www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJkUKcNcfR0 This is the first of TEN free YouTube clips about the making of the stage production of the Lion King. Classes might talk about musicals, African music, percussion, music to create moods … ENJOY!
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Loading ...Today I told Year 8 that teenagers today learn ‘heaps’ from YouTube … I handed out keyboards … and pressed ‘play’ on THIS YouTube clip. All I had to do was wander around the class admiring their progress, and making a few corrections. 
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...For Sorry Day (26 May 2011) or for Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June 2011) listen to Black Arm Band’s music on YouTube (www.youtube.com) and discuss the band’s motivation for performing (read on). Listen to Gurrumul Yunupingu’s soulful music (eg. Wiyathul) while doing written work (www.grooveshark.com lets you listen for free).
Black Arm Band has just been asked to perform at the London Olympics in 2012
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/25/3226432.htm
The aim of Black Arm Band (www.blackarmband.com.au) is: “It is a creative meeting place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists and producers to develop, perform, promote and celebrate contemporary Australian Indigenous music as a symbol of resilience and hope in the spirit and action of reconciliation.”
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE is a YouTube clip of the Axis of Awesome singing dozens of songs with the same chord progression (I V vi IV). NB: One profanity. HERE is a similar clip with slightly different songs – some of them use the same chord progression but at twice the speed. After watching both, write up the chord progression in C (for keyboard = all white notes): C G a minor F … and in G (for guitars): G D e minor C. Ask students to learn one or other progression, so they can play the majority of pop songs!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here are 41 FREE ideas from Scott Watson about ways to use GarageBand software in the music classroom. (You may need to login to Google in order to view this file.)
Enjoy!
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“A Great Landscape” was a 2008 DVD created by www.vea.com.au and is available via Click View. It discusses Indigenous self-expression through music, focussing on a Hip Hop band.
If you want to show this 36 min video to your class for Reconciliation Week (or any other week), here are some possible questions:
Name a famous Indigenous Australian band – “Yothu __________________________ ” Name a famous Indigenous Australian Hip Hop band? ________________ and the Young ___________________________ Do Indigenous people own their land? If not, then what is the relationship between Indigenous people and the land? How does music support Indigenous identity? What do lyrics describe in Indigenous music? What is empowerment? Music and song allow indigenous people to share _________________ with a wider community and audience. Clapping and click sticks are ___________ - phones Didgeridoos are ____________ - phones In the past, who was NOT allowed to play didgeridoo, according to sacred law? Is Indigenous Australian history always written down? What political issues do contemporary Indigenous artists address? How can music be used as a means of protest? What type of band was “No Fixed Address”? Reggae, Folk, Pop or Hip Hop? When did Archie Roach come to fame, with the song “Took the Children Away”? During the Sydney 2000 Olympics, what did “Midnight Oil” have written on their costumes? Why? Who is Shane Howard? “Solid Rock” was the first Pop song to feature the didgeridoo. About what were the lyrics written? What prevents some Indigenous artists from accessing mainstream venues (at times)? What is CAAMA?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Aboriginal stories about life and life-cycles revolve around 4 different natural elements.
Sun, Moon, Water, Land
Divide your class into 4 groups, each labelled Sun, Moon, Water or Land. In 15 minutes they will choose classroom instruments and/or sound sources to depict their label … Each group performs to the rest of the class … Discuss and decide upon a logical order for the soundscape sections … Perform all 4 sections in their order.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Play the following two songs, and ask the students to guess what they have in common: Zorba the Greek & In the Hall of the Mountain King (by Grieg). ANSWER = accelerando (gradual speeding up of tempo). In pairs, ask students to create their own 30 second composition which features an accelerando.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-EkRHRxSDY ACO is currently touring “The Reef” program around Australia – this 2 minute YouTube clip shows ACO’s multimedia approach – music + waves + technology. Ask students for other ideas re. uniting Art music with nature. View the concert program HERE.
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Tour 1 WA Tour 1 NSW Tour 1 VIC Tour 1 SA Tour 1 QLD Tour 1 ACT
Above are the links to the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s FREE teaching notes and lesson ideas for their 2012 Tour 1. Lesson content is designed for Secondary students.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Above are the links to the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s FREE teaching notes and lesson ideas for their 2012 Tour 2 (TWO). Lesson content is designed for Secondary students.
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Go to resource: Acting Up, A Melodrama, published by the Kennedy Center, US, and written by Mary Beth Bauernschub, is a unit based on the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In this unit, students incorporate their own music compositions into a student-produced melodrama. The unit also utilizes and explores drama and arts language.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Enlightenment Assignment – a Secondary school Music assignment for small groups. Lesson structure, assignment work and marking matrix are all included (free).
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FREE RESOURCE HERE: Use these questions to inspire lyric-writing in groups.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Sample Units from Australian Music Educators Assoc (Vic) – under the heading “aMuse VELS Support Documents”
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTNVXlirF4Y Don’t Laugh At Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIDarYJHCpA Caught in the Crowd (for middle school)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpx7VBeel0 It’s OK to be different
Play these three songs to kids, and ask what the common theme is. (anti-bullying & accepting difference)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...THIS website offers free samples of music to be used for ANZAC Day. Perhaps teach a lesson on what each piece represents and why they are played on ANZAC Day. Background info HERE. Sheet music HERE.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 5 (Vic) outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.
The approaches are published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in order to implement VELS.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 6 (Vic) outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.
The approaches are published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in order to implement VELS.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...This quote is found under the CD of Archie Roach’s latest album: “Into the Bloodstream“. Read the quote to your students and ask them to write a composition or song in response.
“My recent bouts of illness I’m sure are a result of the Pain of being removed from my family at a young age and more recently the loss of someone I loved so dearly. But Pain can also bring about change in one’s life for the better. We can choose to ignore the Pain until it becomes unbearable or we can do something. You see some events in my life I will never truly get over and the Pain will always be there but I can do something about it. I can write songs, songs about making it to the Top of the Hill no matter how far, songs about not being alone so don’t cry, songs about all of us having a song to sing and songs we can dance to.”
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... ArtsAlive.ca – US website with lots of free lesson plans, recordings and interactive Music websites
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: ArtsEdge Kennedy Centre Music Lesson Plans (USA) offers dozens of music lesson plans, many of which are integrated with other subjects such as science and maths. Each lesson plan is graded according to age level, arts subject, and other subjects. ArtsEdge is a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is a partner of Thinkinfinity, a consortium of USA national education organisations. ArtsEdge’s aim is to implement arts programs in schools.
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Our program song has been recorded and is now up on the website for your listening pleasure. There are already 500 schools registered to take part in this year’s program which will unite more than half a million students in the performance of ‘We’ve Got The Music’ on Thursday, 1st September at 11.30am. Don’t forget participation in the program is FREE. The audio files, arrangements, lyric sheet and classroom activity kit: it’s all downloadable once you register your school.
