Curated OER
Chinese Instruments
Students explore Chinese instruments. For this Chinese instrument music lesson, students listen to a performance by Liu Fang and describe the sounds they hear. Students classify western and Chinese instruments according to their...
Curated OER
Exploring the Families of Instruments
Students investigate the families of instruments. In this instrument lesson, students discuss how each instrument family makes their sound. Students then make their own instruments. Students write a paragraph about their favorite musical...
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Meet the Instrument Families
Fourth graders listen to a recording of a string quartet and ask questions about what kinds of instrument they think they are listening to and describe what they think the instruments look like. Then they discuss musical ideas such as...
Curated OER
Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf"
Fourth graders study Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." They explore the characters and the instruments that represent the characters. They create their own version of "Peter and the Wolf" for the purpose of introducing the...
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Meet The Instruments Of The Orchestra
Students identify brass, woodwind, string, and percussion instruments and group them into appropriate families in this technology-based Music lesson plan for 2nd through 5th grades. Each students is required to have a handheld device or...
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Identifying Instruments and Families
Fourth graders complete with the class a KWL chart and discuss prior knowledge of orchestras. They visit websites to discover instruments and families of the orchestra and discuss appropriate audience behavior prior to going to a concert...
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String Instruments and Pitch
Students make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and identify...
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Exploring the Brass Family
Third graders explore the four basic instruments of the Brass Family in the four lessons of this unit. The French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba are inspected as students develope a familiarity with their sight and sounds.
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
Reviewing Good Playing Habits
The string section of your school orchestra can get a proper form make-over by incorporating this instructional activity. They reestablish proper playing form, posture, and sound as they compose an essay on how to maintain good playing...
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Instrument Research
Fourth graders work in pairs and choose one instrument from the orchestra to research. They are introduced to the software and use it to search for their instrument. They then may go onto the website, "DSOkids.com" to find out more about...
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Families of Instruments
Learners identify families of instruments. In this music lesson, students read Berlioz the Bear and identify the families of instruments. Learners sing "Mr. Gus Goes Goofy," and listen for the sounds of the instruments.
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Music Conducting: Classroom Activities
Turn the class into a percussive orchestra and let the kids take over as conductor. You'll explain a few ins and outs of what a conductor does. Then you hand over the baton and let your budding Beethovens conduct each other as they...
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Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
Students explore musical pitch. In this cross curriculum musical instruments and "sound" physics instructional activity, students identify and describe common traits of woodwind instruments. Students research "pitch" and what causes...
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The Bolero
Students discuss the structure of the musical film "The Bolero." For this film arts lesson, students watch "The Bolero" before participating in discussion questions and watching a second performance of the same musical. ...
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Grouping Musical Instruments
Students study about musical instruments and group them into these categories: percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass. After discussing these instruments, they independently complete the worksheet.
Curated OER
The Classical Orchestra
Students 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...
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Musical Instruments
Students invent a musical instrument to be played by them. They invent a nonstandard notation for music and compose a short piece to preform for the class using their instrument.
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Arranging Patriotic Music for Instruments
Students arrange a short piano composition for a group of four to six instruments of their choice. The musical arrangements should be then demonstrated and analyzed by the class as a unit study.
Curated OER
Peter And The Wolf: Instrument Listening Game
Students match the instruments to the characters they represent in Peter and the Wolf. They also identify the instruments by name from listening to their sound.
Curated OER
Rhythm, Math, Rhythm
Students play instruments in math class to learn the interconnectedness between math and music. In this math lesson, students subdivide a piece of music, clapping rhythms and charting rhythm patterns in the song. A guided discussion...
Perkins School for the Blind
Familiar Sounds
To foster concept development and auditory discrimination skills, learners with visual impairments listen to identify a variety of common sounds. The teacher makes recordings of various sounds, including those found in the home, at the...
Curated OER
MUSICAL MYSTERIES
Students explore the orchestra and identify the sounds of common musical instruments.
Curated OER
What Is My Family Name?
Students listen to selected solo instruments and place the instrument in its correct family of instruments; students also identify from listening to examples: orchestra, band, vocal solo, and choral performance.