Discuss with students the similarities and differences among keyboard instruments. The keyboard instruments are related to each other in that they are controlled by a similarly laid-out key mechanism. However if we are to be technical about it each of these instruments really belongs in a different family.

The harpsichord and the piano are string instruments (chordophones). The harpsichord mechanism plucks the strings while the piano mechanism strikes the strings.

The pipe organ is actually a series of wind instruments (aerophones). Some pipes operate like a flute, other pipes operate like a whistle or recorder, and yet other pipes operate like a reed instrument.

The keyboard on the celesta plays bells, just like the Glockenspiel, hence why it can be called a “bell piano”

Here are some other observations: the piano and the celesta have a single manual (row of keys), whereas some harpsichords and virtually all organs have multiple manuals. Pianos and organs have a very wide range while harpsichords and celestas have a more limited range.

Explain how the bars on the glockenspiel, xylophone, and marimba are laid out like the keys on a piano, with a row of “white” keys along the bottom and “black” keys (chromatic tones) along the top. Students may enjoy making a “paperphone.” Cut rectangular bars of decreasing size out of colored construction paper and glue them to a posterboard or blank sheet of paper. Label the bars with the appropriate note names.

Show the students how resonance amplifies the sound of a musical instrument. With a xylophone or marimba you can remove one bar and try and play it with no resonator (pipe or box) underneath. Then compare the difference with placing it over the resonating chamber. You will likely need to experiment with bars and tube size before finding a combination that resonates well.

Check out this recording to hear some great tuned percussion: Camille Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre. The composer gives the xylophone a prominent part at 1:45 and 3:45 (may vary slightly depending on the tempo of your recording). It is meant to convey the rattling bones of a dancing skeleton.

These are just a few concepts for creating music lesson plans about percussion instruments.

Discuss with students the similarities and differences among keyboard instruments. The keyboard instruments are related to each other in that they are controlled by a similarly laid-out key mechanism. Technically, however, they belong to different instrument families according to how they produce sound.

The harpsichord and the piano are string instruments (chordophones). The hammers on the piano strike the strings, while the harpsichord mechanism plucks the string.

The pipe organ really belongs in the wind family. Some pipes operate like a flute, other pipes operate like a whistle or recorder, and yet other pipes operate like a reed instrument.

The keyboard on the celesta plays bells, just like the Glockenspiel, hence why it can be called a “bell piano”

Here are some other observations: There is only one row of keys on a piano or celesta, however on the organ (and most harpsichords) there are nearly always more than one keyboard. You might also notice the various ranges of the instruments – Organs and Pianos have an extremely wide range, while the range on the harpsichord and celesta are much more limited.

Why do you think harp makers placed the shorter strings closer to the player and not the other way around?

Have a look at this idea you can use to demonstrate the workings of the harps pedals.

Background information: The double-action pedal harp has seven pedals. What happens is each pedal changes all the strings of one note name. Each pedal has three positions: top (flattens pitches by a semitone), middle (no change), and bottom (raises pitches by a semitone).There are three positions for each pedal: In the top position it lowers the pitch by a semitone, in the middle there is no change, and in the bottom it raises the pitch be a semitone. If all the pedals are in their centre position, the harp plays a C major scale

Procedure: On the whiteboard, draw seven pedals laid out from left to right (simple ovals or rectangles will do), and label them with the note names from C to B. You can then have the students follow along the whiteboard while you play the C major scale on a keyboard instrument. You can then play the scale again, and alter one note by either a semitone up or down. Ask the students which note was altereed, and in what direction it needs to be moved. You can then have one student run out the pedal in question and draw it again in the position you played. You could repeat this as many times as you wanted for a fun game. For a greater challenge, alter two or more notes.

If you have access to an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar, you can easily demonstrate the need for a resonator, both on the guitar on the harp. The electric guitar uses electric amplification instead of a resonator, but if the instrument is unplugged, it produces only a very faint sound. However an acoustic guitar is easy to hear because the body of the guitar is its resonator, amplifying the sound. The harp also would be far to quiet to hear without a resonator, so you can point it out to the students and demonstrate its function.