So listen to the song, register now and get your school community on board!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE is a scene from Baraka called “Balinese monkey chant”. Baraka is a feature-length film without any script. Show this scene to a class, and discuss the role of music in eastern cultures, how a film can be created without any scripted text, the importance of music in films … Enjoy!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch this advertisement (spoken by Steve Jobs) and write up to a page about creativity, innovation, being ‘crazy’, and how music can help change the world.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Watch this TED talk on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3jYVe1RGaU with Middle School students. Then ask them to self-organise into groups (with internet access) and pursue their own choice of ‘big question’ to do with music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Play this film clip of “Best Coin” to your class … discuss why people respond emotionally to music … then discuss ways they could create their own flash mob in your community. www.wimp.com/bestcoin/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.carnegiehall.org/honor/history/index.aspx
This website shows a timeline of African American music (1600-2000). Each era has a link to information, archives and sound samples (sometimes linked to Amazon.com). Spend a lesson exploring the timeline with your secondary class. Ask them to write two paragraphs summarising their discoveries.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Try this fun YouTube clip as an ice-breaker at the start of Music class – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgAlQuqzl8o. Would the same battle work on clarinet? Ask the kids for their own ideas on musical parodies.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...free lesson ideas – cross-curricular ideas for teachings working with students after a natural disaster, particularly focused on ways to express feelings
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...THIS website analysed 1300 pop songs and plotted chord and key frequency, as well as common patterns (eg. which chord usually follows E minor in C major). Ask students to read through the webpage, summarise the findings, and write a song which follows some of the website suggestions.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch THIS TEDx YouTube clip about a collaboratively-made film by Daniel Johns (from Silverchair) and Josh Wakely. Discuss how music can be inspired by images, stories and pictures. Discuss how film can be inspired by music.
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Go to resource: Classics for Kids is a podcast station that streams classical music suitable for children.
In addition the site has links to composition and creating games, lesson plans, information about classical music, and links to advocacy and articles on classical music for parents and teachers.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://pinterest.com/katiewardrobe/clever-music-videos/
This page is full of fun music-related videos to show students. Ice-breakers, end-of-year fun, unit-starters …
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch 20 mins worth of ColdPlay performing live on YouTube. Take notes on stage-craft (actions, moves and dress), how they engage the crowd, what percussion is played, and what makes this live performance so exciting. Suggest students incorporate some of these ideas into their own band performances.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here are a couple of website … just for fun … last 5 mins of a lesson?
http://static.echonest.com/BohemianRhapsichord/index.html
http://labs.echonest.com/3dServer/maze.html
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.rocklibrary.com/Library/Entity.aspx?id=f7d00669-7750-4720-94f7-5069669471c8
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This lesson plan and worksheet, provided by Bev Babbage (Toormina High School), is written for secondary students, but could be adapted to Year 5-6 as well. It starts with Gotye’s hit song (which uses public domain AND copyright materials) and leads towards contemplation of media piracy. THANKS BEV!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Write a brief paragraph about covers in books (introduce the words ‘cover’ and original’). Watch THIS original video of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, followed by THIS cover version by The Muppets. Ask students what stayed the same and what differed in the cover version.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Use the 3 main notes from the chorus of this year’s MUSIC: COUNT US IN program song “We’ve Got the Music” to create a 3-tone drum melody.
(1) Group your classroom drums or classroom percussion or junk percussion into three different groups (high, middle and low)
(2) Allocate the lowest drums to B-flat, the middle drums to C and the highest drums to E-flat.
(3) Re-create the chorus melody on 3 different drums: “Get on your feet, feel your heartbeat, we’ve got the music. We’re not too proud to sing it out loud, we’re not afraid to use it.”
Try the activity aurally, playing along with the MP3 found at www.musiccountusin.org.au
(4) Write the drum tune on the board using letters: L = low drums, M = medium drums, H = high drums
LM LM L MM M M M LH M
ML M M ML LM M MMMM LH M
(5) If your school has signed up for “Music: Count Us In”, then you can access the free backing-track (‘For Teachers’ section) and play the drum melody along with the chorus.
This lesson was inspired by “Izo Beat” from Islington Public School
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Lesson Idea: Ask Middle School students to create their own way of writing music. Students might work in groups or individually.
Use the book “Notations 21: Visualizing Music Notation” for some interesting examples / inspiration. (Many pages are shown free online.)
Share ideas with the class, explaining how the new notation ‘works’.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...generationone.org.au/blog/2012/06/schools-kick-off-creative-change-2
Primary and Secondary students are encouraged to sing / dance / play a song, record it, and send it to Generation One. The aim is to start classroom conversations on indigenous issues and reconciliation. A free classroom kit is available on CD.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here are a series of digital challenges for students - exciting
opportunities for music students across Australia.
The eTrack challenge gives students the great opportunity: To write
and record an original song that tells a story. The story may be based
on personal experience, a friend, a folklore or fairy-tale.
Winners will be awarded digital prizes from our sponsors Adobe, Wacom
and Scholastic at the exciting ceremony at the Sydney Opera House in
November.
Other opportunities include:
* eProfile challenge: To create an informative and motivating eProfile
about an inspirational person such as a singer, composer, musician,
inventor, instrument maker, producer – anyone who is related to the
music world and inspires the students.
The website is at www.wecreate.nsw.edu.au
eTrack: wecreate.nsw.edu.au/wcc_apps/eTrack/challenge.shtm
eProfile: www.cli.nsw.edu.au/lo/challenge.shtm
> For further information please email wecreate@det.nsw.edu.au
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq74FePwu6E Show this YouTube clip to students, and make a list of music-related jobs in our society.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch this YouTube clip, then ask groups of students to create their own ‘plastic cup rhythms’ and music. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcl_FkA0qJA
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Curriculum Support – Creative Arts 7-12 (NSW) is a NSW Department of Education and Training site that provides further resources for the teaching of the creative arts in NSW schools. The site provides links to ICT implementation and resources, syllabi, and music units. Access to the units can only be gained using a DET password.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.musiccountusin.org.au Watch the INSPIRING video clip with your class – how deaf students experience music, and sign the Music: Count Us In 2012 song. Then teach the Auslan signs to your class using the free MCUI 2012 Special Needs kit.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://crescendo.com.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=48&Itemid=32
Crescendo Music offers a file full of practical ideas for tricky Year 7 Music classes.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A US appeals court reinstated a $US675,000 (AUS $659,115) verdict against a Boston University student who illegally downloaded 30 songs and shared them on the internet. Read full article here. Now is a good time to discuss responsible music downloading with teenagers. Why Music Matters website has a series of animated videos about Australian bands which emphasise that writing/recording music is their sole source of income. Watch and discuss with your students. Ask students when was the last time they paid for an MP3 download or music CD.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... An instructional video on playing orchestral excerpts on Double Bass, as performed by Hal Robinson.
The visual quality is very raw, but the Double Bass sound is amazing.
A good video to show Middle School students who are studying instruments of the orchestra.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Show students the MusicCareer website with its list of ‘careers in music’. Students should choose a career which interests them, and spend the rest of the year undertaking career-related activities, eg. practising (= performer), writing a list of equipment they think school should buy, listening to songs and writing what emotion it evokes (= music therapy), changing songs to words … ENJOY!!!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.emiratesmusicaljourney.com
Visit the above website, click on “View Emirates Musical Journey” and show students the animated video clip. It shows cartoons of global cities, which are created out of musical symbols.
Show students a page of musical symbols (or write many symbols on the whiteboard), and ask them to create pictures from musical symbols.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This free website from Melbourne Symphony Orchestra offers and interactive tour of the orchestra, using Stuart Greenbaum’s score “90 minutes”.
