Curated OER
Prairie Voices: Spare Time
Students examine forms of recreation throughout the last 150 years. For this leisure time lesson, students investigate leisure activities in pre- and post-industrial society as they listen to a teacher-led lecture and discuss their...
Curated OER
Mozart vs. Beethoven - Real Classical Composers
Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...
Curated OER
Guild Hall
Incorporate a research project into your study of Shakespeare and the Renaissance Period. Class members assume the role of an apprentice seeking membership in one of the various guilds that existed during the Renaissance period. After...
San Francisco Symphony
Dear Mr. Copland and Mr. Ellington
After a teacher-led demonstration on the lives and music of Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, learners write a letter to them which shows their understanding of how a person's life experiences can be reflected in a composer's music. They...
Curated OER
Multimedia Storytelling
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting their story in...
Missoula Art Museum
Dance with Your Fingers, Draw with Your Toes
Pair dancing, music, and art into one elementary lesson. Using the work of Henri Matisse and Rudy Autio as inspiration, kids spend a few days listening to music that fits the moods of various pieces of art, then work on their own...
Sargent Art
Rainsticks
This rainstick instructional activity isn't just about making art; it's about understanding Native American symbols and culture. Kids read about the use of rainsticks and why specific symbols were used to decorate them. They then make...
Curated OER
Voice of History
Way before the digital age radio was the medium of popular culture. After listening to excerpts from radio programs (easily available on the Internet), participants return to the radio age by creating a two-minute sketch based on a...
Friends of Fort McHenry
Sensory “Star Spangled Banner”
Music can help us to access memories and events in a meaningful way, and Francis Scott Key used specific words to convey what he had seen and felt when writing what would become America's national anthem. Help your class connect to the...
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Students learn vocabulary associated with the Swing Era. They also listen to music from the time period.
Curated OER
Rock Art Around the World
Students analyze rock art. In this rock art lesson, students research cultures that created rock art, analyze their art pieces, and compose essays regarding their findings.
Curated OER
I Went to the Crossroads: The Faust Theme in Music, Film and Literature
Pupils analyze song lyrics and discuss Faust theme in musical history. In this thematic lesson, students view a film clip and create a song lyric, poem or short story developed around the Faust theme. Pupils perform or present their...
Curated OER
The History of Rock and Roll: Part 1 - Rock and Roll Explodes Music Reflects The Times
Students examine technological advancements in music and broadcast over the decades.
Curated OER
Grouping Musical Instruments
Students study about musical instruments and group them into these categories: percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass. After discussing these instruments, they independently complete the worksheet.
Curated OER
Music Assessment: 8 measure piece
Eighth graders compose an eight measure piece in a major key that utilized some form of wind instrument, body percussion and voice. They notate their composition on staff paper prior to the assessment and perform their composition.
Curated OER
The Sound of Music and Passage to Freedom
Seventh graders examine music examples to investigate a conflict in history about Hitler's invasions during WWII. In this music analysis lesson, 7th graders discuss vocabulary and the history for the Holocaust and Hitler's invasions....
Curated OER
The History of Rock and Roll: Part 6 - My Generation Social an Cultural Influence on Music Composition
Students examine influences on the creation and development of music.
Curated OER
Writing a Music Review
Young scholars compose a written music review of one of today's popular bluegrass musicians after they read online essays and journals about the modern bluegrass music scene look over and discuss recent music reviews
Curated OER
Call and Response Singing
Students investigate call and response singing. In this fine arts and U.S. history lesson, students listen to several call and response songs that were sung by African-American slaves during the period before the Civil War. Students...
Curated OER
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,...
Curated OER
Characteristics of the Classical Period
In this music worksheet, students identify the specific characteristics of the Classical Period in music. They define seven key terms related to the period and who the composers were of that time period.
Curated OER
Diego Rivera: Art as the Universal Language
Learners analyze the work of Diego Rivera. They participate in a class discussion, critique various paintings, write a short story based on a Rivera mural, and create a class mural.
Curated OER
The Ancient Times
Students create a newspaper sharing stories of Cleopatra before her death. They use the internet to research information about her and the time in which she lived. They share their newspaper articles with others.
Curated OER
The Collaborative Works of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Show Business
Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...