Curated OER
Musical Instruments
Here is a complete workbook which leads children as they work through the art of making a musical instrument. The instrument made must be a percussion instrument. The workbook is incredibly thorough and does a good job of leading pupils...
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Teaching the Instruments of the Orchestra to Young Students using the San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Website
Using the San Francisco Children's Orchestra web site, first graders build listening and instrument identification skills. Each child wears head phones, listens to ID, and finds various instruments on the included worksheet.
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Energetic Musical Instruments
Students apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. After the accomplishment of the design, students must...
Science 4 Inquiry
Musical Vibes with Palm Pipes
Ancient people used musical pipes as early as the third millennium BCE. Young scientists explore the workings of musical pipes to better understand the relationship with frequency, length of pipe, and sound waves. They determine the...
Curated OER
The Ultimate Instrument!
Third graders identify the four instrument families of the symphony orchestra. They listen to the instruments and compare the similarities and differences of each of the four families. They design and create an instrument that belongs to...
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The Role of the Opera Orchestra
Learners listen to and examine a recording of the opera Don Pasquale and study the various musical instruments in an orchestra. They discuss the difference between a symphony orchestra and an opera orchestra. Finally they play the music...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Rainforest Music
Fifth graders examine musical instruments used by the indigenous people of the rainforest, and analyze how music is used in their daily lives. They create a model, using natural materials, of a musical instrument used by indigenous...
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TE Lesson: Energy Transfer in Musical Instruments
Students study concepts of energy and energy transfer. They look at how these concepts apply to musical instruments. They study the law of conservation of energy. They use the concepts studied in the lesson to design a musical instrument.
Curated OER
Using Garage Band to Enhance 2nd Grade Composition
Your second graders can become composers with a little help from the Garage Band software. You pre-select several drum, piano, and guitar loops for the groups to choose from, then they put them together following an ABA looping pattern....
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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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Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
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Music and Technology
Students analyze the lyrics, instruments, sounds and technology from the song "Vertigo" by U2. They view a video presenting interviews with the band and complete a stage design for the live playing of the song.
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Boombox Classroom: Mechanical Instruments
In this music worksheet, students draw an illustration of a mechanical instrument they would like to build. They describe the material it would be made from. Students fill in the blanks to describe the mechanical instrument Haydn and...
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Name That Tune
Integrating technology and music can be a snap with lessons like this one! Kids in a junior high band class took to the Internet to download and practice playing their instrument with a computer generated back up band. They practice...
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Creating an Original Opera
This may be a lot to ask of a high schooler, but then again, who knows? Pupils work in groups to explore, write, and then perform an original opera. They view versions of The Magic Flute and La Traviata, then compose a plot, characters,...
Classics for Kids
"Mars" from The Planets
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 detail,...
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Signin' the Blues with Rock, Rap 'n Roll
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...
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Changes of Musical Elements in Popular Music Through the Decades
Students probe samples of European classical, American jazz, and rock and roll to analyze the similarities and differences. The styles and form of these three types of music are examined for tempo, timbre, and rhythm.
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Mozart and Music
Fifth graders experience performing arts by participating in a music performance. In this music history lesson, 5th graders practice playing notes on an instrument in class and discuss the challenges associated with making music....
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Band On Line
In 1996, using the Internet to enhance learning was a new innovation. While the activity here is a bit outdated, it could still provide a basic understanding of how technology can enhance music appreciation. Members of the school band...
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Sound--Music or Noise?
Learners are introduced to the concept of sound and how it is presented in the world around them. Using scientific terms, they describe the properties of sound and create their own definitions of sound, music, and noise. They demonstrate...
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Describe an Instrument
Students research an instrument. Similarities and differences are looked at among various instruments. One could select the instruments a student researches or one could assign the instrument. When comparing the instruments students...
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Musical Patterns
Students use musical instruments to create simple patterns. They, in pairs, come to the front of the classroom and create a pattern.
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Moog's Musical Revolution
Students explore history of technological advances in making, recording, and listening to music that have intrigued and inspired musicians and scientists for decades.