Students will use the music of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade to inspire a strong introduction to a story. By assuming the role of Scheherazade, students will write an introduction and collaborative story about Sinbad the Sailor. They will then take a comparative look at their own creations and the original story by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Students will practice and perform a Reader's Theater entitled Salt, a Russian folktale. They will hear a story about the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and listen to four of his compositions: Swan Lake, Serenade for Strings, Marche Slave, and 1812 Overture. Finally, in groups of five to eight students, they will choose a musical score from these pieces to accompany their section of the Reader's Theater.

In this lesson, students are introduced to spirituals - songs created and sang by enslaved African Americans for many reasons including: expressing values, a source of inspiration and motivation, an expression of protest and coded communication. Students will listen to spirituals and sing a spiritual, then identify characteristics of spirituals. Students will decode a spiritual.

Students will compare and contrast Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, La Primavera (Spring). Pair the music of Stravinksy with the art of Edvard Munch. Pair the music of Vivaldi with the art of Claude Monet. Discuss the similarities and differences. Discuss Josef Albers'Homage to the Square entitled "The High Spring". Discuss how color and mood are connected. Create a color square in the style of Josef Albers to represent the pairings of Stravinsky and Munch and the pairing of Vivaldi and Monet.

Students paint their impression in watercolor of one of their experiences, following a performance of the symphony orchestra.This lesson was designed for a 4th grade class, but is interesting and easy to adapt and use with all grade levels.

Students will review the life of Beethoven leading to a discussion about Beethoven"™s Moonlight Sonata. Students will learn to waltz and will practice skip-counting by 3"™s to Moonlight Sonata.