Lesson Plans

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.”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RmWo408_CmH4iCdLifzUj9N86nyj9p45IW32oi1sTbw/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CI7NrPQG

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!

“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?

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.

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.

NSW VIC WA ACT QLD SA

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.

Go to resource: Brass Instruments and Pitch, Percussion Instruments and Pitch, String Instruments and Pitch, & Woodwind Instruments and Pitch are four lessons that cover how to make basic musical instruments. Read more…

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. Read more…

Enlightenment Assignment – a Secondary school Music assignment for small groups. Lesson structure, assignment work and marking matrix are all included (free).

Sample Units from Australian Music Educators Assoc (Vic) – under the heading “aMuse VELS Support Documents”

Go to resource: Animal Habitats (from ArtsEdge Unit, USA) was written by Diane Ambur. Read more…

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.

Go to resource: Approaches to Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 2 outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.

Read more…

Go to resource: Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 1 (Vic) outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.

Read more…

Go to resource: Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 3 (Vic) outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.

Read more…

Go to resource: Approaches to Learning and Teaching – The Arts (Music) Level 4 (Vic) outlines music standards and activities that could be incorporated in lesson planning.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

ArtsAlive.ca – US website with lots of free lesson plans, recordings and interactive Music websites

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. Read more…

http://ia600505.us.archive.org/20/items/MusicAsIdentityLessonPlan/MusicAsIdentityOnlineLessonPlan.pdf

A free lesson plan from Nick Jaworski designed for Year 9-12 students reflecting on MUSIC & IDENTITY. It involves using Audacity (or other music editing software) to create a 3 minute audio project. This project may suit Challenge-Based-Learning principals.

Register your school in Australia’s biggest music program

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, 1^st 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!

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!

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.

Mrs Brown’s Music Class – a blog for a Primary Music class, along with teacher notes of successful lessons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTB58ZmnudA&feature=youtube

If you just taught a brilliant lesson, PLEASE send an email description of what/how you did it! Then we can share your inspiration freely on www.musiceducation.edu.au

THANKS!       schools.mpfl@mca.org.au

free lesson ideas – cross-curricular ideas for teachings working with students after a natural disaster, particularly focused on ways to express feelings

Go to resource: Chinese Instruments is a two-lesson unit published by ArtsEdge, Kennedy Center (USA) and written by Mary Beth Bauernschub. Read more…

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.

Go to resource: Classics for Kids is a podcast station that streams classical music suitable for children.

Read more…

Go to resource: Classics for Kids Lesson Plans (USA) are classical music lesson plans designed for students aged 5 to 11 years of age.

Read more…

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

http://www.rocklibrary.com/Library/Entity.aspx?id=f7d00669-7750-4720-94f7-5069669471c8

THIS NING is an online meeting place for teachers to suggest repertoire for class bands (Year 3-10): http://musicteachersnetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/songs-for-kids-in-musical?id=6343590:Topic:2305&page=2#comments Pick a few songs, and ask groups of student to learn them by ear or using the internet. Give them 6 weeks and see what happens!

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.

Lesson idea: Write songs, create a song book, and create illustrations.

Here’s an example from Pine Creek Primary School:

http://acmf.com.au/our-initiatives/indigenous-isolated-regions/

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

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’.

Go to resource: Creative Resources for Primary Schools. This Dept of Education and Training (NSW) page has links to DET-published resources including Arts Action, Sync or Swing, and Vocal-Ease. Read more…

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. Read more…

The ‘Music Count Us In’ Dance movie is now uploaded to the MCUI wiki. You can find it, with all the other teacher resources HERE.

See if your classes can dance along with these characters …. DANCE VIDEO LINK

Then play along with the JellyBeans-style ONLINE percussion score

Ask the class to invent new moves or actions for the song “We’ve Got the Music”

Watch the Auslan video and learn hand-signs for this year’s MUSIC: COUNT US IN SONG … AUSLAN VIDEO LINK

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.

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.

http://doublebassblog.org/2011/04/hal-robinson-plays-orchestral-excerpts.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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.

Go to resource: Early Stage 1 Music Resources are published by the Department of Education and Training (NSW).

Read more…

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.

MSO ENCOUNTER

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

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.

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!

‘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’.

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!

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

ENTER FLAME AWARDS HERE

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.

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.

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!

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!

Teach long and short notes with flash-cards of rainbows and raindrops. Teacher claps a rhythm – student claps it back – student arranges rainbows and raindrops to create the rhythm. Follow link to game and flash-cards here.

A Secondary Music & Technology teacher is here sharing resources with the rest of us

http://musicteachntech.com/resources-and-lesson-plans/

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 …

jozzbeatinteractive.com/jellymusic-pilot

Jozzbeat is offering FREE access to its new online Music education software (for 5-13 year olds) from February to April 2012. Click on the above link to find out more information. The program suits classroom teachers without ANY musical background, as well as being fun for music specialists. It requires having a digital projector or interactive whiteboard in the classroom, and giving brief feedback after lessons.