Explore the orchestra, the conductor, the score and the composer – a lesson or two worth of content – let your students explore and arrange the score.
WARNING: Won’t work on Mac computers
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch this YouTube clip about a frog being chased by a snake (with very dramatic orchestral music). Discuss the way the music changes our perspective on the visual images. Ask students if they notice anything about the editing, as well (ie. what’s happening on the screen during loud percussion sections, etc). Can you think of any other films/advertisements that are well-matched to dramatic music?
Watch this YouTube clip about a lion being re-united with its human parents. About 1.5 mins through, the music is perfectly timed to match the physical reunion. Discuss this with the students, then brainstorm any other songs that would suit this video clip.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Eurovision telecasting starts late May 2012. Introduce the concept to students with THIS YouTube clip – clips from 2011 Eurovision contest. Then show the 2011 winner HERE. Discuss with students the way visual effects and dancing can enhance (or detract from) a performance. ENJOY!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...‘Face the Music: Which Way To Go‘ is an engaging education module aimed at both informing of, and developing empathy towards, student responsibilities as copyright users and owners. It is aimed at English and music students from years seven to ten.
After downloading the files, start with ‘face the music which way to go’.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Middle-School-Music-Tech/191444264221376?ref=ts
An American Music teacher shares his students’ recordings and digital music creations on a FaceBook page.
Listen to & read some of the examples for lesson ideas!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ask students to brainstorm then write 5-6 different types of film music in their books. Source/diagetic, background/mood underscore, mickey-mousing/dramatic underscore, pre-composed, theme, character. THIS document may help. Listen to various YouTube or movie clips and ask students to guess each category of film music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Flame Award applications are due Monday 29th August – be part of the $15 000 prize pool. ALL Australian schools are invited to apply (Primary & Secondary).
Lesson idea: play some laid-back music, hand out paper and pencils, and ask students to write down and/or draw what they love about MUSIC at your school. Display some of the responses on school noticeboards / websites and around your music classroom Copy some of their ideas into your Flame Award submission
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch the Bellingen Youth Environment group stage their “freeze” protest against plastic bags in NSW. Listen to the accompanying song “Change” (written and recorded by a Year 10 student) and brainstorm what other types of protest this song might accompany. Make a list of other songs which ares well-suited to peaceful protests.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This month (October 2012) Klerrisa Music’s ACCESS site (usually available to paying customers) is FREE to all teachers. Browse through brilliant resources (Middle School to High School) and sample tastes of many different units, lesson plans and worksheets.
www.kerrilacey.com.au/portal/subsite
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Australian Chamber Orchestra school program – free teaching notes, worksheets and activities
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.makingmusicfun.net/pdf/worksheets/composer-employment-application-worksheet.pdf
This fun, free worksheet, asks students to fill in a mock job application, requiring biographical details of a composer. The website www.makingmusicfun.net includes biographical information and other fun activities.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...topdocumentaryfilms.com/category/music-performing-arts
This website offers dozens of free musical documentaries – from hip hop to jazz, from metal to latin. Plenty of lesson content here!
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HERE is a FREE e-book of classroom games (Music) for anyone to use (from FunMusicCo). Mostly primary-oriented, but could stretch to Year 7. Create a lesson out of games … Enjoy!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://artspop.yodelservices.com/
Each of the Arts has a number of units designed to complement the National Curriculum. Scroll to the bottom and choose “Music”!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A Secondary Music & Technology teacher is here sharing resources with the rest of us
http://musicteachntech.com/resources-and-lesson-plans/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... free worksheet – Sarah Lantz has made a cute, free worksheet which uses clover leaves to help kids practise the notes in a major chord
Lesson idea – help students to fill in the clover leaves (with chord notes) then play them on keyboard, glocks, guitar …
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...THIS WEBSITE is a rich source of free (and paid for) music games on a computer. Just download and play. My favourites are Staff Wars 1.2 (teaching notation reading), JamaMambo (rhythm reading) and Rhythm Dictation. Put the games on a digital projector and teach concepts to the class as needed. ENJOY!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to this link: Ray Foo … Click on “Music Games/Quizzes” half way down the left side to find dozens of free online quizzes and games to drill music theory. Send students to this page and let them explore – learning through games.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... All lessons, activities and practise test (grades 1-5 ABRSM music theory) are free online … or you can print them for a small fee.
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www.jozzbeat.com/MCUI2011/home
This is a fun way to learn / teach the Music: Count Us In song for 2011 (We’ve Got the Music). In fact, the song will teach itself, all ready for the massed-music-making MCUI event on 1st September, 2011.
If you don’t yet have a free login, and have registered for Music: Count Us In, please send an email to mcui.admin@mca.org.au requesting a Jozzbeat login.
ENJOY!!!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Dr Watson’s podcasts – a MASSIVE and free resource from an American lecturer in music, which has dozens of podcasts, many of which have free lesson guides and activity sheets attached. Topics include “what music means to me”, “repetition in music”, “bad boys in classical music”, “modality” …
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Click here to download FREE teaching kits for teaching pop music to Middle School students – using the Musical Futures approach. Handouts include song lyrics, keyboard chord fingerings & guitar chord fingerings.
Thanks to Coombeshead Academy for sharing their resources freely
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... www.funmusicco.com/rhythmclock/
FunMusicCo has prepared a video tutorial on how to prepare and use a rhythm clock (suits primary and perhaps Year 7). All the files you might need are also free on the website.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here is a free lesson from Klerrisa Music re. Mashing Up 2 Bruno Mars songs which have the same chord progression.
If you sign up to the Klerrisa mailing list, you get free access to a dozen more free sample lessons (Middle school & Secondary).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...FunMusicCo provides a free video on teaching intervals HERE – ideally using an IWB. A free student worksheet can also be found HERE. Thanks for sharing, FunMusicCo!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE are some free worksheets from makingmusicfun.net – naming notes and intervals in bass and treble clef. Make up a booklet for students to work through when they have a few spare minutes at a time.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Select 4 very different pieces of music. Divide students into teams of 2-4 students. Hand out blank paper (to be divided into 4 sections). Teams are to secretly discuss the music (while it plays) and write down answers to 5 questions. After each ’round’, teams share their answers with the class, and the teacher allocates 1 point for each correct answer. After 4 rounds (equating to 4 pieces of music), tally up the points (out of a possible total of 20).
Suggested questions: What is the mood of the piece and does it change at all? What instruments do you hear (instrumentation)? What nationality do you think it is? What is the message or story behind the music? Is it fast or slow (tempo)?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...There’s a wacky, catchy kids song on YouTube – in English, he is “Gummy Bear” … in French he is “Funny Bear”. The first half of the song is in C major, and the melody uses A, C, D & E, so it suits glockenspiels or beginner keyboards.
Lesson idea: Practise alternate hand slapping on thighs: 6 taps starting on left … short rest … 6 taps starting on left … 14 taps starting on right. Play the YouTube clip to Middle School students. Get the kids singing the chorus. Add in the ‘hand slapping on thighs’ pattern during the chorus (it fits with the chorus rhythm). Ask students to figure out the melody, which starts on A.
