To help students understand how timpani can be tuned, demonstrate the effect of membrane tension on pitch. With a coffee can drum (see lessons on Untuned Percussion), you can often vary the tension of the skin by simply pressing or pulling at the edges of the skin, while another student hits the drum in steady
The piano has several less known cousins which are important for us to introduce into the music classroom: the celesta, harpsichord and organ. 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
Here is an essential list of listening for music lesson plans about Beethoven. "Für Elise" Bagatelle in A minor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_UOuSklNL4 Listen to the beginning of “Fur Elise” and sing together the well-known opening melody (the first nine notes). Now play the whole piece, this time counting how many times melody appears. You could work individually
Here are a few basic ideas about what music theory rock music students really need, and what they don't! If they are playing drums there is very little point in them learning to read the bass clef or treble clef notes - you’ll want to focus on Drum clef notation and rhythm. Concentrate on the
A recording of this work can be found on video at
These days Handel's keyboard music is most often performed on a piano. At the time that this music was performed however pianos had not yet been invented, so keyboard music was generally played on a harpsichord. Have the students research differences between the instruments, looking at the time when each instrument was invented, and the
Students will love being exposed to a variety of composers, and there is none more important than J.S. Bach for learning about the Baroque Era. This is just an excerpt of the materials found in our Great composers series of printable music lesson plans. Design a Facebook profile for J.S. Bach. You’ll want to include
Have a look at the length of the string, and discus the effect on its pitch Ask students to predict whether longer strings will create lower-pitched sounds or vice versa. 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
Using manuscript on a whiteboard draw up notes that spell out a word: (eg. “edge”, “dad”, “face”, “cabbage” etc..) one point is first allocated to a student or team who correctly identifies the word. Then you can get the students to ‘play’ the word on an instrument. The first to accurately play the notes in
The piano has several less known cousins which are important for us to introduce into the music classroom: the celesta, harpsichord and organ. 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.