Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Conducting: Classroom Activities

For Teachers K - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Outside the Window

For Teachers K - 2nd
What do your students see when they look outside the window? This project lets their imagination go wild, and lets you see what kind of daydreaming they do best. They each draw, paint, and color an image of what they imagine as they are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CREATIVE PRINCIPLES

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Jr. high learners review the basic principles of design (balance, unity, movement, rhythm, pattern, contrast and emphasis) by watching a video by Gerald Brommer. Then they provide "aerobic exercise" for the right side of their brains by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Platinum Perspectives

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students redesign a particular album cover of their choice in this excellent high school Art lesson. The lesson suggests using Adobe Photoshop and glossy inkjet paper for the final presentation of all products.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music Terms

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students review and define music terms. In this musical vocabulary lesson, students are given a list of terms, asked to unscramble them, then write the meaning of each term.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music: Identifying Notes

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders read the note names in the treble clef staff, including the use of ledger lines above and below the staff. Using Music Ace II, they discover the note names in the treble clef, view examples, and answer questions about...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Exchange: Musical Mathematics (other, Music)

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explain note values and relationships, especially dotted rhythms and tied notes by giving them a visual, hands on representation
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music and Emotions

For Teachers 1st
First graders examine how certain types of music can evoke emotions and mental images. They fold a piece of paper into four equal sections, and create a picture of what they are visualizing in each section while listening to four...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Keys and Scales are Sets

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Music theory lessons can be very tricky for some people. Children with a basic understanding of musical concepts take on the task of transposing music and identifying scale sets. This would be a good topic to address prior to discussing...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Pentatonic Scale Activity

For Teachers 4th - 12th
The famous Japanese tune, "Cherry Blooms" was composed using a pentatonic scale. Budding musicians explore the nature and theory behind the pentatonic scale as well as the East Asian music it is commonly used in. Multiple extensions are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: American Idyll

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Using the painting, Childhood Idyll for inspiration, learners reflect on things that are idealized. They focus in on pop music and pop idols, write a song, and perform it in front of the class, American Idol style.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Melodic and Harmonic Intervals

For Teachers 3rd - 9th
If you are teaching music and need a resource to demonstrate melodic and harmonic intervals, you're in luck. This hand out describes and shows what melodic and harmonic intervals look like on a staff. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Treble Clef Lines and Spaces - 3

For Teachers 1st - 12th
For this treble clef lines and spaces worksheet, students read the sheet music and identify the letter names of the notes that are missing as they fill in 36 blank spaces.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bass Clef Lines - 2

For Teachers 5th - 12th
In this bass clef lines sheet music worksheet, students read the sheet music and identify the bass clef lines that are missing as they fill in 31 spaces.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bass Clef Lines - 3

For Teachers 5th - 12th
In this bass clef lines sheet music worksheet, students read the sheet music and identify the bass clef lines that are missing as they fill in 30 spaces.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Treble Clef Lines - 2

For Teachers 1st - 12th
For this treble clef lines worksheet, students read the sheet music and identify the letter names of the notes that are missing as they fill in 30 blank spaces.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musical Role Models

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Students identify instruments and their sounds and use them to model their own orchestra. After choosing an instrument to investigate further, they research to become familiar with the sound of the instrument, how the sound is created,...
Lesson Plan
Ceramic Arts Daily

Making Sounds with Clay

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here is a great way to incorporate art, history, and music. Learners will make airduct instruments, such as recorders, flutes, and whistles out of clay. The ceramic instruments can be quite ornate and even used to make music. The...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways lesson. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as well...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Moving to the Poems of Angel Island

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
A poem carved on Angel Island's walls is the guiding text of a instructional activity that challenges scholars to put movement into a written piece of art. After warm up-activities, learners play a game of "Pass the Clap" and "Pass the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Romare Bearden's The Dove - A Meeting of Vision and Sound

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore African american culture of the late 1950's and 60's through various primary sources including literature, music, art and others. They then prepare and conduct a mock interview and present with the class.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Choosing Songs for the Film Soundtrack

For Teachers 8th Standards
Music has the power to bring topics alive. Learners take on the role of sound director in their film planning and choose the songs to accompany their photographs. They must also support their decisions with evidence and reasoning as they...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 3 Assessment: On-Demand Writing— Photograph and Song Choices for a Film

For Teachers 8th Standards
Ready, set, write! Every great film begins with a script, and every presentation starts with a plan. Directors use their research and experience to compose an essay explaining the rationale behind their film's musical and visual choices...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identify the Element of Line

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students explore the element of "line." In this beginning art lesson, students listen to the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, then describe the types of lines Harold drew. Students identify straight lines,  jagged lines, curvy...