Teaching Music History?
How do you inspire students in your Music History Lesson Plans about Great Composers such as JS Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky?
Simple… Start with the Fun Bits!
Lesson 1
Johann Sebastian Bach
JS Bach starts our journey into the great composers. Students can design a facebook profile for Bach, and explore different interpretations of his music, from the original Organ and Harpsichord versions through to rock renditions.
Lesson 2
George Frederick Handel
In this lesson students will learn about the composer who moved from Germany to Italy because it was too boring, then became very popular in London. In this lesson they can explore the differences between the Harpsichord and the piano, as well as listening and creating a news report about a performance of “the messiah”
Lesson 3
Antonio Vivaldi
In this lesson students will think about living in Venice in Vivaldi’s time: what it would have been like to travel around the city via gondola or boat in its canals. The’ll also learn about what it would have been like for Vivaldi as a priest, working in an orphanage, composing music and teaching violin.
Lesson 4
Joseph Haydn
In this lesson students will discover what it was like to work as a professional musician in the 18th century, as they pretend to be Prince Esterhazy and have to write a job ad for a new musical director. Students can discuss what it would have been like to work in the one job as a composer for 30 years, and then what it would have been like to have his music released to a wider public at the end of his tenure.
Lesson 5
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
In this lesson students will imagine that they are conducting a guided tour of the Mozart Museum in Austria, and that they have to present a talk about Mozart and his life. They can also explore mozart’s variations on “twinkle twinkle little star” as a simple analysis exercise.
Lesson 6
Ludwig Van Beethoven
This lesson gives students the opportunity to explore what it would have been like to be deaf and compose such beautiful music. Students can explore feeling vibrations in instruments, as well as viewing videos and researching others who