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...
Amani Project
Make an Instrument
Create a little harmony with Amani Project! Young musicians create their instruments using found or recycled objects. As an introduction, class members first experiment with sounds they can make with their bodies (clapping, stomping...
Institut Obert de Catalunya
20th Century Music: Jazz
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
Canada's National Arts Center
Vivaldi and The Four Seasons
Did you know that Vivaldi’s orchestra was largely made up of girls from an orphanage? Fun facts like this fill a 34-page teacher's kit designed to accompany a cross-curricular study of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
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.
Concordia College Archives
History and Musical Aesthetics
What are the musical elements that characterize a school's fight song or its alma mater? Class members listen to examples of fight songs and alma maters from various schools, play a listening game, and then create a list of the...
Leading Learner
Using Music to Tell a Story or Describe a Scene
Young composers demonstrate their understanding of the stylistic features of descriptive music, including pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre, by developing a melody and countermelody for a main character in a story. As part of...
Classics for Kids
Hurry Up – Slow Down
Is your music appreciation class feeling a bit adagio this afternoon? Pick up the pace and get them feeling andante with a straightforward music theory activity. After defining several terms for musical dynamics and musical tempos,...
Curated OER
Music Conducting: Classroom Activities
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 play...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
My (musical) Valentine
Get out those bells, sand blocks, and sticks! Your kindergarteners use their singing voices to ask and answer friendly questions while keeping rhythm. They take turns in a group and in pairs singing questions and answers while keeping...
Curated OER
Kindergarten Music Time
Little ones are led through a series of rhythmic songs and chants while they march, clap, and use their tummies as percussive instruments. They work on singing in pitch, chunking, and keeping a steady beat.
Curated OER
Exploring Pulse & Rhythm
When we play music, we count beats both high and low. This introductory music activity explores tempo and rhythm. Learners will follow along as they clap to the beat, they clap high in the air and low. A very good introductory lesson.
Curated OER
Musical Terms
Are you starting a recorder lesson with your elementary students? Use this helpful slide-show, perfect for introducing basic music terms such as tempo, dynamics, pitch, and duration. Each slide provides a definition and example of the...
Curated OER
Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Music has been used to convey thoughts, feelings, and the human condition for thousands of years. Your class will analyze several songs hear in the animated classic, "Charlie Brown." They will listen to several jazz pieces from the show,...
Curated OER
Green Light
How is music like reading? First, listeners rank music from slowest to fastest. How does the music's pace affect your mood? How does this same theory compare to reading? Spark a discussion to identify the similarities.
Curated OER
Garage Band Introduction
Students create a new project. They are told that the Garage Band is a program that comes on Macintosh computers. Students are told that they project doesn't matter what tempo or key if they are recording live music. They go back to the...
Curated OER
Teaching the Musical Concept of Tempo
Intended for an Autism class, this instructional activity teaches self-expression through music while facilitating an understanding of the concept of tempo. Pupils engage in a call-and-response song, clap, discuss, and sing keeping...
Curated OER
Moving and Grooving with Tempo
First graders recognize the variations of tempo in music as it changes. They repeat movements, define tempo and distinguish between fast and slow tempo while playing a teacher led game.
Curated OER
Overture to 'William Tell' by Gioacchino Rossini
Students create an awareness of how music creates a setting in a story or legend. They identify the instrumentation, dynamics and tempo used to create various settings for a musical story. They perform rhythmic patterns from listening...
Curated OER
"Let's Write a Song"
Fourth graders analyze, brainstorm and practice playing a melody/pattern with rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and instrumental pieces of many styles. In addition, they create an original piece of music.
Curated OER
Moving and Grooving with Tempo:
Young scholars are able to repeat various movements. They are able to state the definition of tempo. Students are able to distinguish between a slow temps and a fast tempo. They form a circle and play the music detective game.
Curated OER
Silhouettes and Interiors
Students create a multimedia piece that integrates drawing and collage. Students learn about metacognition and the discovering of self through genres of art and literature by using these steps: inspiration, brainstorm, application,...
Curated OER
Sounds Interesting
Play a music game with your budding musicians! They pick various sound cards out of a bag and make those sounds in different ways.