PBS
Classics for Kids: Charles Ives
A short biography of Charles Ives (1874-1954 CE). Click to the past radio shows to hear his music and learn more about this famous composer.
PBS
Classics for Kids: George Gershwin
A short biography of George Gershwin (1898-1937 CE). Click to the past radio shows to hear his music and learn more about this famous composer.
Black Past
Black Past: Joplin, Scott
This is a brief encyclopedia biography of the ragtime composer, Scott Joplin, whose music was influential in the growth of jazz.
Library of Congress
Loc: Performing Arts Encyclopedia: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Did you know that the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is over one hundred years old? Find out why this song has enjoyed lasting popularity. Includes an image of the artwork for the sheet music of this song.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Jazz: Duke's Music Class
Learn about jazz from the master, Duke Ellington. Three activities explore his role as jazz composer, orchestra leader, and pianist.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Leonard Bernstein Collection
This site from the Library of Congress provides information on perhaps the most important American musical figure of the 20th century has over 400,000 items housed in the Library of Congress. Photographs, his famous Young People's...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Ela Unit: Grade K: A Is for America
Students read informational and literary texts in order to gather information about people, events, symbols, and ideas that are representative of the United States of America. Students begin to develop an understanding of the United...
Read Works
Read Works: Famous African Americans Duke Ellington
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage contains biographical information about the famous jazz composter, Duke Ellington. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and...
PBS
Classics for Kids: Aaron Copland "Hoe Down"
Several radio shows with music clips regarding "Rodeo" and other works by Copland. Click to a short biography.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: William Grant Still
This resource describes how William Grant Still (1895-1978 CE) started out playing the violin and then began teaching himself to play other string instruments as well as the oboe, clarinet, and saxophone. His most famous work is...
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: George Gershwin
Interested in popular and serious music, Gershwin (1898-1937) played a big part in bringing jazz to a more important place in American music. He helped mix it with classical music in his compositions. Read more about his work, including...
Other
The Peaches: Todd's Irving Berlin Page
If you're interested in the lyrics of Irving Berlin's songs, then you may want to check this personal site out. Just click on the song title and find the lyrics as well as when, where, and why it was composed.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Leonard Bernstein
Resource about Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990 CE), American musician/composer/conductor. Learn how he became famous just because another conductor was ill. Listen to some of his work using RealAudio or Windows Media Player.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky went to school to study music and law. Once he became famous as a composer, he stopped practicing law. Listen to his music using RealAudio or Windows Media Player and read more about this composer's life and work.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Arcady Dubensky
Visit this resource to learn about Arcady Dubensky, a Russian-born musician who went from playing piano in hotels to becoming a noted composer. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to listen to some of his work.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: John Williams
If you have seen "Jaws," "ET-the Extraterrestrial," "Star Wars" trilogy and prequel, or "Indiana Jones," you have heard this composer's work. Read more about his life and work. Listen to his music using RealAudio or Windows Media Player.
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Famous Americans: Stephen Foster
Learn brief information from the National Postal Museum on Stephen Foster, American music composer, who was featured on the one cent postage stamp.
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Sarah Vaughan
An informative biography of jazz singer Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990 CE) is presented highlighting her long musical career.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Stephen Foster
A website that accompanies a film on Stephen Foster. Students can listen to the famous songs, view a timeline of his life, and find information about Foster's contemporaries.
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Art of the Stamp: Ira and George Gershwin
View the artwork for a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1999 to commemorate American composers George and Ira Gershwin. With a short passage highlighting their collaborated efforts.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: w.c. Handy
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features W.C. Handy, an African American composer who changed the course of popular music by integrating the blues idiom into then-fashionable ragtime music. Among his best-known works is the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Tweet It Is: Bird Songs in Classical Music
Do you enjoy singing contests like American Idol? Well, male songbirds have their own version of a singing competition that has been going on for thousands of years, and classical musical composers have been taking notes. In this music...
Other
Ascap Official Website
The official site by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Of interest is the history of ASCAP as well as articles for those wanting to learn more about the music business.
Bartleby
Bartleby.com: Thomas Campion
Extensive, detailed biography of Thomas Campion from the "Cambridge History of English and American Literature."
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