DSOKids is the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s magical doorway to a world of musical fun and learning for students, parents and teachers. The site’s mission is to provide attractive, accessible and child-friendly resources that introduce symphonic music, the orchestra and its instruments, and to encourage both adults and young people to explore the world of the symphony orchestra.

Immerse yourself in the lively mood of Samba and Carimbo. Learn the basic steps and dance along with the music. Identify the instruments and play along with others. Learn about the relationships of Samba and Carimbo with other musics such as jazz and swing.

After gaining familiarity with the lives and music of Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, students are asked to write a letter to these composers, expressing an understanding of how the history and culture of one"™s life can be reflected in a composer"™s music. Students also create a bio-poem to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the composer"™s thoughts and feelings about his life and music.

This curricular unit introduces some difang yinyue (regional music of China) and encourages children to discover characteristics of Chinese music by "travelling" around the eastern region of this country.

Students are introduced to equivalent fractions. Then, students make and use equivalent fraction/musical note tablets to assist them in adding fractions with like and unlike denominators

Students will be introduced to the great jazz composer and band leader, Duke Ellington by listening to his re-composed and re-orchestrated version of Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Students will be passively introduced to the music of Duke Ellington with the goal that students recognize similar melodies in his work to those of Tchaikovsky. Students will learn about jazz instruments and connections will be made to literature, social studies, music and writing.

Students are invited to sight-read (solfege), play recorder, listen critically, and create, all in exploration of traditional German children's songs. They take a further step in comparing these new songs to American children's songs with which they may be familiar.

Students will larn about a time in the past when three famous people- Igor Stravinsky, George Balanchine and John Ringling, Jr. - joined forces to create a ballet for ballerinas the size of battleships. Students will listen and move to Stravinsky's Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant, written for the ballet that featured fifty ballet dancers and fifty elephants. Students will hear the story, Ballet of the Elephants, and learn about the men who worked together to make it happen.

Students will learn to focus and listen to music and begin to recognize the musical elements of dynamics and tempo. Students will learn to discuss the emotions that music can portray and evoke with a writing activity to allow students to brainstorm ideas of what they hear.

While studying ecosystems, students will focus on the changes that occur in deciduous forest throughout the seasons. With that knowledge, they will listen to and analyze Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. As a culminating activity, students will use oil pastels to show what a deciduous forest would look like during each season.

Students will listen to and play Russian music, with an emphasis on the balalaika and accordion. They will also play "Tachanka", a Russian folk tune, in parts.

Students will be introduced to the music of India with a focus on introductory terminology, elemental concepts, and instrument identification through various singing, listening and playing opportunities.

Students will discuss emotion words. They will look up synonyms for emotion words. They will then listen
to the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and discuss the emotions they hear. Discussion about
instrument families and dynamics will take place to help students decide why the song gives certain
emotions. After several times listening to the music students will create a graph of the emotions they hear in
the music.

Students can use music to read each other"™s minds! As students learn to differentiate tempo and dynamics to interpret the mood of the music, they will express it through physical movement that allows their classmates to guess what is on their mind.

Students will be able to: listen with purpose to a musical selection; read with understanding a sample of poetry; and, discuss as a group what similarities in structure can be found in each creative sample. Through careful listening and sequencing, students will discover that each inventive listening example is congruent to the other through musical design and form.

Students are introduced to the culture and music of Mardi Gras Indians, an important African American phenomenon that takes place in New Orleans. Students will examine the tradition and its culture-bearers, listen to and analyze Mardi Gras Indian music, and examine the multiple cultural influences that have contributed to the tradition. Students will gain experience in listening, movement, and performance, which will enrich their sense of the musical and cultural complexity of this phenomenon.

This lesson was designed for a third grade unit on immigration and heritage. It can be adapted for other grades with an emphasis on culture in social studies. Students are encouraged to seek out information about specific traditions, culture and music from their heritage. The teacher will pick two pieces that have contrasting images. The students will listen to contrasting pieces of music and identify which one seems to connect with the student's family heritage.

This lesson will introduce students to the History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. They will learn and listen about History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky through the resources provided. 

REMIX- Added accessibility enhancements.This lesson will introduce students to the History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. They will learn and listen about History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky through the resources provided. 

Students will experience traditional Indian music and internalize it by moving to it. There will be an opportunity to listen to, play and dance to sitar music and ragas.