Extension: see if students can alternate their glockenspiel mallet hands (as per the hand slapping warm-up).
Melody: A A A C A A – - A A A C E E – - E E E D D D D D D D E D C A – -
Further extension: Write the chorus melody on the board as a row of quavers and quaver rests. Ask students to help put in the bar-lines and time signature.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...April 2011 saw the launch of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s second album. Gurrumul is a spectacular, Indigenous Australian musician who was born blind, and grew up singing and playing guitar.
Lesson idea: Listen to one of Gurrumul’s tracks (all songs feature his language-of-birth, while some include English as well). Describe the tune, harmonies, vocal quality (which Stinge has described as “the sound of a higher being”), chord progressions, etc … then try to guess what the lyrics mean.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Play some well-known songs on glockenspiel (reading the letters of the alphabet), then guess their name.
eg. E D C D E E E D D D E G G
is Mary Had a Little Lamb
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Great fun for Middle School aged students with glockenspiels (or keyboards) … view it here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXPrUkjENrQ (recorder)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH8Fb1kKsGM (glockenspiel)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBF-_WMY8HU (crockenspiel)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=26ho9yEAOrI (gameboy)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYabXLTDSxw (ocarina)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjxQARym4DQ (zither)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmG34QB07Bc (mobile phone)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpg2k2C103k (squeakaphone)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch the Gruffalo film on YouTube (about 30 minutes long).
Discuss (or ask students to take notes on) the music which accompanies each new character. Discuss what instruments are used to make the audience feel scared or wary. Brainstorm the ways in which music has been used to turn a 5 minute picture-story book into a 30 minute film.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...free lesson plan on Guitar chord families http://www.lessontutor.com/ees_guitar1.html
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.tom.com.au/kara-oke/oz-rock.htm
| Educators around the world are looking toward popular music as a way of ‘engaging kids’ who otherwise would never be likely to pursue a musical instrument in school, let alone in adult life.
This website offers a new method of learning useful-level guitar. The backing tracks are based on special chords that allow simple one to three fingered ’shapes’ to fit in well – no muffled notes, no special re-tunings!. This is a Creative Commons free resource that can be downloaded and used in whatever way you want. Although simple enough for an individual learner it probably works best if a trained teacher gets you started following the tutorial. Teachers can use the system for other instruments as well as guitar.. Just download the 5mb zip file listed at left and open it as a PowerPoint (.pptx). Open full-screen so that you can click on the embedded midi files and view the animations showing finger positions for chords. |
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Haunting Music (ArtsEdge USA) is a six-lesson unit that focuses on program music through exploration of ’spooky’ orchestral works by Berlioz and Saint-Saens.The unit is published and written by ArtsEdge, the Kennedy Center, USA. The lessons include analysis of musical works, storywriting, and creating a class mural. The unit is recommended for Grades 4 to 7 (USA).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...THIS “History or Rock” app should save me a lot of time when preparing this term’s unit on Rock Music. ($5.50) We will look at one decade each week. I will pick out a song from each decade and encourage the Musical Futures groups to learn that song each week.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Go to resource: HotChalk (USA) is a site that offers lesson plans, grouped according to different disciplines and age ranges, including music. The site is free for users. Lesson plans were collated by trained educator Kyle Austin Yamnitz and students at the University of Missouri.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... THIS YouTube channel of Australian Art Orchestra shows interplay between Indigenous Australian singers and musicians from the Australian Art Orchestra. Play video/s to students and ask them to compare the treatment of melody/pitch and duration/rhythm. Which aspects are similar, different and interesting? When both groups play together, which aspects of music create unity? How is the fusion of the two groups achieved?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... As a tribute to Ruby Hunter, Archie Roach has just released a kit about a song-writing trip to Cape York. Butcher Paper, Texta, Black Board and Chalk The kit includes a CD of songs (written by Cape York school kids with Ruby Hunter) & a book of lyrics and art-work & a DVD documentary of the journey through Cape York (including song-writing sessions and jamming). The cross-curricular content of the DVD is brilliant – music, art, indigenous culture, creativity, etc. More info HERE.
LESSON IDEA: Play the DVD, then try song-writing with your class (about their own place, home and country) … later play the CD and encouraged students to draw pictures to go with the words (as did Ruby).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Go to resource: Phil Tulga presents a list of interactive activities and lesson plans which combine Music with Science, Language and Maths.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... THIS is a new, free resource from ‘music machinery’. Zoom in & out to explore dozens of musical styles. Click on a style to hear an example!! Spend part of a lesson letting students discover different styles of music.
Next, explore this AUDIO DOT TO DOT. Why do students think each artist is connected??
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... A Jozzbeat percussion chart has appeared using the Music: Count Us In 2012 song.
It’s an online, animated chart (JellyBeans-style) for classes to play percussion with. Great for learning rhythm reading and concepts of arrangement. ENJOY!!
How do you get FREE access? Sign in to Music: Count Us In … then email monica.mpfl@mca.org.au asking for the JellyBeans chart access. ENJOY!!!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... KET – this website provides free Music lesson plans for 5-18 year olds. NOTE: Some of the content requires additional KET resources (videos).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Kiravanu is an opera written by James Humberstone and Mary Elizabeth, specifically designed for children and integrated with the curriculum.Online resources are available through the site to support performances of Kiravanu in schools. It was first developed in MLC, Sydney, and resources include cross-curricula lesson plans to assist with implementation of this opera production in schools.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lang+lang+piano Lang Lang is a flamboyant young pianist with plenty of showmanship. He pulls huge crowds, and plays Classical music. Watch some YouTube clips with your class and discuss what makes him so appealing to audiences around the world.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Listen to the ABC podcast (listen here) of ‘Golden Fur’ – a Melbourne Trio playing “Parallel Collisions” at a live concert.
As the music is playing, ask students for suggestions re. what instruments are being played … and in what manner! There are many really unusual techniques employed in this piece.
Students with access to the internet can then create a Word or OneNote page with information on the trio ‘Golden Fur’ (use Google and www.goldenfur.com.au) and the way in which they play traditional instruments in a contemporary way.
Finally, create a group composition or soundscape which uses unusual techniques of playing classroom instruments. HAVE FUN!!
PS Feel free to record the class creation and email it to schools.mpfl@mca.org.au
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=If_T1Q9u6FM the history of music with texta drawings
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...free lesson content (facts PLUS free assignment worksheet) on interpreting clefs and notation http://www.lessontutor.com/eesMusic1.html
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Introductory Keyboard Lesson for Middle School
Turn off the keyboards, and explain how to make a chord – play one, miss one, play one, miss one, play one. If a scale is like flowing water, then a chord is a block of ice!
Write up the chord progressions for The Beatles’ song “Let It Be” (which uses only C major, F major, G major and A minor).
Ask students to create chords (sound off!) with one or two hands. The teacher moves around the room, asking students to make the chords of C, F, G and A minor (explaining that the right hand thumb goes on the chord’s name) after which each student (int turn) may turn on the power and practise making chords (out loud this time).
Work through the chords of “Let It Be” as a class of keyboards, with the teacher singing (calling out chords) & playing piano / guitar to accompany.
Ask students to look for patterns in the chord progressions (ie. repeated lines and the fact that every phrases moves to G major in the 2nd chord), then memorise the song chords. Ask for a small group of students to test out their memory and play the whole song as a small ensemble.
