PBS
Classics for Kids: Music
This resource is dedicated to introducing students to classical music. Students can study the history of music, listen to music, review different kinds of instruments, and explore musical careers.
Other
Classical Music Navigator: Forms and Styles
This alphabetized list of musical forms and styles briefly defines and describes the types of musical sounds and genres created throughout history.
PBS
Classics for Kids: Games
Compose your own music, match the rhythm, form words with notes, and learn more about music and history in these games to teach students about classical music.
Music Education
This Day in Music History
Find out what kinds of musical things occurred throughout history on any given day of the year. Key in a date and find out what composers were born or died, etc.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 31: Syncopation and Rhythm
Music students rarely see the value or have any interest in music other than their favorite popular artist or group. By showing connections and similarities between current music and 'classical' music, the teacher begins to break down...
Other
Classic Motown History
Stroll down the history of classic Motown. This timeline highlights the artists and events in the history of Motown records.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Moldenhauer Archives
The Moldenhauer Archives at the Library of Congress contain approximately 3,500 items documenting the history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Music of the United States
Very thorough resource for music in the United States. History, genres, and references can be found on this site. Includes sample audio recordings.
Other
Africlassical: Black History and Classical Music
Africlassical profiles musicians and composers of African descent since the time of Mozart.
Other
Inkpot: Johann Sebastian Bach
This site is a tribute to the great composer. Includes some biographical history, pictures of the places he performed, and commentary on his works.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 51: Song Form
Many high school students do not recognize the use of repetitive song form in rock and roll music. This lesson will introduce concepts for identifying musical structure and, more specifically, song form. A comparison of the Red Hot Chili...
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 17: Irony Made Understandable
One of the more difficult literary concepts to teach is irony, especially ironic point of view. Not only do students often miss the subtle linguistic clues, they become distracted by the issue of author's intent. Whether it's the classic...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Learning the Blues
This lesson plan introduces young scholars to the blues. The origin and development of the blues is explored as well as its distinctive structure.
Steven Kreis, PhD
The History Guide: The Romantic Era
This personal site from The History Guide is great background information on the romantic period, though little of it deals directly with music.
Black Past
Black Past: Watts, Andre
This encyclopedia article gives a brief biography of Andre Watts, the first internationally known black classical pianist.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Dynasty, Revolution, and the Classical Age
Welcome to Britain, home to one of the biggest empires in history and a rich artistic heritage. We'll start in the 16th through the 18th centuries, years that saw the establishment of Britain and British art as we know it. As you travel...
Classical Net
Classical Net: Timeline of Famous Composers 1600 to Present
PDF document showing composers in various musical eras from the Baroque period to modern times.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Performance Today
This is a clever feature of National Public Radio's website. Each day of the year several events related to classical music that occurred on that date in history are listed.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post: "The History of Jazz," Chapter 1
This site offers the first chapter of Ted Gioia's book, "The History of Jazz." This chapter focuses on the prehistory of jazz, including the Africanization of American music, country blues and classic blues, and Scott Joplin and Ragtime.
Other
Mozart and Salieri: Professional Jealousy or Murder?
This is a "WebQuest," lesson in which students follow links for information about Salieri's possible involvement in Mozart's death. Great fun for kids while learning.
Other
Discover Eso: Percussion Instruments: Harp
Contains information on the harp. Students learn about the history and qualities of the instrument and can listen to audio excerpts of the harp being played.
Classical Net
Classical Net: Basic Repertoire List: Carl Maria Von Weber
This site contains a brief history on the life and works of Carl Maria Von Weber. It also contains a listing of some of his famous works.
Classical Net
Classical Net: Timeline of Famous Composers: 1100 1700
A PDF timeline of composers in the Gothic, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
Classical Net
Classical Net: Musical Periods
This site contains the most significant artistic output of the most important composers within each historical period.