Curated OER
Grade 2: Music/Valentine's Day
Play and sing a Valentine's song with your second graders. They'll follow along allow as you demonstrate how to sing and keep a steady beat on non-pitched percussive instruments. While the music lesson has a Valentine theme, that theme...
Curated OER
Beat the Beat!
Students develop a sense of pulse by listening to music with strong beats. In this music beats lesson plan, students listen to marching band music examples. Students then practice showing the beat while listening to the song.
Curated OER
Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...
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.
Smithsonian Institution
The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...
Curated OER
Transferring Rhythmic Patterns From Music to Movement
Students identify and demonstrate movement elements in relation to musical notation. They clap to rhythms, beat on drums, match musical notes to speech patterns and use the rhythms of the their names to create a dance.
Curated OER
The Tango
Fourth graders explore the music of Buenos Aires as they hear and then dance the Tango. They practice basic Tango rhythm, learn to sing the song, "Any Turkey can Tango," then practice a few Tango-riffic dance steps with a partner. What a...
Smithsonian Institution
Braiding Rhythms: The Role of Bell Patterns in West African and Afro-Caribbean Music
Africans transported to the Caribbean as part of the transatlantic slave trade brought with them a rich tradition of music and dance. Four lessons teach young musicians the rumba clave rhythm, cascara rhythm, and the 6/8 bell patterns...
Curated OER
Popular Music of Brazil: Samba
Samba music is a musical mixture of both African and Brazilian sounds and rhythms. Explore this art form with your class using this easy-to-follow slide show. They'll learn about Samba's roots, beats, characteristics, instruments, and...
Music Fun
Time Signatures
You'll never miss a beat with a resource packet filled with puzzles, quizzes, and activity worksheets that focus on time signatures. Don't quaver or rest until you score this packet.
Curated OER
Musical Activities for Early Childhood Inclusion
Get your movers and shakers grooving to the beat with this series of musical activities designed to meet everyone's needs! Ten games, using an assortment of instruments, bring awareness to one's body, brain, and social interactions in a...
Amani Project
The 5 Elements of Music
A series of activities teach young musicians that they don't need a room full of instruments to make music. The second activity in the Amani Project has participants use their hands, feet, and voices to demonstrate the five elements of...
Curated OER
Harness Music to Enhance Writing
Use the magic of music to engage the senses and bring new life to your writing curriculum.
Curated OER
Native American Music: Section 2
Take a look into the many facets, purposes, and styles of Native American music. Each slide in this well-organized presentation provides clear introductory information on the forms and functions of American tribal music. Use it to...
Curated OER
Set a Poem to Music
Fun awaits both you and your class as you embark on a musical activity. After discussing different rhythmic meters they choose a poem to set to music. The poem must rhyme and be set to a melody in the key of C Major. Because the activity...
Curated OER
Reading Basic Music Notes
First graders develop skills in reading music notes. In this reading music instructional activity, 1st graders clap and chant rhythm patterns and learn music vocabulary. Students also match patterns by listening to the teacher perform...
Curated OER
Jazz and Math: The Beat Goes On
Students collect real data through listening, counting and timing jazz pieces.They use ratios, rates, and proportions to report collected data and demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of rhythm and tempo in music.
Curated OER
Describing Drum Beats in Native American Music
Young scholars analyze the drum patterns and changing styles of the music and dance for the Native American song and dance "Owl Dance." They listen to a recording of "Owl Dance," discuss the cultural context of the song, and perform the...
Curated OER
MUSICAL MYSTERIES
Students explore the concept of steady beat and develop listening skills.
abcteach
Music Note Cards
Help young musicians stay on beat with this series of classroom displays. Showing the name and symbol for different musical notes, these tools are a handy resource for any elementary or middle school music teacher.
Curated OER
Visual Aural Impressions
Students view a piece of impressionist art, listen to a piece of jazz music and then write a piece about the picture in the style of beat poets. They compare their writing and look for differences in their perceptions.
Kansas Music Educators Association
Games for the Elementary Music Classroom
Perfect for music specialists, classroom teachers, and substitutes, a packet of 18 games includes complete lessons as well as short activities for when you have some extra time at the end of class.
Curated OER
Singing a round
Kids use their hands, bodies, and voices to explore the musical concept of a round. They say vegetable words while stomping and clapping out a rhythm in unison and then in a round. They then sing a round while maintaining a steady beat....
Little Kids Rock
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
When you hear the first few beats of "Despacito," the unrivaled Latin pop hit of 2017, you can't keep your feet from moving! A music analysis lesson plan examines the intoxicating hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and introduces the...