To end the lesson, students might have a few free minutes to create their own chord progressions.
ENJOY!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...wrightstuffmusic.com/in-the-classroom/making-music-fun/
Wright Stuff Music offers a list of links for fun online music activities (K-12)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Guided questions for listening to music – a great way to settle students at the start of a Middle School Music lesson. Free list of suggested ‘listening questions’ here.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Teaching idea: Look at THIS article about the proposed music for the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony music. Ask students why they think some of the charts were selected – e.g. why are there THREE Beatles tracks? What does “Land of Hope and Glory” represent to British people? How many of the composers are from 21st century, how many are Classical, how many are Romantic, and how many are 20th century?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...“The Inspired Classroom” website offers concrete lesson ideas on teaching ESL and LOTE students in the Music classroom.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...CLICK HERE to make your own bingo cards (using musical instruments and/or symbols)
or CLICK HERE to print off a set of bingo cards, ready-to-go, using instrument pictures.
Lesson idea: the caller will mix up the actual names of the instruments / symbols with descriptions (eg. 1 beat note, saxophone, largest stringed instrument, triangle …)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE is a YouTube attempt to make a song about the characteristics of classical music periods — careful, as there as some swearing near the end. Brainstorm the characteristics of different musical eras (write them on the board). Challenge your students to create a better song about periods of music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Have you signed up yet to be part of Making Music Being Well?
This national initiative, which takes place from 16 – 22 May, is a collaboration between Music: Play for Life and the Australian Music Therapy Association and it’s all about a grassroots celebration of the links between music making and wellbeing.
When you register to participate – it’s FREE – we’ll send you event posters, stickers and brochures and you’ll get access to lots of downloadable resources including event planning and promotional tips. How you participate is up to you.
The best way to be involved is to take something you may already have planned for that week and hitch it to the national wagon of Making Music Being Well 2011. You don’t have to do something on every day during the week – one event is enough. Your event will be outlined on the MMBW website and you and your group members or students will be helping to shine the national spotlight on an important fact: music is good for you!
Here are a few ideas based on previous years: Open the doors to the community for your rehearsal that falls within the MMBW week and turn it into a free performance. Take your choir or group to a nursing home, hospital or school. Organise a big sing at your workplace. Turn a school assembly into a musical celebration and tell students and parents about the value and benefits of making music. Convene a drum circle in your school playground. Run an open mic session at your local pub or club. Organise a gathering of community music leaders and organisers in your area and discuss how you could pool resources and share skills.
Register to be part of it at www.makingmusicbeingwell.org.au
AND … don’t forget – registration for our biggest school music initiative, Music: Count Us In, opens soon too!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Teach the chorus melody of Mamma Mia using letter names, or the numbers:
21 21 112321 2 1 4 444 3 1
Put the melody onto keyboards (using finger numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4) or glockenspiels (C, D, E and F)
Talk about the relationship between numbers and pitch names
Play with a recording of Mamma Mia, transposed down into C major (using digital music editing software such as Audacity, Reaper or GarageBand)
Try to sing and play at the same time!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Talk about mash-ups with your middle school music class – where musicians take lots of songs and mix them into a new musical work. Try mashing up the MUSIC. COUNT US IN song for 2011 – the stem files (MP3) for which are freely available here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QspTBmTar5U Elephant Song medley from Moulin Rouge (a mash-up)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5kJl9-oV0&feature=related The same Elephant Song medley from Moulin Rouge, but this clip inserts the ORIGINAL versions of songs
Sensitive New Age Cow Persons wrote a new Australian Anthem, which mashes 13 iconic Australian songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BiQxIP0-FQ
Adam Hills has put the words of the real Australian Anthem to ‘Working Class Man’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHs4308nJc&feature=related
A lesson plan on mash-ups can be found in ‘Instant Lessons in Music – Book 4‘ available from Blake Education.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch THIS video of Bellingen Youth Orchestra rehearsing “Different People”. With the class, make a list of the positive effect music has on children’s lives. Ask students for their ideas to add to that list.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...More free lessons are available on musiccountusin2011.wikispaces.com
Try out the Boomwhackers playalong movie (played on glockenspeiel or boomwhackers) & Ukulele playalong movie
Some Queensland schools have recently unblocked the JellyBeans style online-percussion and singing videos, which are great fun! LINK IS HERE Most states have been enjoying this site for a few months now
Bring on September 1st @11.30am
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch this YOUTUBE CLIP of the MozART Group from Poland. It is an entertaining collage of Classical String Quartets re-interpreted
Now choose a Classical piece of music (Google search for the Classical Top 100) or nursery rhyme and change it drastically … into pop, funk, country, metal, etc. You may wish to write lyrics to go with the Classical melody. OR
Choose a piece of pop music and arrange it for a classical ensemble. Start by putting the vocal line into an instrument, then find chords to go underneath.
HINT: Google search for the song name + free + midi. You may well be able to save a midi file from the internet, which will open in Finale / Audacity / Sibelius, etc.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Go to resource: Music Teacher Resource Site (UK) MTRS is a free website designed for UK Music teachers – lots of free lesson plans and online resources
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... free online mixing game – BBC has created on online interactive mixing webpage … choose a nationality (African, Cuban, Celtic, New Orleans, Oriental, Spanish, UK) … use sliders to bring different tracks and sound effects into your mix. A perfect activity for mixed ability classes where some students have no instrumental skills.
Lesson Idea: let students discover the BBC Music Mixing webpage … then discuss the similarities and differences between the different cultures of music represented on the webpage … ask each student to create a Venn diagram which compares two of the musical cultures from the website
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Billy Bragg on Q & A about the link between music and social change:
“Young people ARE engaged in the debate. But let me tell you this (about social media): nobody
ever wrote a tweet that could make you cry, nobody ever toured Australia reading out their
facebook comments. If you want to see the world and get paid for it, learn an instrument, get on
it, step up, let us hear your voices!”
Lesson idea: Discuss this quote, then write two paragraphs about how music can create social change.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Read this article as a class (HERE) . Discuss the implications of the article (ie. beware what you listen to, as it can change your view on the world). Brainstorm a list of bands / pieces that make students feel happy, and another list that brings your mood down. Then read THIS ARTICLE about how Top 40 Pop music has been getting slower & sadder. Brainstorm the reasons why this might be.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... http://www.musiccountusin.org.au/remository?func=select&id=45
The 2011 (free) Teaching Kit for “We’ve Got the Music” just went online. It features free lesson ideas and teaching resources for Primary and Middle School classes, as well as brilliant ideas for inclusion and special needs. It is designed for generalist classroom teachers and music teachers alike.
All feedback welcome. Bring on 1st September 2011!!
