Students will discover how the love of music connected two important figures in world history: Benjamin Franklin, an American founding father, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an Austrian composer. Additionally, students will begin to understand pitch, and how each note is calibrated to create its own unique sound.

Students will assign an orchestral instrument to an African animal, using characteristics which
they have in common. The students will write a cinquain poem and create a poster (collage) with their
African animal as the theme.

Students will generate descriptive language of several animals (with special focus on verbs), culminating in the writing of a poem about the animal of their choice. Use Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals as a stimulus prompt.

Students will learn about Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, his mannerist style, and his four paintings named after the four seasons. Students will learn about the food groups and the four seasons. Students will learn about Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi and his compositions named after the four seasons.

Students will be introduced to the concept of beats in groups of two and three. Balloons, instruments, and dancing will be used to explore this concept using Polka and Waltz.

This lesson develops students' ability to hear subtle dynamic levels in orchestral music, and to recognize
sudden and gradual differences. They will use their collective perception to make relative aural judgments
about levels and changes. Data will be recorded on a bar graph marking real time and 6 dynamic levels
roughly equivalent to 6 primary markings of standard dynamics: pp to ff.

Students discover how music can create a visual image in one"™s mind as they listen to Beethoven"™s Sixth Symphony "“ Pastoral. As the image takes shape, the students create a visual representation of their image to include the aspects of nature which Beethoven included in this wonderful composition.

Students write a descriptive essay explaining their thoughts and feelings while listening to Beethoven"™s 5th Symphony, learning how to describe the musical elements that cause them to feel this way, and transpose these feelings into a watercolor art piece. The students will present their essay and art work orally, and act out their responses during a physical education exercise.

Students will be introduced to American Bluegrass music and Appalachian songs through singing,
listening and conversation. A number of songs will be compared leading to a conversation on the
characteristics of Traditional American music.

Students will complete two language arts activities for this lesson. In the first activity, students use folk
songs from the era of the California Gold Rush, which are introduced in the early chapters of By the Great
Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleishman, to identify folk song motifs in the classical music of Antonín Dvořák. This
will be explored by the students' creation of a labeled line drawing of one of Dvořák 's compositions. In the second activity, students will write a letter to Dvořák from the point of view of Master Jack, a character in Fleishman"™s novel, inviting Dvořák to continue his American tour into the gold fields of California for
musical inspiration.

Students are introduced to Johann Sebastian Bach"™s music through short deep listening exercises and
optional integrated language arts activity.

Students will reinforce skills of comparing and contrasting pieces of music and writing, practice musical vocabulary while listening to, learning about and analyzing the movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.

Why do two composers from the same period of history compose different music? Students will gain an understanding of how culture and history influences music as they analyze and compare the music of Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington, and learn how these composers used special sounds to enhance their music.

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 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 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.

This collection of activities is designed for exploring, listening to, and creating sounds from a wide variety of sources using the environment, the voice, the body, and instruments. Activity ideas are designed to accompany sound identification lessons from ages infant to sixth grade to aid in an increased understanding of how sounds are produced and organized.