Curated OER
Rock Till You Drop!
Students study rhythmic patterns and phrases on percussion instruments. They form a drum circle and take turns playing the beat. After listening to styles of rhythms, students compare styles of music. They compose a short piece of...
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Notable American Composers
Young scholars visit web sites for each of the composersand listen to selections of each composer's music and place important dates of the composers into a pre-printed time line.
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12 Days of Christmas
First graders reinforce numerical order as they explore "The 12 Days of Christmas". Composition with instruments is also involved.
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Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain - Kenya
Students accompany music to the story Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain - Kenya to show how sound and music can accompany story description. In this music lesson, students learn how to show sound during a story.
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Learning Styles/Holistic Lesson Plan
Pupils, in groups, research a music composer of their choice. They create a video showing the composer's life in which students act in it. They also create a pamphlet for a future band concert for that composer.
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Concerto for Recorder, Oboe and Bassoon by Antonio Vivaldi
Students study the life and music of Antonio Vivaldi. They analyze and practice playing the various parts of Concerto a la Vivaldi on recorders. They record themselves and compare their performance to that of the same composition...
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Ostinato Patterns.
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson that is concerned with the creation of music using ostinato patterns. They listen to music composed with these patterns and focus upon compositional techniques. Students examine the pattern with the...
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Creating a Song
Students work cooperatively to compose a twenty measure song using the computer program GarageBand. Guidelines for the student compositions are available and include instrumentation and specific length.
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Authentic and 1/2 Cadences
High schoolers explore authentic and 1/2 cadences. They use authentic and 1/2 cadence and perform their works in small groups. Students use technology to notate all compositions. High schoolers discuss the most common progressions in...
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Service Learning/Then and Now
Eighth graders explore service learning projects. They work, in groups, to choose a video project. Students collect information and present it in a storyboard. Next, they use music, video clips, and still pictures to create their video...
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Music Creations
Students practice playing notes on the G and C scales in different rhythms. They complete worksheets and discuss the answers. They finish a short notation project as well.
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Intro to New Technologies in Music Education
Seventh graders, while in the computer lab utilizing a Sibelius software, create an eight-measure piece in the key of a minor using the notes A, B, C, D and E. They incorporate quarter notes, eighth notes and half notes. Each student...
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Fish Tunes
Students use their musical talent to create a song for the class fishtank. In a group, they compose two or three songs about their own tropical fish in which they can use any rhythm and musical instruments they choose. They perform...
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Fifth Grade Music: Reformation Music, Lutheran Chorale
Fifth graders explore the chorale hymn by echoing a Lutheran chorale tune line by line. They examine the reasons for the importance of Gutenberg's movable type and the role of Martin Luther in the Reformation.
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Art Changes You And the World
Learners explore advertising as a way to change their world. They use the Internet to research an energy, an environmental, and a cultural issue and create three 'world changing' pieces of advertising/artwork to express their ideas.
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Illustration # 5: Phone Number Melodies
Fourth graders create their own melodies by making up a phone number with the numbers of the C major scale (the number 9 will be played by double the C at an octave. Students are encouraged to end their piece with V, I progression in...
San Francisco Symphony
Mr. Lincoln Through the Eyes of Aaron Copland
Use Aaron Copland's symphonic piece, "Lincoln Portrait" to engage learners in a cross-curricular experience. They'll listen to the piece, watch a video, read the Gettysburg Address, and write a series of fact or opinion sentences. An...
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Landscapes of the Mind
High schoolers review Emily Dickinson's biography and examine themes and forms of some of her poems. They measure ways Graham integrates aspects of Dickinson's life and the themes and forms of her poetry into Letters to the World.
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Graphs of the Heart
Students study Greek literature. In this Greek tragedies lesson, students explore the dance-dramas of Martha Graham. Students study the choreography that brings ancient Greek literature to life.
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Graham's Appalachian Spring: A Study
Young scholars explore choreographic narrative. In this choreography activity, students explore the elements of Appalachian Spring as they develop a series of written responses to assignments that challenge them to investigate the...
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For the Love of Publication!
What is a ‘Zine? Although the referenced PBS video that launches this study of self-published magazines is not available, the activities detailed and the step-by-step directions for creating ‘Zines would engage young writers. This...
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Jazz In America
Students explore the Jazz Era in America not only by answering questions but listening to music as well.
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When is a Block, not a Block?
Students use a stamped shape image to create a piece of imaginative art. In this stamped art lesson, students use a stamped shape as a starting point to create their own imaginative piece of art that incorporates the stamped shape.
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WebQuests
Students work together or individually to complete a WebQuest. They gather information on topics related to music. They also practice their piano lessons in class.