Lesson: Ice Cream Please

The spring semester is a perfect time to let students have a little more independence and the opportunity to create. This Ice Cream Canon from Angela Leonhardt is a fun lesson to use in the spring.

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Earth Song

Using Earth Song by Frank Ticheli, students are given elemental composition tools to craft unique movement accompaniments to a poignant and timely vocal piece with themes of peace and hope – just in time for Earth Day 2024!

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Lesson: Super Heroes

super heroes

Super Heroes     Day 1 Teach “Canon” and sing as a two or three-part canon. (Music for Children I, #41 pg. 132 with adjusted rhythm to fit text) Day 2 As a class, have students brainstorm superheroes and create an eight-beat rhythm using superhero names. For example, Together, create body percussion to go with…

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Colors Springing, Voices Ringing

Colors Springing, Voices Ringing Orff Schulwerk and New Beginnings This lesson will use a process in which important nouns, verbs, and descriptive language are chosen and used as a springboard for individual and group creativity. A canon will serve as a unifying piece of music and a music literacy component will take shape as this piece…

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Lesson: Be Our Guest!

movement

Be Our Guest! Exploring Vaughan Williams through Kitchen Utensils A food-themed exploration of Vaughan Williams’ “March Past of the Kitchen Utensils” through movement and play!  YOU’RE INVITED!  As educators who use movement to initiate music learning, we often explore a variety of themes to make connections with our students and to make these experiences lively…

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Good, Better, Best

Good, Better, Best A Rhythm and Movement Lesson for Grades 4-6 Download a printable version of Michael Chandler’s lesson here. Objectives: Working with beat and divided beat through movement, body percussion, and instruments. Choreographing simple movement to elemental forms. Rhythmic and melodic improvisation and composition with elemental forms. Arranging and orchestrating a performance piece. Materials: Unpitched…

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Purposeful Pathways Lesson: Old Mother Brown

We hope you and your young students enjoy this Old Mother Brown lesson taken from Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary Music Classroom, Book Two – by BethAnn Hepburn and Roger Sams. Designed to encourage active music making, this lesson includes pathways to pitch, literacy, composition, rhythm, and ensemble. Click on the link to download the lesson: Purposeful…

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