If you haven’t signed up, please do, then you’ll be able to view the Teaching Kit.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch this space – the teaching kit for Music Count Us In 2011 is coming soon. It’s full of free ideas to enhance music education delivery in your school, including cross-curricular lesson ideas. Many free ensemble charts are already on the website www.musiccountusin.org.au . Don’t be scared of signing up – it’s really easy!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Music Education at About.com (USA) is a listing of lesson plans submitted by teachers and endorsed by academics.The lesson plans are for various age groups and stages of students. There are also links to specific subject/genre areas, for example, 80s music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch these videos with your students. They aim to inform kids of the work that goes into creating & recording Australian pop songs. The underlying message is that we should purchase music rather than copy music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A cute 4 minute video to share with any year level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAY1UoQYMHk
After watching the movie, ask your class to create some more musical artwork.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch the film clip of ‘In Your Arms’ which was made using Jelly Beans – YouTube LINK HERE … then watch the ‘making of’ video LINK HERE. Discuss other whacky ideas for making music film clips.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...On April 12th 2011, a dozen talented teenage singer-songwriters were mentored by John Foreman, Claire Bowditch, Holly Throsby, Rai Thistlethwayte (Thirsty Merc) and Kavyen Temperley (Eskimo Joe).
The result was the 2011 song for Music. Count Us In (1st September 2011).
Watch this space for free lesson plans, free MP3 material, free Professional Development (for teachers) and free instrumental arrangements. Let’s get more music in more Australian schools!! www.musiccountusin.org.au
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This year’s Music: Count Us In resources are about to be released – ready for 1st November, 2012 performance date. HERE is Fairvale High School’s 2011 MCUI concert. Play it to your class, and ask how THEY would like to perform the 2012 song: “Different People (Stand Together)”. Note that the local primary school came to the concert too!!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... http://www.musiccountusin.org.au/
This year’s program song is about to hit the air-waves. Registration is being accepted by schools for the 2011 massed singing event on September 1st, 2011 @ 11.30am (AEST).
Associated free lesson plans, teaching kits, free MP3, sheet music, and instrumental arrangements will soon be available via the website.
Signing up via the website is free and easy!! http://www.musiccountusin.org.au/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... CHECK IT OUT! Listen to the new song on the website … sign up for all the great free resources (for both primary generalist teachers AND secondary music specialists) … let us know what you think
FREE teaching kit and lesson plans are coming VERY soon.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.musicalfutures.org.uk Musical Futures is a fairly new approach to teaching instrumental music to Middle School students. This website gives you pedagogy ideas, background info, repertoire suggestions (including lyrics and tab), marking criteria, powerpoint presentations to show students about the process of rehearsing, etc. The basic idea is to create class “rock bands” and encourage students to teach / assist each other with a common goal – making contemporary music.
Here are some examples of the free resources shared by teachers who engage in Musical Futures programs:
Let It Be – includes marking / achievement checklist
Scouting for Girls – This ain’t a love song …
Scouting for Girls – She’s so Lovely
Beat It
Beat It with tab
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Lesson Idea: In the spirit of “Musical Futures”, give your students access to the MP3 of “We’ve Got the Music” … divide them into groups of 4-6 with drums / guitars / keyboards / ukuleles / percussion, etc … ask them to come up with their OWN version of “We’ve Got the Music” (about 30 mins) simply by using their ears, playing along with the MP3, experimenting and supporting each other … share their performance attempt with the class.
The key factor is that the student performance SHOULD sound different from the original MP3, reflecting the group’s creative interpretation.
“We’ve Got the Music” is the 2011 program song for MUSIC: COUNT US IN
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.musicatschool.co.uk is a free website of Secondary Music teaching ideas, lesson plans and worksheets from UK Music teachers.
For example, here is a worksheet for Year 7’s learning about how orchestral players are seated:
http://www.musicatschool.co.uk/year_7/Instruments_sheets/layout_worksheet.PDF
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Send students HERE to read about career paths for musicians. In pairs, they should make note of 10 surprising facts. Share these with the class.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... The National Folk Festival (Australia) is developing educational resources. These include a free CD of 2009 festival highlights & IWB resources about the fiddle.
http://forteachersforstudents.com.au/NFF/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Fresh off the printing press – Instant Lessons in Music (Vols 3, 4 & 5) – photocopiable /digital lessons designed to enhance school Music programs OR leave for Emergency teachers (without the need for musical competency) – suits 11-16 year old Music classes – written by an Australian teacher for Australian students.
Vol 3: Music in Australia
Vol 4: Everyday musicality
Vol 5: Theory, composition & song-writing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... New Millenium Records – a rich resource for free lesson content. Most lessons are paragraphs of typed information embedded with free audio files or video clips to support the text.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://teachingmusic.tumblr.com/lessons/
A blog about NEW ways to teach Year 6 – 12 classroom music. Includes philosophical discussion AND free lesson plans.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars – several exemplar lessons for Primary and Secondary School Music (New Zealand)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Have a smile ready when you show this to your class – www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHXMX4eKNfA A good introduction to making straw oboes, or rice bottle shakers, or junk percussion, or instrument classification.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Play some trumpet fanfares to your kids, asking them to notice what they all have in common. Hopefully you’ll get a response re. ‘jumpy’ melodies. Explain that the original trumpets were ‘natural horns’ without any valves or buttons, so they can only play a handful of different notes (along the harmonic series). Have a look at different pictures of trumpets as they evolved. Play John Williams’ Olympic Fanfare and see what modern trumpets look like.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/15/tech/innovation/adrian-anantawan-violinist
Share this article / video with your class, then ask if they know any other musicians with a disability. (eg. Beethoven was deaf, percussionist Evelyn Glennie is deaf, Tony Melendez plays guitar with his feet, Ray Charles was blind)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.desktopblues.lichtlabor.ch This website lets students play along with a blues radio. They have 24 different bars / licks to experiment with (guitar and vocals) just by clicking a button. Inform the class of an easy 12 bar blues progression to try on their choice of instrument: C C C C F F C C G F C G
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE is a link to Paul Kelly’s 2011 TEDx talk. He describes how he came up with the song “How to Make Gravy”, then performs it live and acoustic. Watch this with your class, make a list of other songs which tell stories, then brainstorm ideas for your own story-song.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Try giving groups of students ‘big questions’ or composition tasks or performance challenges (eg. Battle of the Bands) and lots of space to self-direct with access to the internet … and see what they come up with. Some ideas HERE and HERE.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ask students to choose a photo from THIS amazing page, and plan a soundscape or composition using any instruments. Once shared with the class, do “speed improvisation” – the teacher chooses a photo, and the entire class responds to the photo with whatever instrument/s they can reach.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...This website has free pictograms (pictures) of song names.
Ask students to guess song names … then to draw their own pictograms.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here’s a lesson idea inspired by YouTube’s “Picture Songs”. Ask a group of students to find 16 interesting / weird photos online and put them in a chosen order. Using another group’s pictures, groups create 4 beats worth of lyrics for each picture. Try to rhyme some of the lyrics. Ask a guitar-playing to vamp a 4-chord progression (eg. C, Am, F, G) while each group raps or songs their 16 lines of lyrics.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... www.composerhome.com/piano/menu/
The Goulburn Conservatorium has commissioned an electronic book and piano music to encourage students to learn piano, enjoy music, and compose. This link is free. ENJOY it with your students! Afterwards, ask them for their personal responses.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z78Mzkl9rTk Please watch this with your classes – the video shows a young disabled girl making amazing progress with regular music sessions.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Primary Lesson Plans NSW is a site published by NSW Country Areas Program, and contains lesson plans grouped under subject areas and stages, including music. The site also includes links to CAP events such as professional learning.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Professional Learning and Teaching Resources, provided by Arts Victoria, include education kits, training and online resources. Material provided on this site are linked to the VCE and/or VELS.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Pure Drop – high quality audio and video footage (free) from the ABC & AFC & Federal Government, complete with free lesson plans and worksheets. Topics include Indigenous Music and World Music
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... http://www.musiceducation.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/youtube-lesson-compilation.docx
THIS link takes you two random uses of YouTube in music-related lessons. If you have suggestions, PLEASE email them to schools.mpfl AT mca.org.au
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A lesson idea for “National Sorry Day” … or any day.