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!

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.

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!!!

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” …

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

Go to resource: Free Primary School Lesson Plans & Education Resources is a general site that offers primary school resources submitted by site users. Read more…

dsmusic.com.au/resources/free-resources/

Print off a few of these FREE theory sheets (or give the link to your students) and let your students choose what to work on next lesson. Suits middle / upper secondary music students.

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.

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).

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.

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)?

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.

These guiding questions come from AYMC:

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.

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

Glock aural activity

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)

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.

free lesson plan on Guitar chord families http://www.lessontutor.com/ees_guitar1.html

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. Read more…

Go to resource: HotChalk (USA) is a site that offers lesson plans, grouped according to different disciplines and age ranges, including music. Read more…

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?

http://www.smh.com.au/national/aboriginal-anthem-a-truly-uplifting-experience-20110706-1h2el.html#ixzz1Rfy25DsN

This article in the Herald Sun describes the process for creating an indigenous translation for Advance Australia Fair (for NAIDOC week). Free teachers’ notes are found HERE.  A kit has also been released ($26) with advice on how to teach the song.

“This is about changing the way we teach and appreciate the language, culture and traditions of Aboriginal people,” Mr Garrett said.

A short example of the video teaching kit is found HERE along with ‘how to purchase the kit’ information.

Go to resource: Phil Tulga presents a list of interactive activities and lesson plans which combine Music with Science, Language and Maths.

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??

KET – this website provides free Music lesson plans for 5-18 year olds. NOTE: Some of the content requires additional KET resources (videos).

Go to resource: Kiravanu is an opera written by James Humberstone and Mary Elizabeth, specifically designed for children and integrated with the curriculum. Read more…

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

free lesson content (facts PLUS free assignment worksheet) on interpreting clefs and notation http://www.lessontutor.com/eesMusic1.html

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!

wrightstuffmusic.com/in-the-classroom/making-music-fun/

Wright Stuff Music offers a list of links for fun online music activities (K-12)

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.

http://ht.ly/4gile

“The Inspired Classroom” website offers concrete lesson ideas on teaching ESL and LOTE students in the Music classroom.

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 …)

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.

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!

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!

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.

Ann Lierse has shared a list of repertoire used by boys during Year 9 and 10 massed choral lessons at Melbourne High School (2010). Many thanks for sharing, Ann!

Sample of repertoire for Massed Singing

Night and Day – Cole Porter                          Thriller – Michael Jackson

Don’t dream its over – Neill Finn                   Dancing in the storm – Boom Crash

The Rain – Kassey Chambers                         Africa – Toto

At the end of the day – Schonberg                 All Night, All day – Traditional

All that Jazz – John Kanter                            The Vagabond – Vaughan Williams

Oh Pretty Women – Roy Orbison                 All that Jazz – John Kanter

Bridge over troubled water – Paul Simon       Violet Hill – Coldplay

Foxy Lady – Hendrix                                      The Ballad of Swiney Todd – Sondheim

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Derek Sharon           Orpheus Lament – Gluck

Selections from Pirates of Penzance – Gilbert and Sullivan

Nessum Dorma – Puccini                               Finlandia – Sibelius

Pilgrim’s Chorus – Wagner                             Requiem – Mozart

Carmina Burina – Orff                                    Les Miserables – Schoenberg

Chorus of the Hewbrew Slaves – Verdi          A Tribute to Foster – Grainger

Officer Krurpke – Bernstein                           The Masochism Tango – Lehrer

Greg Thwaites has supported the cause of Music: Count Us In by creating a free app for iPhone, iPod &iPad. By downloading this free program, students / staff / parents can learn the song from just about anywhere. Ask kids to download the app and leave them to learn the song in their own way!

LINK TO THE FREE MCUI APP

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

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.

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

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

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 / composers that make students feel happy, and another list that brings your mood down.

Go to resource: First Rhythmic Composition is a lesson plan written for 11 to 13 year olds, published by the Kennedy Center, US. Read more…

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.

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!

Go to resource: Music Education at About.com (USA) is a listing of lesson plans submitted by teachers and endorsed by academics. Read more…

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.

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.

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.