Show and talk about the different aspects and characteristics of the keyboard instruments. The keyboard instruments are related to each other in that they are controlled by a similarly laid-out key mechanism. Technically, however, they belong to different instrument families according to how they produce sound.

Both the piano and the harpsichord are really stringed instruments. The hammers on the piano strike the strings, while the harpsichord mechanism plucks the string.

The pipe organ really belongs in the wind family. Wind is blowed through the pipes, sometimes like a whistle, and sometimes through a reed like a woodwind instrument.

The celesta is a compound idiophone like the glockenspiel, only it uses a keyboard mechanism rather than mallets.

Perhaps you might also discuss these things: the piano and the celesta have a single manual (row of keys), whereas some harpsichords and virtually all organs have multiple manuals. Pianos and organs have a very wide range while harpsichords and celestas have a more limited range.

This is a tiny sample of the music lesson plans on orchestral musical instruments from the Fun Music Company.

Why do you think harp makers placed the shorter strings closer to the player and not the other way around?

Have a look at this idea you can use to demonstrate the workings of the harps pedals.

Background information: The double-action pedal harp has seven pedals. What happens is each pedal changes all the strings of one note name. Each pedal has three positions: top (flattens pitches by a semitone), middle (no change), and bottom (raises pitches by a semitone).There are three positions for each pedal: In the top position it lowers the pitch by a semitone, in the middle there is no change, and in the bottom it raises the pitch be a semitone. With all the pedals in the middle position, the harp plays a C major scale.

Procedure: On the whiteboard, draw seven pedals laid out from left to right (simple ovals or rectangles will do), and label them with the note names from C to B. You can then have the students follow along the whiteboard while you play the C major scale on a keyboard instrument. Play the scale again with one of the notes chromatically altered, and ask students which pedal should be moved and in what direction. You can then have one student run out the pedal in question and draw it again in the position you played. You could repeat this as many times as you wanted for a fun game. For a greater challenge, alter two or more notes.

If you have access to an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar, you can easily demonstrate the need for a resonator, both on the guitar on the harp. The electric guitar uses electric amplification instead of a resonator, but if the instrument is unplugged, it produces only a very faint sound. By contrast, an acoustic guitar is readily audible because the guitar body acts as a resonator. The harp also would be far to quiet to hear without a resonator, so you can point it out to the students and demonstrate its function.

Show and talk about the different aspects and characteristics of the keyboard instruments. The keyboard instruments are related to each other in that they are controlled by a similarly laid-out key mechanism. Technically, however, they belong to different instrument families according to how they produce sound.

The harpsichord and the piano are string instruments (chordophones). The hammers on the piano strike the strings, while the harpsichord mechanism plucks the string.

The pipe organ is actually a series of wind instruments (aerophones). Wind is blowed through the pipes, sometimes like a whistle, and sometimes through a reed like a woodwind instrument.

The keyboard on the celesta plays bells, just like the Glockenspiel, hence why it can be called a “bell piano”

There are lots more of these interesting points in the music lesson plans on instruments of the orchestra.

Here are some other observations: the piano and the celesta have a single manual (row of keys), whereas some harpsichords and virtually all organs have multiple manuals. You might also notice the various ranges of the instruments – Organs and Pianos have an extremely wide range, while the range on the harpsichord and celesta are much more limited.

Show and talk about the different aspects and characteristics of the keyboard instruments. The keyboard instruments are related to each other in that they are controlled by a similarly laid-out key mechanism. However if we are to be technical about it each of these instruments really belongs in a different family.

The harpsichord and the piano are string instruments (chordophones). The hammers on the piano strike the strings, while the harpsichord mechanism plucks the string.

The pipe organ really belongs in the wind family. Wind is blowed through the pipes, sometimes like a whistle, and sometimes through a reed like a woodwind instrument.

The celesta is a compound idiophone like the glockenspiel, only it uses a keyboard mechanism rather than mallets.

Perhaps you might also discuss these things: There is only one row of keys on a piano or celesta, however on the organ (and most harpsichords) there are nearly always more than one keyboard. You might also notice the various ranges of the instruments – Organs and Pianos have an extremely wide range, while the range on the harpsichord and celesta are much more limited.

