High school orchestra is a great place to play music, like The Star Spangled Banner. Upper graders create new rhythms to the old song and perform them with the class. They rehearse their updated versions of the song using their...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Students sing or play music in order to complete a self-critique that performance. Working in ensemble groups, students practice and play a piece of music. Ensemble performances are recorded and each member's performance is critiqued...

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...

Students explore the life and accomplishments of George Gershwin. They listen to Latin rhythms and practice the rhythmic parts. Students identify Latin instruments George Gershwin added to the orchestra. After practice, they perform a...

Students listen to and discuss American music genres, specifically ragtime, bebop/bop, and swing, and experiment with improvisation on traditional tunes and rhythms.

Students identify some characteristics of successful music teachers and rehearsals. They develop a list of criteria for evaluating the quality of a performance, and apply those criteria to a specific performance.

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...

Students evaluate jazz music and a jazz music performance. They collaborate and create an improvised group short story. They improvise a musical piece on found objects.

Learners culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.

In need of a high school band lesson plan? This resource includes a warm up, objectives for learners to focus on, and notes for each part of the song being played. These notes are specific to the learners it is written for, but may give...

Pupils listen for sounds as they complete another activity. Hearing a triangle, they raise their hand once they hear it. They discover that to be part of an ensemble they must listen to themselves and others around them. They discuss...

Second graders complete a unit to learn about the percussion family and African and Latin drumming. In this percussion lesson, 2nd graders complete 9 lessons to learn about the percussion family. Students learn to use shakers and sticks,...

Students discuss how sound has been used throughout history and cultures, including present day in their own lives, through the study of Taiko Drums in this introductory lesson plan. Resource ideas are provided.

Fourth graders improvise missing harmony accompaniment for a soloist performing "The Star Spangled Banner." Groups select several familiar melodies that they can produce while individual students take turns improvising a new harmony part.