Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 5
Students survey Bebop and identify the basic terms associated with jazz.They experience the music of Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday and participate in a class discussion regarding jazz's contribution to and reflection of American...
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
The Nutcracker Teacher Resource Guide
Clara becomes Marie, The Mouse King becomes a rat, and the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh becomes the setting for a modern interpretation of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. Intended as a resource guide for a 2012 performance, the...
Curated OER
Putting Pitch In Its Place
Students focus on reading musical notations. They see, hear, practice and write notations in the lessons to become more independent readers of music. They complete a Rubric for Pitch Worksheet.
Curated OER
Lesson: Paul Chan: "Score for the 7th Light"
Music, art, and poetry coalesce in a single exhibition, and in a single lesson. Critical thinkers analyze the Fluxus art movement as it's seen in the work of Paul Chan's 7 Lights. They consider the use of poetry and music in his...
Curated OER
The Sorcerer's Apprentice: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Upper graders view the animated short, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and analyze how the music score was chosen to express the scene. They create an animation as they listen to a classical recording to experience the connection between...
Curated OER
The Tango
Fourth graders explore the music of Buenos Aires as they hear and then dance the Tango. They practice basic Tango rhythm, learn to sing the song, "Any Turkey can Tango," then practice a few Tango-riffic dance steps with a partner....
Curated OER
Applying Music to Literature
Kids explore music, history, culture, and literature in a multi-faceted lesson plan. They discuss how both historical and cultural contexts shape music, art, and literature, and then apply these concepts as they engage in a listening...
Curated OER
Wynton's Tune
Students examine the serigraph, "Wynton's Tune," by artist Faith Ringgold. They discuss the painting, listen to jazz music, create a drawing that tells a story inspired by their favorite music, and write sentences describing their artwork.
Curated OER
Learning the Blues
Learners take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee in their study of the blues, its characterisitics, founding fathers, and histororical influence on modern music. They compose blues lyrics that reflect present-day attitudes and...
Smithsonian Institution
Affirmation, Assimilation, and Acculturation: Middle School
Latin American culture is deeply embedded in American culture as a whole. From the Latin rock scene in San Francisco to the hip-hop world of New York, Latin American artists have influenced every genre of modern music. Learn about the...
California Department of Education
Creating a Therapeutic Soundscape: Ambient Improvisations and Planned Catharsis (CTE)
How is music a form of therapy? Scholars explore the topic using the fourth and final instructional activity from the Changing One's Tune: A Music Therapy STEM series. Learners explore the relationship between music and the mind and...
Curated OER
The Art and History of Japanese Calligraphy
Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is beautiful and significant in both culture and tradition. Engage your class in this expressive fine art form through a lesson plan on using, holding, and creating brush strokes common to Japanese...
Curated OER
"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Mozart was an amazing composer and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was one of his best-loved orchestral pieces. This handout provides a brief description of the instruments for which it was written, and how each section and part should be...
Curated OER
Down a 4th, Up a 5th
It's time to practice those sharps. Young musicians write the order of sharps by counting down a fourth and up a fifth. This is a great way to teach sharps to emergent musical note readers.
Fun Music Company
Working Out the Key
"Gimme an E minor!" Or any key for that matter. But how do you figure out the key of a piece of music? Here's a instructional activity that shows young musicians three easy steps to help them identify the key of a piece of music.
Fun Music Company
Completing Measures with Rests
Rests. Eighth rests, quarter rests, and half rests are the focus of a one-page worksheet that asks music theory students to complete a series of measures with rests and bar lines.
Music Teaching Resources
Note Naming Worksheet 1
Can you name this note? Young musicians are asked to name each of the notes pictured on a music worksheet and then to place these notes on a staff.
Can Teach
Pass the Melody
Get a jam session started in your elementary music class! Learners engage in melody transitions by singing a familiar song and passing on the tune to the next person.
Fun Music Company
Relative Major and Minor
It's all relative. Young music theorists are asked to count to three and identify the relative major and minor keys of keys that share the same signature.
Fun Music Company
Name the Instrument
Here's a word scramble activity that asks kids to identify a series of instruments and then transpose the circled letters to reveal the name of the world's oldest playable musical instrument.
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
Draw To The Music
One of the best ways to inspire your young artists to create art is to play some soothing music, give them some art supplies, and let their imaginations guide their hands. It's fun to see what happens if you play some energetic music as...
Curated OER
Home Music Practice Checklists
Music is great, but in order to play really well, you have to practice. Here is a printable checklist that will help your music young scholars remember to practice playing their instruments everyday. The daily practice reminder includes...
Curated OER
Using the Internet - Art and Design
An interesting resource that might work best in an upper level art course, this handout provides a list of nine websites where young artists can read and study about all forms of art. These online resources range from a dictionary of...