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"Mambo" from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
Students encounter and study "Mambo" from "West Side Story," by Leonard Bernstein. They practice utilizing musical elements (instrumentation, tempo, and dynamics) to create a certain mood for a scene with music. Each student interprets...
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Rhythm & Improv: Jazz & Poetry
Students analyze the elements of poetry and jazz. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at the rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, form, free verse, lyricism, and imagery that exist is jazz as well as poetry.
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Fan(tom) of the Opera
Students explore the ways in which the worlds of popular music and opera can work together to complement the other. They work in small groups to analyze plot, characters, setting and themes of a popular opera using a summary of that...
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Our Own Water Music
Students listen to a portion of Handel's Water Music Suite and hypothesize about what would happen if you tapped on the edge of a glass with varying levels of water. They experiment with the glasses and, in small groups, compose their...
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Jazz Talk
Middle schoolers analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic,...
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Pop on the Block
Students consider what makes a movie, television show, musical talent, or artist a cult classic and create descriptive lists of items from these phenomena that may be sold at auction.
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"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities instructional activity provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in...
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Habari Gani: What is the News?
Display creative works of art after learning about Kwanzaa. Kindergartners hear stories about the history of Kwanzaa and its celebrations. They then create artwork, practice African dances and listen to African music.
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Itsy Bitsy Spider & His 2 Friends: Music, Pitch, High and Low Notes
Students gain practice with high and low notes when singing an adaptation of the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider".
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The Last Meow
Students explore the popular culture phenomenon of the musical 'Cats' and the T.S. Eliot poems that were its inspiration. They write original poems about animals, and read them aloud to their peers.
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Poetry for the Common Good
Students identify examples of philanthropy in poetry or song. In this philanthropy lesson, students examine several poems such as Give by Carrie A. Thomas and identify concepts of philanthropy in the poem. Students construct their own...
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Lesson Plan for Korea: P'ansori
Twelfth graders read different versions of P'ansori in an attempt to gain exposure to this form of literature. They gain information in order to help understand the context of how they are part of the Korean culture.
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Graffiti Project
Students inspect performing arts by participating in a class presentation. In this art collage lesson, students examine the graffiti art created on New York subways and discuss the life of Keith Haring. Students create their own images...
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Smithsonian Jazz Class: Ella Fitzgerald
Students play "Ella's Match Game" to learn an overview of Fitzgerald's life and career. In this Ella Fitzgerald lesson, students listen to excerpts of Fitzgerald's music and respond by creating writing prompts.
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Other Poetic Types
Rather than a instructional activity, this resource is a list of poetic forms and young poets are encouraged to try their hand at composing poems of various types.
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THE FLOW OF MUSIC AND POETRY
Students describe their feelings through writing, art or music.
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Unscramble the Letters - Music Terms
Young scholars receive a worksheet on music terms. As a class, they unscramble a couple before attempt them on their own. They then write the meaning of each to research the meaning of the musical terms.
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Reading Music Notation
Ninth graders develop an understanding of music notation and become proficient at reading rhythms by sight. They explore rhythms base on divisions of two and four and triplets.
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Music History: Part One
Students research the various music composers of the Baroque music period. They conduct Internet research, take notes about their selected composer, and write an essay that includes important information about their composer.
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Electronically Composing Music
Students complete a worksheet and discuss components of musical composition. Students familiarize themselves with the program, Finale. Students then work cooperatively to compose a musical suite.
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Painting to Music
Students play a kind of musical chairs, painting around a table to music, and stopping when the music stops.
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Lesson 12- Quincy Jones:What Makes an American Master?
Young scholars study the life of Quincy Jones and research black music for selected decades of the 20th Century. They discuss the qualities that help one create and sustain a successful career. They design a timeline of what their future...
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Guitar Techniques - Lesson 2
Students discuss the different guitar techniques of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young. They experience the guitar technique of "alternate tuning". They also discuss CSNY's 'Ohio' and Kent State.
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Classroom Singing
Students sing a song performing rhythms accurately with a steady beat, pitches accurately with excellent intonation, and a clear, focused tone in this music instructional activity for the high school Choir class. The instructional...