Smithsonian Institution
Affirmation, Assimilation, and Acculturation: Middle School
Latin American culture is deeply embedded in American culture as a whole. From the Latin rock scene in San Francisco to the hip-hop world of New York, Latin American artists have influenced every genre of modern music. Learn about the...
California Department of Education
Creating a Therapeutic Soundscape: Ambient Improvisations and Planned Catharsis (CTE)
How is music a form of therapy? Scholars explore the topic using the fourth and final instructional activity from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM series. Learners explore the relationship between music and the mind and...
Curated OER
The Art and History of Japanese Calligraphy
Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is beautiful and significant in both culture and tradition. Engage your class in this expressive fine art form through a lesson on using, holding, and creating brush strokes common to Japanese writing...
Curated OER
"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Mozart was an amazing composer and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was one of his best-loved orchestral pieces. This handout provides a brief description of the instruments for which it was written, and how each section and part should be...
Fun Music Company
Working Out the Key
"Gimme an E minor!" Or any key for that matter. But how do you figure out the key of a piece of music? Here's a learning exercise that shows young musicians three easy steps to help them identify the key of a piece of music.
Fun Music Company
Completing Measures with Rests
Rests. Eighth rests, quarter rests, and half rests are the focus of a one-page worksheet that asks music theory learners to complete a series of measures with rests and bar lines.
Music Teaching Resources
Note Naming Worksheet 1
Can you name this note? Young musicians are asked to name each of the notes pictured on a music worksheet and then to place these notes on a staff.
Can Teach
Pass the Melody
Get a jam session started in your elementary music class! Learners engage in melody transitions by singing a familiar song and passing on the tune to the next person.
Fun Music Company
Relative Major and Minor
It's all relative. Young music theorists are asked to count to three and identify the relative major and minor keys of keys that share the same signature.
Fun Music Company
Name the Instrument
Here's a word scramble activity that asks kids to identify a series of instruments and then transpose the circled letters to reveal the name of the world's oldest playable musical instrument.
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
A Musical Textures Activity
Students identify textures in music. In this music appreciation lesson, students listen to a variety of classical music pieces and identify components of musical textures including monophony, homophony, polyphony, and heterophony.
MakingMusicFun.net
It All Adds Up | Free Music Rhythm Worksheet IV
In this rhythmic values worksheet, students explore musical notes and their values. Students add the note values together to get a total number of beats for the two notes in each of the 30 sets.
MakingMusicFun.net
Let's Crossword | Music Theory Worksheet - Bass Clef Note Names (Digital Print)
In this music notes activity, students recognize music notes in the bass clef. Students complete the activity by determining the notes for the nine sets and filling in the crossword puzzle.
Curated OER
Missing the Major Scales 2
Any musician can tell you, you have to know your scales, key signatures, and notes when reading sheet music. Kids are quizzed on major scales and the notes found with in each scale. They fill in the missing notes and identify each scale.
Curated OER
Amadeus Quiz
Get out the text-book, and CD player to teach a instructional activity on Mozart. Afterward, you can administer this quiz which requires learners to complete 20 short-answer questions related to Mozart's life, operas, music, and general...
Curated OER
Parallel Harmonies
What is a parallel harmony? You and your class can explore musical terminology through song. You define what a parallel harmony is, the class identifies parallel harmony in music they hear, and then you all sing some examples together....
Curated OER
Simple Sharps
If you want to play music, you need to learn how to read sharps and flats. Young musicians practice reading and playing these simple sharps. Each sharp is given a word that connects it to the note it is related to. For example: Charles...
Orlando Shakes
West Side Story: Study Guide
Hey, enough frabbajabba about that stool pigeon, Daddy-O! Using the West Side Story study guide, scholars explore the language of the play and read about its historical associations and themes. Pupils also engage in a Spectrum of...
Smithsonian Institution
Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
Shakespeare in American Life
"Strike a Pose:" Music and Vogueing in The Winter's Tale
After class members have read and discussed Act III of The Winter’s Tale, groups select one line from Act III, scene i that they feel captures the essence of the entire scene. They then create a tableaux that best depicts the scene’s...
Oxford Cambridge
Set and Prop Design
What's the difference between set dressing and a prop? Between a costume accessory and a personal prop? As part of their study of set and prop design, class members engage in a series of activities that prepare them to design a prop for...
Curated OER
Triads - 7th Chords - Major/Minor Keys - Rhythm
Budding musicians transpose chords, identify major and minor keys, and complete measures to match the shown signatures. This resource can be used as a quiz, test, or as practice for those learning how to read and write music.
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.