Other Classroom Activities

Lesson Ideas for Any Music

Here are some lesson ideas you can try out with any piece of classical music.

  • Learning fractions with musical notation
  • Describing and graphing musical form
  • Storytelling through music
  • Counting along with the beats
  • Writing prompts to build vocabulary
  • Studying the life of a composer to bring the past alive

 

Want some more specific thematic connections? Here are some ideas to get started:

SCIENCE
MUSIC IS AN EXCELLENT WAY TO EXPLORE ACOUSTICS AND THE WORLD AROUND US
Curriculum Area Themes Music Links
Life Science Animals and Plants
  • Cuckoo and the Nightingale, Handel
  • Flight of the Bumblebee, Rimsky-Korsakov
  • Carnival of the Animals, Saints-Saëns
  • The Birds (Gli Uccelli), Resphighi
  • The Cat and the Mouse, Copland
  • The Spirit of Trees, Hovhaness
Earth Science Landforms and Oceans
  • La Mer (The Sea), Debussy
  • Grand Canyon Suite, Grofé
  • The Housatonic at Stockbridge, Ives
  • Creation of the World, Milhaud
  • Men and Mountains, Ruggles
  • Mysterious Mountain, Hovhaness
  • Hymn to Glacier Peak, Hovhaness
Space and Planets
  • The Planets, Holst
  • Three Asteroids, Turnage
  • Sun Rings, Riley
  • Star Wars, John Williams
Weather and Seasons
  • Four Seasons, Vivaldi
  • Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral), Beethoven
  • Overture to William Tell (storm and pastoral scene), Rossini
  • Raindrop Prelude, Chopin
  • Overture to The Tempest, Sibelius
  • The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky
  • Peter Grimes- Storm, Britten
  • Storm on Mount Wildcat, Hovhaness
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
  • La calunnia è un venticello, Rossini
  • Mount St. Helens, Hovhaness
Physical Science Sound and Vibration
  • Music of deaf musicians: Beethoven and Evelyn Glennie
  • Holidays Symphony, (instrumental “shadows”), Ives
Machines and Inventions
  • Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz
  • Pacific 231, Honegger
  • Little Train of Caipira, Villa Lobos
  • Slow Ride in a Fast Machine, John Adams
  • Colliding with Chris (The Rhythmical Tale of a Runaway Bike), Stookey

 

 

LANGUAGE ARTS
MUSIC IS AN EXCELLENT WRITING PROMPT, A VEHICLE FOR EXPLORING LITERATURE, AND AN AID TO MORE EXPRESSIVE READING
Curriculum Area Themes Music Links
Reading and Writing Reading: phrasing and fluency Choose a piece of music with a variety of phrasing and articulation:
  • The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky
  • Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky
  • Peer Gynt (incidental music), Grieg
  • TYoung Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Britten
Traits of Writing: content and ideas Choose a piece of music that tells a story or paints a picture:
  • Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz
  • Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev
  • Pictures at an Exhibition, Mussorgsky
  • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Dukas
  • Rodeo, Copland
  • El Salon Mexico, Copland
  • Billy the Kid, Copland
Traits of writing: organization and structure Choose a piece of music with clearly defined sections:
  • Symphony No. 5, Beethoven
  • Waltz of the Flowers (from The Nutcracker), Tchaikovsky
Traits of Writing: Vocabulary and word choice Choose a piece of music that is colorful or dramatic:
  • Fanfare for the Common Man (and other fanfares), Copland
  • Piano Concert No. 1 Tchaikovskyi
  • Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev
  • Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich
Traits of Writing: Voice and character Choose a piece of music that uses individual instruments in vivid ways:
  • Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz
  • Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky
  • Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev
  • The Composer is Dead, Stookey
Traits of Writing: Fluency, phrasing, and tempo
  • Largo (slow), Handel
  • Prelude in C (fast), Bach
  • Under the Leaves (walking tempo), Thome
Literature Romeo and Juliet
  • Romeo and Juliet, multiple verions by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev
  • West Side Story, Bernstein
Other Classic Works
  • Don Giovanni, Mozart
  • The Damnation of Faust, Berlioz
  • Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky
  • Macbeth, Tchaikovsky
  • Othello, Verdi
  • Don Juan, Richard Strauss
  • Don Quixote, Richard Strauss
  • Mother Goose, Ravel
  • Cinderella, Prokofiev
  • Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky
  • Carmina Burana, Orff

