

Pupils watch a video on improvisation. They improvise original melodies over given chord progressions. They develop criteria to evaluate the merits of improvisational performances and apply the criteria in their personal listening and...

Students explore various tenses to use proper grammar. They practice tenses using random objects to describe events. They create timelines to examine different tenses. They role-play situations to practice the correct structure of grammar.

Students examine the musical styles of call and response and the blues while delving into the difficult lives of many jazz musicians. Travelling in the South was challenging for black musicians during this time and the difficulties are...

Students play through 7 - V7 - I and ii-7b5 - V7b9 - i progressions in all 12 keys with click track. They use the "Jazz Chord" section of Auralia Ear - Training and identify jazz chords by chord quality. Then they use the "Jazz Chord...

Individuals expressed the Harlem Renaissance in diverse forms of art, ranging from poetry to photography to painting. Learners explore pieces using a carefully curated collection from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Included lessons ask...

Sixth graders listen to recordings and study jazz and the blues music. They identify the instrumentation and explore the 12-bar blues progression. After experimenting with different sound, 6th graders create their own arrangement, with...

Students are able to demonstrate the ability to identify, contrast and compare the music of different places and regions, and the ability to recognize music as a resource for information about places and regions.

Young scholars review the procedures for revising sentences. After viewing a PowerPoint presentation, they read a handout of common wordy phrases and discover how to jazz up their writing. They complete a worksheet in which they revise...

Learners practice playing and improvising while playing the 12 bar blues. They practice compositional skills, evaluate and perform musical pieces focused on the blues.

After listening to a variety of interpretations of "When the Saints Go Marching In," partners compose and then perform their own renditions of this classic before joining a full-class jam session.

For this everyday editing worksheet, learners correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about Duke Ellington. The errors range from capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

There is an indescrible energy to Latin American music—but if you know your music theory, it's not so indescrible after all. A thorough packet provides definitions for terms like bolero, charanga, shekere, and tumbao before listing...