Curated OER
Multicultural Music: Israel
Do a grapevine to the left, lift your hands in the air, and sing out, "Hey!" These are the steps second graders will do when they sing and dance the Israeli folk song, "Achshav.” They will explore the concept of multicultural music...
Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford
Similes Activity using Jazz (featuring Duke Ellington)
Language learners get into the swing of things with a jazzy lesson about similes. They read an article about Duke Ellington, listen to samples of his music, and then try their hand at crafting similes to describe his improvisational and...
Curated OER
Music of the Middle East
Explore the cultural and religious influences that have shaped music in the Middle East. Classical and traditional music styles are covered in terms of instrumentation and music theory. This slide show would be appropriate for a music...
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Young scholars participate in a class discussion about jazz music, compare improvisation with regular conversion, listen to various jazz musicians and compare and contrast their individual sounds.
Curated OER
"Movies That Rock": Moulin Rouge
Upper graders explore musical film and the Bohemian lifestyle common in Europe during the turn of the century through the musical Moulin Rouge. After listening to (or viewing) songs from the movie, they discuss the Bohemian era and how...
Midwest Clinic
Latin Rhythms: Mystery Unraveled
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...
Curated OER
Jazz Exploration: A Collage Project
Middle schoolers explore and experience jazz through collage. They listen to improvisational jazz, discuss the origins of jazz, then design and create a collage that shows jazz being played. This project will result in amazing works of...
Skoog Music
St. Patrick’s Day
Traditional Irish music can bring even the most stoic audience to tears. This St. Patrick's Day, explore the lilting flutes and mournful ballads of the Emerald Isle with a interactive and inspiring music lesson.
Curated OER
Native American Music and the Flute
Students study the role of the flute in Native American music while determining what an exemplary example of flute music sounds like. They develop a method of assessing a Native American flute performance. They perform a Native American...
Berklee College of Music
Create Your Own Afro-Latin Groove
The backbone of Latin American music is the beat! Young musicians work on blending Afro-Latin rhythms and beat patterns before incorporating the major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales in their own compositions.
Smithsonian Institution
Songs, Sounds and Stories from the Georgia Sea Islands
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...
Curated OER
Feel the Beat of the Drums
These percussion instruments have a rich history and a variety of uses.
General Motors Corporation
Jazz
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...
Curated OER
Global Music Patterns- Islamic Art
Students compose music using Islamic patterns. In this cultural arts lesson plan, students examine Islamic art and analyze the patterns. Students incorporate various Islamic patterns into a musical composition.
Curated OER
My Way
Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.
Curated OER
Digable Planets, K.B.'s Alley When Jazz Meets Hip-Hop
Middle schoolers explore the musical style of jazz and identify its elements while listening to hip-hop recordings. They select two styles of music and fuse them together in this activity.
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.
San Francisco Symphony
Washington Portrait
Fifth and second graders pair up to create mini dance scenes based on the image Washington Crossing the Delaware. Second graders create the movements while their fifth grade partners play the musical accompaniment. Leadership...
Curated OER
Jazz: An Expression of Democracy
Students watch a video segment about the distinguishing characteristics of jazz. They describe those characteristics and the relation between the culture of jazz and democracy. They improvise simple rhythms and melodies.
Curated OER
Indian Ragas
Students explore Indian ragas and learn the differences between an Indian raga and the Western scale. They sing the familiar song "America," first in the Western major scale and then in two Indian ragas (bhairavi and purvi) on a neutral...
Curated OER
Incorporating Japanese Music into the Music Classroom
Fourth graders experience the music and arts of Japan as they explore the language and culture of the country in this lesson. A variety of musical elements from the culture are demonstrated.
Curated OER
There Ya Go, Bobby McFerrin, Creativity ans Jazz
Students examine the percussion sounds used to create percussive sounds and identify the instruments that Bobby McFerrin imitates in his scat vocals. A scat version of the musical piece "So What" is improvised in this lesson.
Curated OER
Jazz In America
Learners explore the Jazz Era in America not only by answering questions but listening to music as well.
Curated OER
Japanese Noh Masks
Students examine Japanese theatre and create their own face masks which display certain emotions, props, costumes and perform in improvisational theatrical games.