Watch the Colli Crew’s song about reconciliation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsWo9CxqsN8&feature=related
In small groups, brainstorm phrases that rhyme with “reconciliation” and “it’s up to us”
Watch the Colli Crew’s 2010 ARIA Award winning song “Change the Game” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0rJajbIs-o
Create a class rap, make an audio recording, and place it on the school’s website.
Email a link (or a copy of the song) to schools.mpfl@mca.org.au
Listen to Indigenous Australian music from “Black Arm Band”, “Saltwater Band”, “Gurrumul Yunupingu” and “Archie Roach” on YouTube, iTunes, CD or GrooveShark.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.musiccountusin.org.au/recount-2011
PRIZE POOL … for Australian secondary school students who re-arrange the Music: Count Us In program song for 2011. Make it a two week lesson plan or holiday project!
All the MP3 ’stem files’ for each track of “We’ve Got the Music” are freely available on the Recount website or you can re-arrange and add to it by hand.
Entries are due August 1st for re-arranged tracks/songs.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/nothing-new-under-sun.html This blog post features a short video showing how Hip Hop and Heavy Metal artists are among many that borrow / remix music. At the bottom of the blog are a list of questions to shape a lesson plan.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...In early November, 2011, ABC will release a tribute album to 20 years of The Wiggles! 20 of Australia’s great contemporary artists have covered 20 Wiggles songs (eg. Clare Bowditch & The Audreys). The final track is a Wiggles mash-up.
LESSON IDEA: Ask students to re-interpret or mash-up Wiggles songs before the album is released in November
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Play rhythm bingo with a middle school class using crotchets and quavers. HERE is a free website for printing out a class set of bingo cards (thanks to DSMusic). The teacher starts by clapping the rhythms, then hands the job over to a student or two.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.lessontutor.com/eesmusic3.html
Free lesson content = facts on time signatures & grouping of beats in a bar
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Listen to the first minute or so of each track from the recent Royal Wedding (soundtrack available from iTunes).
For each piece of music, discuss the time signature (how many beats per bar) and the instrumentation (which instruments and voices are heard).
Discuss the sound of hymns – organ introduction & massed voices singing throughout (rarely changing colour or texture). Decide which tracks from the Royal Wedding are hymns.
Discuss the process of commissioning a new piece of music. John Rutter was commissioned to compose “This is the Day” to be sung as an anthem for this wedding (performed 29/4/2011).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch a tribute to Ruby Hunter HERE. Download a file of Ruby Hunter’s lyrics from HERE. Ask students to choose one song, and analyse the rhyming pattern, structure & message of one of Ruby’s songs. FYI The dominant messages in Ruby’s music are “Stolen Generation” and “Indigenous Women’s Issues”. Her CD can be bought HERE.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2c7zk8Grp8 A great new song by Archie Roach about the healing power of singing and song-writing. Play the clip to your class, and have them devise 3 different movements: slow section (beginning), upbeat chorus, and gospel groove at the end. Older students might talk about the message / story behind the video clip.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Use Savage Garden’s song “Affirmation” to inspire song writing. Students listen to the song, while filling in THIS CLOZE activity. Discuss the meaning of an ‘affirmation’. Then students work in small groups to write their own verse. Each line must begin with “I believe …” and be about the same phrase length.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here is a powerpoint presentation to show students … before asking them to write a song for 500 000 students to perform on November 1st, 2012 in Australia. Write individually or as a group. Keep the lyrics positive and optimistic.
Music: Count Us In has full details – due 25 May, 2012. $1000 up for grabs!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...www.funmusicco.com/squiltsheet.pdf
FunMusicCo has provided a free worksheet for use with ANY music listening activity.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The above website links to the 2011 prize-winners of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation song-writing competition. Categories catered for students aged 5 through to 18. LESSON IDEA: Listen to the winning songs (from the website) for each class’s age-category and discuss the strengths and musical elements of each winning song.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: Creative Arts lesson plans posted by teachers – some links no longer work. Each teacher has 10MB free web space to post resources online for others to view and use. The site is hosted by the Australian Council for Computers in Education.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... TeachersNetwork.org – an excellent website (by US teachers for teachers) with free lesson plans. Most lessons require computers as a resource or tool for quality Music lessons – from Bach to Rap! Some lessons include rubrics for assessment.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://www.intelliware.com.au/Education/Education.aspx
Practical plans and ideas for teaching music with the aid of technology – from Intelliware website.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HERE is a free worksheet from FunMusicCo which uses mobile phones (alpha-numeric buttons) to help students to learn the definitions of Italian terms. After completing the sheet, students could create their own worksheet using mobile phone buttons.
HERE is a free video explaining how to use the worksheet.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Thanks to Midnight Music, HERE are 41 tips and free resources for teaching 12 bar blues to students of all ages.
www.midnightmusic.com.au/2012/10/41-free-resources-for-teaching-the-12-bar-blues
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Go to resource: TES Connect collates free teacher-created resources from UK. This link is for Secondary Music resources and links. You will need to sign up to view resources – signing up is free and simple.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Watch THIS YOUTUBE CLIP with students, and try to copy the cup-choreography. Fairvale High students have created a digital backing track to accompany the Cup Game.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Archie Roach’s song “Took the Children Away” has been adopted by Canadian indigenous people, as the lyric content (Australia’s Stolen Generation) has parallels in Canadian Indian history.
Lesson plan idea: Read and discuss Archie Roach’s lyrics … watch the YouTube clip which puts Australian historical and indigenous images to “Took the Children Away” … watch the YouTube clip which puts Canadian historical images to the same song … discuss any other countries which could borrow Roach’s song to apply to their own national history.
YouTube (Australian images & the emotional trailer from the movie “Rabbit Proof Fence”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLXzKYP1uCw
YouTube (Canadian images)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpNSrqsU1eI
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Top Gear’s “Middle East episode” sees the 3 Top Gear presenters driving up some Iraqi hills (towards the start of the episode) with sinister music in the background. Soon after, they have an epiphany that the region is much safer than they had imagined. As they drive back down the Iraqi hills, the scenery is the same but the background music is fun and light.
LESSON IDEA: Watch the Top Gear episode up until the Iraqi hills re-appear. Pause each time music is played and discuss the mood and instrumentation of the background music. Finally, discuss the effect that music has on our perception of TV images.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkXXdIowJx0 Precision drumming and good fun to watch! The Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps (Edinburgh Military Tattoo) in August 2012. Play it to your class, and talk about the importance of “practice makes perfect” in music.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Deb Smith has written up a Torres Strait song HERE along with a series of challenging actions. Suits middle school students.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...1) “I’m going to play you a song about my weekend” …
2) Play (live or on YouTube or CD) ‘Hercules’ from the movie ‘Hunchback from Notre Dame’ … asking students to think about what it has to do with the weekend.