This is a tiny sample of the music lesson plans available from the fun music company.

I always found it an interesting experience to play in a Rock Band. I played the drum kit in a wide variety of styles of music from rock and roll through light pop.

had a background in classical music – my mother made me play piano as a young child, and I went on to study classical percussion at University, so reading music was never really one of the problems that I faced

It was always interesting playing in Rock Bands with other musicians who often couldn’t read any music. One of them would start playing a song and the others would just play along, without reading or even talking about it sometimes. This was something I always struggled with.

Admittedly I’m a pretty average guitar or bass player, but if I am taught the chords or a riff I can certainly play it. I have never been able to pick up a song and just play it without first learning it written down on paper. However this is not the case for most rock musicians. For most rock musicians its the other way around – they can pick stuff up, but give them some dots on a piece of paper and they are lost!

So what do rock musicians really need to know about music theory? and what can you do if you are really struggling to read music, but you would really like to?

here are some tips:

Learn just the bits you need to know to play your instrument

If you’re playing drums there is very little point in learning to read the bass clef notes – you’ll want to focus on Drum clef notation and rhythm. Find out the aspects most important to your instrument, and learn to read the clef that is used for it For guitar it really is rhythm. Most guitarists can work out the tablature ok, but I’ve found that they struggle when reading rhythm. For bass players it is reading the bass clef notes.

Separate learning pitches and rhythms

Each musical event has both a pitch (what note it is) and a duration (how long it is played for). Make sure that you are taking note of both things, and practice drills and games to develop your skills in both areas, not just one.

Practice score reading while listening to recordings

A great thing to do is listen along to recordings and follow along with the printed music, naming the notes as you go, and finding them on your instrument

Analyze real sheet music as much as possible

There used to be loads of ascii tabs around on the internet for guitar, bass and drums, but there is nothing like real sheet music for learning to read music. Go to the music store and buy some. Do your music reading a favor and support the musicians who created it at the same time!

I hope that this article has given a couple of insights and ideas for musicians who want to learn to read music and learn music theory. With a little bit of the right training and a good attitude it really isn’t that difficult to learn to read music.

Kevin Tuck is a teacher of music who has worked in schools and in his own private music studio. Kevin is also an editor for the Fun Music Company, who create music theory worksheets for music teachers.

Discuss the effect of string length on pitch. Have the students guess if longer or shorter strings will produce higher or lower sounds. Here is an interesting question to discuss with your students: Why do we use the word “high” to describe pitches of a higher frequency, when it has nothing to do with the height away from the ground?

Why do you think harp makers placed the shorter strings closer to the player and not the other way around?

Have a look at this idea you can use to demonstrate the workings of the harps pedals.

Background information: The double-action pedal harp has seven pedals. What happens is each pedal changes all the strings of one note name. Each pedal has three positions: top (flattens pitches by a semitone), middle (no change), and bottom (raises pitches by a semitone).There are three positions for each pedal: In the top position it lowers the pitch by a semitone, in the middle there is no change, and in the bottom it raises the pitch be a semitone. If all the pedals are in their centre position, the harp plays a C major scale

Procedure: On the whiteboard, draw seven pedals laid out from left to right (simple ovals or rectangles will do), and label them with the note names from C to B. You can then have the students follow along the whiteboard while you play the C major scale on a keyboard instrument. Play the scale again with one of the notes chromatically altered, and ask students which pedal should be moved and in what direction. Get a volunteer to erase the pedal in question and redraw it in the correct position. You could repeat this as many times as you wanted for a fun game. For a greater challenge, alter two or more notes.

If you have access to an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar, you can easily demonstrate the need for a resonator, both on the guitar on the harp. The electric guitar only uses electrical amplification instead of a resonator, so it produces only a faint sound if it is not plugged in. However an acoustic guitar is easy to hear because the body of the guitar is its resonator, amplifying the sound. The harp also would be far to quiet to hear without a resonator, so you can point it out to the students and demonstrate its function.