San Francisco Symphony
The 20% of Beethoven
Compare Beethoven's fifth symphony to latin music and disco. Learners will listen to and discuss the elements found in the first part of Beethoven's composition. They'll then look for the same elements in Tito Puente and Bee Gees songs....
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Jazz in America
Students explore Free Jazz and Fusion by answering questions and listening to music.
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Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson - Lesson 1
Appeal to your music lovers with this lesson. Middle and high schoolers listen to and describe music from contrasting styles. They identify the common elements between gospel and bluegrass music and have a class discussion regarding the...
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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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The Star-Spangled Banner
Get your kids moving as they learn about the history of the United States National Anthem. Scholars examine the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key, and the meaning behind The Star Spangled Banner as they listen to an 18-minute...
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Jazz in America
Students explore Bebop in America by listening to music and answering questions.
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VH1 Classic Presents: Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Lesson 3
Students in a guitar class perform the Beatles song, Eleonor Rigby and study it's melodic and harmonic structures. They discover the process of arranging the song for a 4-part guitar ensemble.
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Repetitive Song Form
Eighth graders discover different concepts for identifying musical structure and song form. In this Music History lesson, 8th graders compare and contrast a Red Hot Chili Peppers song to an Andrea Bocelli's song.
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Classical Greek Sculpture
Students create a sculpture of one of their classmates heads in the manner of the Greek sculptures. They apply the correct terminology into making their sculpture. They evaluate their own project and focus on areas to improve on.
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Jazz in America Lesson Plan 2
Young scholars explore jazz's primary elements. They identify the basic definitions of terms associated with jazz. In addition, they listen to Song for My Father.
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Jazz in America Lesson Plan 6
Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.
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Jazz in America Lesson Plan 7
Students survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.
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VH1 Driven: Jamie Foxx, Lesson 2
Students compare and contrast classical piano style with jazz piano style. They watch a segment of the video, "VH1 Driven: Jamie Foxx," participate in a class discussion of the music from the video, and develop a list of adjectives for...
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Defining Voice of the Punk Years
Learners analyze the music of The Clash and have extensive and intensive practice in reading and listening skills.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Learners discuss the style and characteristics of the Classical era and the genre of opera. They compare and contrast modern day popular icons to musical icons throughout history. They write original librettos to modern entertainment.
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Isn't It Romantic?
Sixth graders investigate the ideas, literature, music, and art of the Romantic Movement. They apply romantic ideals to their original writing and art, analyze poetry, discuss key vocabulary, and analyze artwork from this era.
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200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Students discuss style and characteristics of musical time periods as well as the definition of "pop culture." They compare and contrast modern-day popular icons to music icons throughout history. This lesson requires a video, which is...
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Haring Inspired CD Covers
Young scholars create CD covers from their music-inspired drawing sessions. They compare what they drew while listening to classical, punk and rap music. They scan their drawings into Adobe Photoshop and design their cover.
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B-A-N-J-O: A Bluegrass Version of Bingo
Students explain the history and relevance of the following instruments in bluegrass music: fiddle, guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin and stand-up bass.
They identify the defining characteristics of each bluegrass instrument and participate...
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Storytellers: Bruce Springsteen
Students study rock and roll with the music of Bruce Springsteen.
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Dave Matthews Band - Lesson 3
Students discuss the impact of cultural diversity in the world around us, how it shapes conflict and unity, and relate the music of Dave Matthews Band to these societal issues and their own experiences. The compare Dave Matthews music to...
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The Warrior Role in Greek Society
High schoolers are introduced to the various gods and goddesses in ancient Greek mythology. In groups, they use print and electronic resources to research the ways Greek culture has influenced the modern world. To end the instructional...
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Jazz In America - Lesson Plan 8
Fifth graders explore the current jazz scene and how it reflects American culture. They listen to jazz recordings of current artists and speculate on which direction jazz is likely heading.