Students will be able to demonstrate the difference in pitch and dynamics that can be produced on various intruments through vibrations.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to the early-American musical experience, specifically instrumentation. Incuded as part of this lesson, is an Interactive PowerPoint presentation which may be examined as a class or by students individually.

Students will identify the character, setting, and plot of the story of Ballet of the Elephants and listen to Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant, composed by Igor Stravinsky for the ballet. Students will then listen to a piece of unidentified music to create their own character, setting, and plot diagram. They will use this diagram to create their own story that includes characters, a setting, and a plot (beginning, middle, and end).

Students examine and listen to a variety of forms of music to learn about the cultural, geographic, and stylistic diversity available within the United States.

Take students on a musical journey to learn “What Makes Music, Music?,” exploring fundamentals such as melody, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, and texture! This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free access to the teacher guide/lesson plan books, student readings, videos, and presentation slides. The 8 lessons are:
- Introduction to the Orchestra & Musical Storytelling with Beethoven
- Form with Jessie Montgomery
- Dynamics with Mozart
- Rhythm with Joplin
- Texture with Anthony Kelley
- Tempo with Arturo Márquez (online concert)
- Melody with Terry Mizesko
- Finale with Carlos Simon (online concert)

After learning about the life of composer Ludwig van Beethoven and listening to a variety of musical selections, students will create an Ode to Beethoven to express their appreciation and knowledge for his life and musical talent. In addition, the students learned about the artist Andy Warhol, and will use this knowledge to create an art piece of Beethoven in the style of Warhol.

Students will listen to "Oiseaux exotique" by Olivier Messiaen, and learn how this composer transformed real bird calls into melodies used in his music. Students will make a visual representation of their own exotic bird from their imagination. Each student will write a descriptive paragraph using vivid adjectives that describe their exotic bird and then exchange their descriptive writings with classmates.

Students be introduced to the pentatonic scale through listening examples, identification of scale types, and class discussion of the geographical/cultural aspects of the scale. Students will also have a chance to experiment and find melodies using the notes of each of the pentatonic and major scale types.

This is a simplified version of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf taught in a developmental delay program for special needs students and English language learners. It is easily adapted to meet the needs of older children with the same educational needs. The purpose of the lesson is to provide the students with a variety of experiences performing and telling the story of the fable that Sergei Prokofiev has set to music, and to introduce the students to various instruments of the orchestra.

In this lesson, students learn to use different types of pies to recognize and notate rhythms in standard notation. Students participate in rhythm dictation trough use of popsicle sticks to illustrate rhythms clapped. Further, students will use standard notation to notate simple melodic patterns that have been performed for melodic dictation.

Students will get into groups and compose with simple rhythms/pizza toppings to complete the Pizza Man, Pizza Man rap, and then perform their piece with non-pitched percussion instruments.

Students listen to interviews with career musicians. Students work in groups to present to classmates the life, music, inspiration, and goals of a favorite composer, performer, or group.

In this music and math activity, students are given text and picture explanation of the relationship between music notes and fractions. Then students will create an 8 beat rhythmic ostinato in common 4/4 time. Students will actually drag pieces of a 'pie' onto the composition line, and as they do so, the whole pie on the right of the screen will fill. This is an excellent lesson that integrates and explains the relationship of fractions and music. Students will be able to use whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes as well as dotted half, quarter, and eighth notes. When completed, they can choose a sound and play their rhythmic composition.

Students will listen to the sounds of instruments and classify instruments into four families. Students will recognize the instruments of the orchestra from sight and sound by utilizing the www.sfskids.org website. They will compare the sounds of different instruments and learn to classify them into four families. Students will make their own fabric square to be sewn into a quilt that will be displayed in the classroom.

This lesson was created for primary age students but can easily be adapted into the intermediate or middle school social studies lesson. Students will explore a period of time when African Americans were striving to make their mark on American music. Ragtime music will be experienced through listening to classics, observing performances, researching the life of Scott Joplin, learning dances, and wearing self-made costumes of the era. They will reflect on the Ragtime music, the struggle of African Americans, and the life skills of successful people who perservere.

Students need knowledge and understanding of whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes in order to correctly solve the mathematical word problems.

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.

Visitors to the website will learn about the musical instruments that have been traditionally used along the Silk Road. Included is a map of the region, a reading list, and fun facts. Teachers will find an Education Kit with a Teacher's Guide and a Sourcebook of lesson plans, activities, and background materials to use in teaching their students about the Silk Road. Students will learn about the geography, economics, and history of the Silk Roads. They will discover the religions of both the ancient and contemporary cultures of the area. They will also be able to create musical instruments.

Students will learn the history behind "This Little Light of Mine", following the song through slavery, the civil rights movement, and up to its current day applications. Students will also learn to sing the song itself in multiple languages and will be prompted to write about their learning experiences after each session. At the end, there will be an opportunity for students to add their own verses to the song, based on the writing they did through each portion of the lesson.