Geography

Peter and the Wolf, Arizona Style

Posted Jun 15, 2011 by Cate Malone

Students study the elements of story, idea and voice in writing, and listen to the story and music of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Students will re-write the story of Peter and the Wolf by changing the setting to the desert habitat. Students will understand that they need to change the characters to those which would inhabit this setting.

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GRADE LEVEL
3-5

SUBJECT
Language Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Animals, Geography, Instruments, Voice

Aaron Copland Meets the Old West

Posted Apr 25, 2011 by Maria Cruz

Students will develop the skill to write more expressively using descriptive words and phrases such as adjectives, adverbs, metaphors and similes in order to make their writing come alive, and be more visual and engaging.

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GRADE LEVEL
9-12

SUBJECT
Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Social Science, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
America, Composer, Copland, Geography, History, Story

Vibrating Columns of Air with Bottle Flutes and Panpipes

Posted Apr 25, 2011 by Helen Patten

This lesson is a small part of a larger unit on the science of sound. The unit has several sections, including: how sound is made, the elements of sound, how sounds travel, and how we hear sounds. This particular lesson is part of the section in which we distinguish the difference between musical sound and noise. We examine the different ways in which musical instruments make sound - or the different way each one creates vibrations of air.

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GRADE LEVEL
3-5

SUBJECT
Performing Arts-Music, Science

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Folk songs, Geography, Instruments, Vibrations , Woodwind

Composing the Canyon

Posted Apr 09, 2011 by Sara Stahl

In the years following World War I, American composers like Ferde Grofé (1892 – 1972) sought new models of composition to authentically capture the American musical identity. The Grand Canyon Suite (1931) by Grofé reflects a strain of American composition in the 1930's where orchestral works depicted scenes of American life in a modern world. Inspired by the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, Grofé paints a musical impression of a day in the canyon for the listener, translating the beauty of nature into a tangible art form.

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GRADE LEVEL
6-8

SUBJECT
English Language Learner, Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
America, Art, Biography, Copland, Geography, Ives

Heritage Song

Posted Feb 15, 2011 by Debbie Perry

Students listen critically to two distinct compositions by composer Aaron Copland to help them connect with their own family's traditions and cultures. Through interviews, art and writing, students will gain a better understanding of their own heritage.

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GRADE LEVEL
3-5 6-8 9-12

SUBJECT
English Language Learner, Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Social Science, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Art, Composer, Copland, Geography, History

Spirituals during Slavery

Posted Dec 21, 2010 by Jordan Stephens

In this lesson, students are introduced to spirituals - songs created and sang by enslaved African Americans for many reasons including: expressing values, a source of inspiration and motivation, an expression of protest and coded communication. Students will listen to spirituals and sing a spiritual, then identify characteristics of spirituals. Students will decode a spiritual.

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GRADE LEVEL
PK-2 3-5

SUBJECT
Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Social Science

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
America, Geography, History, Rhythm, Story, Voice

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and the Expression of Feeling through the Arts

Posted Dec 21, 2010 by Kathleen Helleskov

After exploring nature and country life through literature, poetry, visual art, science and social science, young children will explore feelings about nature by responding with movement to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Opus 68, known as Pastoral Symphony, or Recollections of Country Life. By listening to the words of Beethoven (from documented source materials), students will become familiar with his feelings and his desire to express these feelings through his Symphony No. 6.

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GRADE LEVEL
PK-2

SUBJECT
English Language Learner, Language Arts, Life Science, Performing Arts-Music, Performing Arts-Other, Social Science, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Beethoven, Composer, Dance, Dynamics, Geography, History, Instruments, Literature, Melody, Rhythm, Vocabulary, Voice

A Walk Back In Time with Copland

Posted Dec 21, 2010 by Lisa Cochrane

The lesson helps the students learn to compare and contrast their current life with the past. It is designed to help them learn to more thoughtfully listen to a composer's piece and write a descriptive paragraph of their interpretation.

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GRADE LEVEL
3-5

SUBJECT
Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Performing Arts-Other, Technology, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
America, Art, Composer, Copland, Dynamics, Geography, History, Reading, Tempo

Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring: A Myth is Born

Posted Apr 30, 2010 by Gail Claus

This lesson will contrast Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring (classical) and Stephane Furic's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (jazz), and the role the poems Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman and The Bridge by Hart Crane, bring to the music.

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GRADE LEVEL
6-8

SUBJECT
Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Social Science, Visual Arts

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
America, Composer, Copland, Dance, Geography, History, Jazz, Literature, Poetry, Story

Aaron Copland: Billy the Kid

Posted Apr 30, 2010 by Gail Claus

This integrated lesson, focusing on United States History, incorporates learning about the Wild West and the western outlaw Billy the Kid through the music of Aaron Copland. The lesson provides musical reflection and each movement of Copland’s ballet Billy the Kid work and opportunity to experience deep listening for the elements of Dynamics, Articulation, Rhythm and Tempo (DART).

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GRADE LEVEL
6-8

SUBJECT
Language Arts, Performing Arts-Music, Social Science

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Composer, Copland, Dance, Dynamics, Geography, History, Rhythm, Tempo, Vocabulary