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

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/

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

http://www.musicalfutures.org.uk/media/resources/musicalfutures_live/documents/resource/27536/Beatles_let%20it%20be.pdf

Scouting for Girls – This ain’t a love song …

http://www.musicalfutures.org.uk/media/resources/musicalfutures_live/documents/resource/27536/Scouting%20for%20girls%20This%20ain’t%20a%20love%20song.pdf

Scouting for Girls – She’s so Lovely

http://www.musicalfutures.org.uk/media/resources/musicalfutures_live/documents/resource/27536/Scouting%20for%20girls_she’s%20so%20lovely.pdf

Beat It

http://www.musicalfutures.org.uk/media/resources/musicalfutures_live/documents/resource/27536/michael%20jackson_Beat_it.pdf

Beat It with tab

http://www.musicalfutures.org.uk/media/resources/musicalfutures_live/documents/resource/27536/michael%20jackson_Beat%20it-%20guitar%20specific.pdf

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

www.musiccountusin.org.au

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

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/

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

Music: Count Us In will happen in 2012. This year’s culminating day is Thursday, 1st November.

Join 500 000 Australian students in a massive music-making opportunity. Watch this space for FREE music, resources and lesson plans.

Read more: www.musiccountusin.org.au

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.

http://teachingmusic.tumblr.com/lessons/

A blog about NEW ways to teach Year 6 – 12 classroom music. Includes philosophical discussion AND free lesson plans.

New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars – several exemplar lessons for Primary and Secondary School Music (New Zealand)

#OperaPlot – 11-15 April 2011, Twitter members from around the world will be creating a new opera – one phrase at a time

This could make an interesting lesson idea – students write a sentence each … maybe even borrow the melody from another choral work …

click here for free sample: Pack Away Song and activity

Musical Child sells songs and activities for Early Childhood Music. They also run teacher training workshops.

“We value the traditional repertoire of children’s nursery songs and nursery rhymes.
We have great presenters.
We understand the value of live music.”

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.

This website has free pictograms (pictures) of song names.

Ask students to guess song names … then to draw their own pictograms.

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.

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. Read more…

Go to resource: Professional Learning and Teaching Resources, provided by Arts Victoria, include education kits, training and online resources. Read more…

Show your students the YouTube clip of Tim Minchin’s “Canvas Bags” song (NB it contains a few profanities). Discuss the damage done by plastic bags to our environment. Ask students to form song-writing groups & create their own protest song or rap. Also highlight the contrast of styles featured in Minchin’s song.

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

create a rainstorm in the Music classroom – a free lesson idea for lower Primary students

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.

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.

Please remind your Year 9-12 students (Australia) that ReCount entries are due this week!! (August 1st, 2011)

http://www.musiccountusin.org.au/recount-2011

Re-mix, extend or re-record the song “We’ve Got the Music” during class-time for a fun lesson

ReCount invites all Year 9-12 students to re-mix, re-hash, extend, mash-up or re-record “We’ve Got the Music”. It can be done in a single lesson at school, or be set for this week’s homework

Entry is free (and submission dates have been extended to August 8, 2011). Download individual tracks from the original song (free). These MP3 tracks can then be edited and re-mixed into ANY style of music, using software such as Audacity (free), GarageBand, Reaper, Acid, Mixcraft …

Be creative and get involved – prizes include R24 and H1 Zooms (digital recording equipment)! Please email queries to schools.mpfl@mca.org.au

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

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.

http://www.lessontutor.com/eesmusic3.html

Free lesson content = facts on time signatures & grouping of beats in a bar

Go to resource: Roll over Beethoven was written by Donald Robertson and Gail Cork, 1987. Read more…

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).

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.

Go to resource: Sibelius Groovy Music is a software program that assists with teaching music to five to eleven year old students. Read more…

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.

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!

www.funmusicco.com/squiltsheet.pdf

FunMusicCo has provided a free worksheet for use with ANY music listening activity.

Go to resource: Stage 1 Music Resources are published by the Department of Education and Training (NSW).

Read more…

Go to resource: Stage 2 Music Resources are published by the Department of Education and Training (NSW).

Read more…

acmf.com.au/results/

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.

Go to resource: Teacher’s Toolkit is a website that lists resources for classroom teachers of students 5 to 13 years old. Read more…

Go to resource:  Creative Arts lesson plans posted by teachers – some links no longer work. Read more…

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.

http://www.intelliware.com.au/Education/Education.aspx

Practical plans and ideas for teaching music with the aid of technology – from Intelliware website.

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.

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.

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

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.

Deb Smith has written up a Torres Strait song HERE along with a series of challenging actions. Suits middle school students.

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/

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

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!

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!!

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.

http://www.ujam.com/

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.

THIS free lesson plan link is a teaser for a new Ukulele method book.

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!

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.

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.

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

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

While listening to the free MP3 of “We’ve Got the Music”, ask students to write their own press release for the local paper, describing their preparation and/or performance of “We’ve Got the Music” for Music: Count Us In. There is a sample press release to be found HERE.

www.musicgames.us/

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.

Play THIS YouTube clip of a string quartet playing music from 300+ years of history — how many titles can they write down — and from what period is each piece? Finally, ask students to make their own list of famous, representative pieces from each era / period.

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).

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

http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/254537,classical-music-a-history-according-to-youtube.aspx

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!