Help Your Students Learn The Essentials About The Instruments Of The Orchestra In A Fun Way!

Printable Music Lesson Plans Module
15 prepared ready-to-use lessons with all materials

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The Instruments of the Orchestra module contains fourteen lessons based on instruments found in a standard classical orchestra. Whether you teach in a school that uses a classical approach or a more modern Rock curriculum, you still need to cover the basics of all musical instruments with the students.

This is really written for around a junior high level, but we did not make this information too specific so that it can be relevant in both elementary and high school levels, depending on each school situation. We are not here to tell you what is appropriate for whom – you can decide that for yourself!

Here is a breakdown of the lessons included in this module:

Lesson 1
The Orchestra Overview

This lesson covers seating positions, the instrument family names, and a description of how the different instrument families make sound. It is an ideal introduction to musical instruments for fundamental music lessons.

The Fun Sheet contains a crossword, plus a “Match the Instrument to its Family” game.

Lesson 2
The Conductor

This lesson covers the role of the conductor, and how he works with the orchestra. The lesson also describes some simple beat patterns (duple, triple and quadruple), so the students can actually learn to be conductors!

The Fun Sheet contains a “find a word”, plus a name scramble of some famous conductors.

Lesson 3
The Violin and Viola

As well as covering the basics of the Violin and Viola such as the number of strings, the parts of the instrument and its history, the lesson also includes a description of basic playing techniques, including vibrato and pizzicato.

The Fun Sheet contains a “scattered parts puzzle” where students will need to be able to identify the various parts of the string instruments to put them together.

Lesson 4
The Cello and Double Bass

The Cello and Double Bass lesson covers the differences between the remaining members of the string family, and provides listening ideas for identifying the Cellos and Double Basses in the orchestra.

The Fun Sheet contains a fun scattered words activity, plus a decoding activity where the students will find the names of three famous cellists. We’ve included links to videos where they can hear and see these cellists playing.

Lesson 5
The Flute and Piccolo

In this lesson students will explore high sounds coming from the Flute and Piccolo, as well as learning about all their parts. The lesson plan contains some great directed listening activities to help the students become familiar with the sounds of the Flute.

Lesson 6
The Oboe, English Horn and Bassoon

The more unusual and interesting instruments in the orchestra provide a great resource for students. Its not boring at all when students “make” an oboe from a drinking straw and learn about the vibration of a double reed instrument.

Directed listening (from Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev) is tied in with activities on the Fact and Fun Sheets

Lesson 7
The Clarinet

In this lesson plan there are some ideas for long term projects about clarinet players, as well as links to hear them play and recommended listening to hear the Clarinet in action.

The Fun Sheet contains a word search and a name scramble where students will have to become familiar with a lot of interesting facts about the Clarinet.

Lesson 8
The Saxophone