Curated OER
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
Students perform a song using correct rhythms, accurate pitches, and dynamic phrasing. They perform an accompaniment to "America" on Orff instruments.
Digital Forsyth
Old Salem Speech
The focus of the lesson plan is rhythmic speech and 4/4 time. The topic of the lesson plan is trades common in Old Salem during the colonial period. Learners will practice keeping time with their voices and body percussion. They will...
Curated OER
African Drumming - Repetition of Patterns
Young scholars are introduced to basic patterns used in African drumming. They listen to examples of drumming by Kundidzora Azim, participate in chants and repeat demonstrated rhythms as a class.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Percussive Pods
Combine the study of art, music, and history with an activity that asks kids to craft rattles out of slabs of clay.
Smithsonian Institution
The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...
Curated OER
Polyrhthm
Fourth graders compose and perform polyrhythms in small groups using non-pitched percussion instruments. They enter the classroom with the recording of "The Rite of Spring" playing on the CD player. Students are asked to describe the...
Curated OER
The Listening Walk
Learners play instruments that reflect sounds in the story: hoots, toots, creaking, shrieks, clacking, crunching, whooshing, etc. They make vocal sounds from the story: whispered, sniffled, sigh, giggled, croaked, laughed. The...
Curated OER
FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
Students explore the rhythm instruments as part of a rhythm band to accompany the well-known poem, "Five Little Pumpkins." They study instrument names, playing techniques, and playing at the appropriate time. They study how to perform a...
Curated OER
Tap Your Feet
Students listen to, analyze, and describe music. They experience performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
Curated OER
The Beat of the Blues
This lesson focuses on how students can learn basic blues percussion patterns by considering the polyrhythms of African drumming and investigating how and why such drums were banned during slavery. Students will listen to several blues...
Curated OER
Maracas
Students create Maracas out of various supplies while learning about percussion instruments in this Art and Music instructional activity for the elementary and middle level classroom. Detailed directions for two different methods are...
Curated OER
Hispanic Rhythmic Patterns and Drums
Students imitate rhythmic patterns created by the teacher or taken from the drum performance of "Oshossi." They study and perform some of the layered and interlocking rhythms of the drum ensembles of Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Suriname, and...
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.
Curated OER
Manipulating Sound
Students use music software to create and refine a musical composition. They use music software to create a sequence of musical phrases. Students use music software to create and refine a musical composition and adapt it in the light...
Curated OER
The Classical Orchestra
Pupils study the classical orchestra in this technology-based general music lesson for the high school classroom. Emphasis is placed on the use of the "Microsoft Musical Instruments" software. This lesson can be accomplished in one...
Curated OER
Totally Ternary
First graders compose a simple nursery rhyme with percussion and instrumental accompaniment in the general music classroom setting. AB form and rhythmic patterns are emphasized in this 35-40 minute lesson plan.
Curated OER
Tinker, Tailor
First graders practice the song "Tinker, Tailor" using percussion instruments, Orff instruments, and their voices in this Music lesson for the 1st grade. The lesson is intended for use within an Orff unit of study and includes...
Curated OER
Musical Rhythms
Students listen to music and bounce a tennis ball to the eat. Students close their eyes and listen to the rhythm. They switch hands on beats where they hear a new percussion sound. Students compose their own pieces using Oranga's band...
Curated OER
Let's Play Again
First graders use rhythm instruments to explore dynamic fluctuations in music. They experiment with clapping, body movement, recorded music and pitch instruments to explore the concept of tempo.
Curated OER
How They Get Building Materials Out of the Ground
Students experience a virtual quarry. In this science musical lesson plan, students understand how materials are quarried and manufactured from rocks, musically interpret a quarrying sequence with untuned musical instruments, and...
Curated OER
Rhythm - "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
First graders practice rhythm and beat. In this music lesson, 1st graders sing and clap to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy". They find the rhythm of the music and practice making rhythm with other instruments.
Curated OER
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Students respond to movement cues in the rhyme "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear", perform steady beat patterns on body percussion, and sing sol-mi patterns in a chant in this Kindergarten music activity. Emphasis is on meeting State and National...
Curated OER
Creating a Song
Learners work cooperatively to compose a twenty measure song using the computer program GarageBand. Guidelines for the student compositions are available and include instrumentation and specific length.
Curated OER
Rhythm and Nature
Second graders listen to song "Listen to the Water," discuss nature sounds and importance of water to life, perform quarter and eighth notes from notation, play instruments in rhythm patterns of quarter and eighth notes, and write rhythm...