Curated OER
Rhythmic Expression
Learners discover movement and expression to music/sound through a series of teacher-led exercises and role plays. This lesson is ideal for the middle school drama class with possibilities for adaptation to any level of drama or general...
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Tuning the World One Note at a Time
Young scholars investigate music around the world and work with a photographer to understand elements of photography. In this photography lesson, students visit a dance hall and interview the dancers. Young scholars gather ideas...
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Sam Cooke - Lesson 1
Students identify the impact of the social injustices and Civil Rights movement on Cooke's life and career. They create lyrics to a familiar song that express a personal struggle or concern.
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"Jazz is About Collaboration": Jim Crow Laws And Segregation
Students explore development of jazz music in the 1930s by forming imaginary jazz bands which tour several cities in Depression-era America. Jazz band members create imaginary identities for themselves, develop publicity for their tour,...
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James Brown: Life and Times
High schoolers trace James Brown's rise from "Little Junior" in Depression-era Augusta, Georgia, to the "Minister of the New Super Heavy Funk" and create a collage that captures his impact on American music.
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Allen Ginsberg: Poetry and Politics
Students explore the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. They read and analyze poems by Allen Ginsberg, conduct Internet research, collect examples of art of the 60s, and create a presentation.
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Overture to 'William Tell' by Gioacchino Rossini
Students create an awareness of how music creates a setting in a story or legend. They identify the instrumentation, dynamics and tempo used to create various settings for a musical story. They perform rhythmic patterns from listening...
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Carerrs in Song And Dance
Students write a job posting for a career in the performing arts. They view a Discovery Channel video as an introduction to the types of performing art careers are possible. They choose one that they are most interested in to research on...
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American Rhythms
Students combine elements of music with poetry. In this creative writing instructional activity, students examine poems from a variety of authors with varying writing styles. Students explore the different elements of poetry, including...
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Strike Up the Band
Students create song lyrics celebrating the history of labor unions serving the entertainment industry, then create posters illustrating the importance of each union to the industry they represent.
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Sense of Place: No River Too Wide-Bridges
Fifth graders discover the history of their hometown Des Moines River. In this U.S. Geography lesson students speak with Iowans that tell stories of the settlers and early villages near the Des Moines River. Students document their...
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Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - The Birth of Soul
Young scholars analyze various kinds of music. In this music lesson, students listen to music clips to determine the kind of music each clip is then they participate in a class discussion about the music and prepare a presentation.
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Look, Listen and Learn
Students brainstorm what they know about the performing arts and research an artist or song and its related genre. Students work in groups to create an online banner to attract peers to their performing arts genre.
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Teaching Intonation in a SoundTree Lab with Auralia
Young scholars respond to exercises using ear-training software as they decide whether notes are sharp or flat. They create their own examples using the tuning function on a synthesizer.
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The Element of Color
Eighth graders study and analyze the elements of color by creating an personalized color wheel. Emphasis is placed on constructive criticism of student work by others for assessment. Students create short poems for their color wheel...
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Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring
In this music worksheet, students answer 20 questions about an extract from "Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring." Students also write an essay discussing a given quote about the extract.
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Bringing Stories to Life
Students perform short stories with sound effects and music they've created. For this stories lesson, create effects of record from a file to complete a presented story.
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The Beautiful People of Africa
Young scholars discover the people of Africa by creating a PowerPoint presentation. In this African culture lesson, students utilize the Internet to investigate a specific African tribe and their specific location, culture, and way of...
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Oceans: A Sensory Haiku
Students create an ocean haiku. In this haiku lesson, students use their five senses to write a haiku. Students watch videos about the ocean, make a sensory portrait, and create a class haiku.
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Jazz and Math: Rhythmic Innovations
High schoolers compare and contrast the rhythms of marches and jazz. They watch an excerpt about Buddy Bolden from the PBS Ken Burns Jazz documentary, compare/contrast march and jazz rhythms, complete a worksheet, and notate and perform...
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Mammal's Around the World
Fifth graders, exploring all the ins and outs of using a computer, publish their own mammal papers with the use of word searches, thesaurus and spell checks. While in the computer lab, they research their mammal and country on the...
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Going Up and Down
Second graders listen to and compare music to gain understanding of melodic direction in song, discuss types of movement in song, sing song while moving to it, and create movements that show pitches of melody moving upward, downward, or...
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Shaker Band
Students shake up some lively music. In this early childhood music and art lesson, students use a variety of materials to make shakers that will acquaint them with different rhythms and enhance their sensory awareness.