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. You will find many more ideas for music lesson plans in our composers series of printable worksheets.

Create a pretend profile for JS Bach on your favourite social networking site such as Facebook. Include “Basic Information” (Network, Birthday, Relationship Status, Religious Views), “Personal Information” (Contact details, Education and Work), “Friends” (any significant people who lived at the same time as Bach) and finally you’ll want to add some “groups” that Bach may have belonged in. Find a photo on the internet to finish off the project Students not familiar with Facebook could design a passport.

Imagine that you could invite J.S. Bach over for coffee. Have the students write down a few questions that they would like to ask him about his music, his era or anything else. Have a class discussion on what the answers would be or choose a student to be Bach and ask them some of the questions. For an extra special addition to this activity, have the class bring in some gingerbread or other traditional German snack to share.

Find a work of art on the internet that was created around the same time that Bach was alive. Do some research to find some of the ways that the art work reflects the same Baroque style that Bach’s music does.