American Museum of Natural History
Sounds of the Silk Road
Young explorers may not be able to travel the Silk Road but they can listen to music that was played on instruments of the time and create their own songs with the help of an interesting interactive resource.
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Introduction To The Orchestra
Young scholars listen to a book, "Meet the Orchestra." They observe a PowerPoint presentation, listen to the sounds in "Peter and the Wolf" and then match illustrations of instruments to their specific sound. Students identify ...
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Brass Instruments of the Orchestra
In this orchestra instructional activity, 7th graders read about the brass instruments which include the French horn, tuba, trombone, and the trumpet. They fill in the blanks in 8 sentences about the brass section of the orchestra.
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Instruments of the Orchestra Race
Students receive a musical instrument of the orchestra and the family it belongs to. They run when the teacher calls either the instrument or the family.
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Identifying Instruments and Families
Fourth graders complete with the class a KWL chart and discuss prior knowledge of orchestras. They visit websites to discover instruments and families of the orchestra and discuss appropriate audience behavior prior to going to a concert...
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The Classical Orchestra
Students study the classical orchestra in this technology-based general music lesson plan for the high school classroom. Emphasis is placed on the use of the "Microsoft Musical Instruments" software. This lesson plan can be...
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Exploring Musical Instruments of the Orchestra
Students listen to "The William Tell Overture," identify instruments, sounds and other characteristics of the music. They compare and contrast orchestra music to large band music. Students discuss the musical composition and how the...
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An Introduction To The Instruments Of The Orchestra
Students explore a variety of instruments to discover their sound. After watching an orchestra play, students discover the categories of instruments such as woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. In teams, they listen to music and...
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String Instruments and Pitch
Students make predictions and explore how pitch is altered in string instruments. In this acoustic science lesson, students learn the types and parts of string instruments and create their own. They listen to classical music and identify...
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The Layout of an Orchestra
In this orchestra worksheet, 7th graders follow directions for coloring in a diagram of an orchestra setting. They shade each section according to the type of instrument that would be seated there.
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Meet the Instrument Families
Fourth graders listen to a recording of a string quartet and ask questions about what kinds of instrument they think they are listening to and describe what they think the instruments look like. Then they discuss musical ideas such as...
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Musical Instruments
Students invent a musical instrument to be played by them. They invent a nonstandard notation for music and compose a short piece to preform for the class using their instrument.
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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.
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Instruments of the Orchestra- Flute and Oboe
Students name the different families in an orchestra, name many of the instruments in each family, listen to an orchestral recording to identify the flute and oboe and listen to the melody of a piece.
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Musical Instruments
In this music worksheet, learners write the name of a musical instrument that they would like to play. Students do research and list as many instruments as they can find.
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Musical Role Models
Students identify instruments and their sounds and use them to model their own orchestra. After choosing an instrument to investigate further, they research to become familiar with the sound of the instrument, how the sound is created,...
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Arranging Patriotic Music for Instruments
Students arrange a short piano composition for a group of four to six instruments of their choice. The musical arrangements should be then demonstrated and analyzed by the class as a unit study.
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Music: Instruments of the Orchestra
Students identify various musical instruments and explain their roles in an orchestra. Following a Powerpoint presentation, students discuss what they have discovered in small groups. Then, each groups devises four questions based on...
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Families of Instruments
Students identify families of instruments. In this music lesson, students read Berlioz the Bear and identify the families of instruments. Students sing "Mr. Gus Goes Goofy," and listen for the sounds of the instruments.
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Virtual Museum of Musical Instruments
Young scholars incorporate elements of photo composition and demonstrate how to upload digital pictures to the computer. They create their own instrument utilizing resources from home as well as specialized music hardware. They...
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Performance Evaluation
Students evaluate in class performance of music previously prepared by the ensemble. The rubric and assessment criteria are adaptable to any orchestra setting which allows the teacher to choose music to be assessed. Critical thinking...
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Playing With Your Food
Students discover about the form and function of traditional musical instruments, then use this knowledge to create non-traditional instruments that replicate the sounds of traditional instruments. They use vegetables to create their...
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Music from the Silk Roads
Young scholars explore different types of musical instruments. In this musical instrument lesson, students create a replica of a sheng. Young scholars utilize this instrument to understand different types of breathing used in different...
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Orchestra: Wordsearch
In this word-search worksheet, student search for twenty-nine music terms having to do with instruments of the symphony orchestra.