3) Afterwards, ask students if they’ve made any connection/s … hopefully they will offer up answers about watching Cadel Evans win the Tour de France (French bike race).
4) Help students to recall the lyrics, song moods, compositional tools, etc which relate to winning a big race.
5) In small groups, ask students to brainstorm other songs that could be used as background music for a ‘highlights segment’ on the 2011 Tour de France.
Resources: free video footage of Cadel Evans after his huge win http://player.sbs.com.au/cycling#/cycling_08/tourdefrance/tdf_interviews/playlist/Cadel-Evans-post-Stage-20/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here are some suggestions of songs which have a particularly Australian flavour. Teach the chord progressions of each chorus (guitar / ukulele / keyboard) to your class. Discuss from which decade each song came, and why it feels Australian.
Skyhooks – Living in the 70’s (1975), Joe Dolce – Shaddup You Face (1980), Men at Work – Down Under (1981), Paul Kelly – From St Kilda to Kings Cross (1985), Midnight Oil – Beds are Burning (1987), Yothu Yindi – Treaty (1991 remix), Hunters and Collectors – Holy Grail (1992), any song from Gurrumul Yunupingu’s 2008 album – Gurrumul.
More info on Australian pop music: “Playlisted” by Craig Mathieson
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Organise students into table groups. Inform them you will play 5 pieces of music from 5 different centuries (1600’s 1700’s 1800’s 1900’s 2000’s). Use iTunes library or GrooveShark to play 5 very different pieces of music. Each team must discuss (quietly) which century belongs to each piece of music. Score 2 points for each correct century or 2 points for being 100 years either side. Score 1 bonus point for every correct reason given for answer!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...On Sunday 20 February 2011, Damon Gameau took out first prize for the 19th annual Movie Extra Tropfest in front of crowds of 150,000 nationwide. The film was titled “ANIMAL BEATBOX”. It creates a type of beat-box using only animal words – verbal percussion of sorts!
Watch the YouTube clip of Animal Beatbox (giggle and smile) then ask students to come up with a list of animals with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 syllables. Next, they can form groups to create a poem, rap, beat-box or verse. Finally, practise saying the animal beat-box creation over a djembe beat, drum-kit beat or electronic loop. ENJOY!!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Play some of the free (MP3) TV themes from THIS website, and ask teams of students to guess the TV show. Encourage students to sing along and make musical comments. Write up the notes for “I Dream of Jeannie” (D A A G B A G C A A G B A G D A A G B A G C) to play on glockenspiel or keyboard. Next, ask students to suggest (other) TV shows with good music or theme songs. Then, show THIS YouTube clip of a medley of TV themes and THIS YouTube clip. Finally, ask students to string together their own medley of TV themes.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Online song-creation … start by humming a melody into the computer … choose instruments, styles, form … publish a song
A lesson plan of its own – since the webpage guides you through each selection.
NB: You will need to create a login.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... There’s a new way to let students view YouTube clips online … www.viewpure.com. The teacher copies the URL address from a YouTube clip, pastes it onto the viewpure.com website, clicks “create”, and it creates a new webpage (which students can view) with the YouTube clip on its own (without ads or comments). Copy and paste the newly create URL address and give it to your students.
Here’s an example I entered into ViewPure of ACO playing to surfing footage …
http://viewpure.com/m0NJyVCQpIs
HINT: Don’t click on the “Download” button (bottom of ViewPure screen) – it is only advertising!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...THIS YouTube clip shows a street musician playing the HANG. Show it to students, then make a list of other unusual instruments. Finally, ask groups of students to design an unusual instrument which uses reclaimed / recycled materials.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Bring 2 instruments into the classroom (I used cello and guitar). Ask the students to find similarities and differences. Students should put the characteristics into a Venn digram (= 2 over-lapping circles, with the over-lapping portion being for the common characteristics) in pairs or individually. Play a CD in the background, which features the two instruments you have chosen. Suits middle school students.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Go to resource: VOSA (Vic Orff Schulwerk Assoc) Resources, articles, ideas and lesson plans for incorporating the Orff approach to Music education (hands-on percussion and ensembles). Resources are split into two sections: Early Childhood resources (aged 0 – 
& ages 9+. Also includes ideas for Music and movement.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... THIS website takes you to free downloads of film clip (MP4), script, storyboard and teaching ideas (PDF). Australian students cannot enter the competition, but can certainly enjoy the process. Suits Middle School.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Waltzing Matilda free historical resources – LESSON IDEA: explore the content on the Music Australia webpage (old sheet music and old jazz recordings of “Waltzing Matilda”) … listen to and discuss the differences between the old recordings (found at the bottom of the webpage) and the way “Waltzing Matilda” is performed/sung today
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... We’ve got the Music & Music: Count Us In online resources are up and going, Jozzbeat-style. They are accessed via this page:
www.jozzbeat.com/MCUI2011/home
Jozzbeat will give each school a free log-in (after the school has registered for Music: Count Us In at www.musiccountusin.org.au)
OR
Existing customers of Jozzbeat that come through as MCUI registrees can just use their existing JozzBeat website password/username to access the resources.
Grab a group of kids, log on, learn the song, add some percussion, and have a fun lesson
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ask students what positive effects music education might have on them … watch THIS YouTube clip from the movie “Mr Holland’s Opus” … see if students can add to the list of positive effects … hopefully they come up with words like: listening, empathy, imagination, perseverance, fun …
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://youtu.be/pAV-fJOl0J4 Watch this well-edited video with your class, then discuss the benefits of music-making to students and teachers. Make a list of songs that make kids feel happy and positive. Brainstorm why massed singing makes us all feel special on the inside!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Give students a melody (as a Sibelius or Finale file, accessible via school intranet if you want to save time). Using trial and error, asking students to write a harmony line, creating a duet. For the melody, you could use a nursery rhyme OR the Music: Count Us In song. EXTENSION: Explain how notes fit into chords. Ask students to write another duet, using only notes from each chord, and compare for the two duets.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Online music games. Play air guitar, drum beats and be a DJ.
Lesson idea: Let students loose on this website, and ask them to screen-shot their creations or take notes on what they learn.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here are some links I’ve created with ViewPure to allow students to view/listen to scenes from various films:
Shrek: Hallelujah Harry Potter: Hedwig’s Theme (no visuals) Moulin Rouge: Elephant scene Shrek: Dance Party Top Gun: Highway to the Danger Zone Man from Snowy River: the descent
Lesson ideas: describe how the music matches the images, try to figure out melody/chords, listen for mash-ups, discuss whether the music was written to match the film scene (or vice versa).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...http://hoverboard.thw88z.com/2/category/ibook/1.html
Greg Thwaites runs a Year 9 Project – creating their own eBook on Music topics.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Here are some amusing (string) clips to share with students of all ages:
(1) I Will Survive (2) Pachelbel’s Canon (3) Titanic by MozART Group & while you’re having fun … (4) Hedwig’s Theme on Wine glasses
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The history of music from Medieval to post WW II. Presented as text and related YouTube video/audio clips. A series of lessons, in effect!
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