Substitute Lesson ideas – A CD Listening Activity
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010One idea that works well for secondary music sub days is a CD listening activity. I make CDs with a mix of more modern songs that the students will know/like, jazz songs, concert band songs, choral pieces, folk songs, classic rock, country, etc. I then make a worksheet that has 1-2 questions per song that [...]
Ideas for teaching students about Mozart
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Planning music lessons? here are a couple of ideas to help you create some fun music resources for your lessons. In Salzburg, Austria, Mozart’s childhood house has been turned into a museum. Design the front cover of a brochure advertising the Museum by briefly describing who Mozart was, what may be see in the Museum [...]
Haydn Talk Show? What if TV shows were around in the 18th Century?
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010What if TV talk shows were around in the 18th Century? Create a talk show segment interviewing Joseph Haydn on the success of one of his tours to London. Talk about a concert, the people Haydn met, Haydn’s opinion of the current fashion trends and anything else of interest. D Don’t forget that Haydn was [...]
Drum, Drum, Drum – teaching about untuned percussion
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Here are a couple of Music Lesson planning ideas for teaching about percussion in the elementary, middle or even junior high school music class. Making drums is always a fun activity with younger students. Students can make their own drums if you have enough materials, otherwise you could do it as a class project. You’ll [...]
Beethoven has to be one of the most interesting characters to talk about in music class
Monday, March 15th, 2010Ludwig Van Beethoven has to be one of the most unusual and interesting characters to ever compose music. Here are a few ideas to help introduce him into your music lesson plans: Use Beethoven’s life as the topic for a short children’s story. You can describe all the parts of Beethoven’s life that children may [...]
Classical Composer Haydn – Lesson ideas to make it fun!
Sunday, March 14th, 2010There are numerous resources and lesson plans available from this website to help you if you are planning music lessons. Learning about the Classical Composer Joseph Haydn? – Here are a few ideas for you: Encourage the students to pretend that they are Prince Esterhazy, and that they are looking for a new Kapellmeister. Have [...]
Learning about Xylophones, Glockenspiels and Marimbas at school
Sunday, March 14th, 2010Want some music lesson plans about percussion instruments? here is a few ideas To help students understand how timpani can be tuned, demonstrate the effect of membrane tension on pitch. With a simple home made drum, pull on the edges of the drumhead to put varying degrees of tension on it, while a student plays [...]
A studio lesson plan idea – Find The Mistake!
Friday, March 12th, 2010Here’s one thing I like to do when filling in. I’m a studio teacher, so this is a game for a one on one situation. I get the student to give me the piece they know best, then I play it for them with mistakes (eg: a couple of wrong notes, a wrong rhythm, a [...]
What educational value can be found in plastic guitar computer games?
Friday, March 12th, 2010This is a very important point for teachers and parents. When does a computer game become education, and when is it just entertainment? Are those games really worth spending our hard earned money, time and energy on? In my area of music there are all sorts of games: Some of the music games which are [...]
When does a music game become educational, and when is it just entertainment?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Parents and teachers are constantly thinking about this: At what point is a computer game educational, and at what point is it just entertainment? Are those games really worth spending our hard earned money, time and energy on? In Music there are all kinds of games: Some of the music games which are available today [...]