 

 

MATH
MUSIC IS AN EXCELLENT WAY TO GET STUDENTS IMAGINATIVELY ENGAGED IN EXPLORING MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES
Curriculum Area Themes Music Links
Math Counting Choose music with a clear pattern of 2 or 3: 2 = March; 3 = Waltz
Patterning Choose music with short, clear melodic patterns that repeat:
  • Waltz of the Flowers, Tchaikovsky
Fractions Choose music with clear divisions of beats:
  • Symphony No. 7 (second movement), Beethoven
  • Appalachian Spring (variations on a Shaker theme), Copland
Geometry Choose music with meters that match geometric shapes: lines, angles, polygons (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
2 = march
3 = waltz
4 = common time (2 + 2)
5 = 2 + 3 or 3 + 2
  • Take Five, Brubeck
  • Symphony No. 6 (third movement), Tchaikovsky
    6 = compound meter, usually two groups of three
  • Mexican Hat Dance
  • “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” fromSymphonie Fantastique, Berlioz
Golden Ratio Choose music with a structure that reflects the golden ratio:
  • Symphony No. 5, Beethoven
  • Concerto for Orchestra, Bartok

 

 

HISTORY - SOCIAL SCIENCE
MUSIC IS AN EXCELLENT WAY TO EXPLORE HUMAN CULTURES IN ALL TIMES AND PLACES
Curriculum Area Themes Music Links
Peoples and Community Individuals Choose music with a clear pattern of 2 or 3: 2 = March; 3 = Waltz
  • Halil Bernstein
  • My Father Knew Charles Ives Adams
Families Choose music with short, clear melodic patterns that repeat:
  • Instrument Families, SFSkids.org
  • Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Britten
  • The COmposer is Dead, Stookey
Communities
  • Musical influences from diverse cultural traditions
  • Music in our community
S History American Traditions
  • Holidays Symphony, Ives
Patriotism
  • John Philip Sousa Marches
  • Lincoln Portrait, Copland
Early America
  • Appalachian Spring, Copland
Westward Expansion
  • Girl of the Golden West, Puccini
  • Hallelujah Junction, Adams
Wild West/Cowboys
  • Rodeo, Copland
  • Billy the Kid, Copland
Ellis Island/Immigration
  • New World Symphony, Dvořák
World War II
  • Fanfare for the Common Man, Copland
Modern America
  • Mass, Bernstein
World History Primitive Societies: People and Music
  • The Rite of Spring Stravinsky
French Revolution Napoleonic Influence
  • Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica', Beethoven
  • 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky
World War I
  • A Soldier's Tale, Stravinsky
  • War Requiem, Britten
Soviet Union
  • Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich
Cultural Events Christmas
  • The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky
Halloween
  • Dance Macabre, Saint-Saëns
  • “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” fromSymphonie Fantastique, Berlioz
Independence Day
  • Stars and Stripes Forever, Sousa
  • "Fourth of July" from Holidays Symphony, Ives
Geography Composer's Travels
  • El Salon Mexico, Copland
  • An American in Paris, Gershwin
  • Scottish and Italian Symphonies, Mendelssohn
Music about places: World
  • Chapultepec (Three Famous Mexican Pieces), Carlos Chavez
  • Rhapsodie Espagnole, Liszt
  • Rhapsodie Espagnole, Ravel
  • Espana, Chabrier
  • Spanish Suite, Albéniz
  • Nights in the Gardens of Spain, de Falla
  • Rumanian Folk Dances, Bartok
  • Danzon Cubano & El Salon Mexico, Copland
  • Slavonic Dances, Dvorak
  • Hungarian Dances, Brahms
  • Three Latin American Dances, Gabriela Lena Frank
  • Estancia-Malambo, Ginastera
  • Song of Quetzalcoatl, Lou Harrison
  • Fingal’s Cave, Mendelssohn
  • Libertango, Piazzolla
  • The Moldau, Smetana
  • Algerian Suite, Saint-Saëns
  • Ku-ka-Ilimoku, Rouse
  • Chinese Opera Suite, Situ
Music about Places: US
  • On the Town-Times Square, Bernstein
  • An American in Paris, Bernstein
  • Skyscrapers, Carpenter
  • Grand Canyon Suite, Grofe
  • Three Places in New England, Ives
  • California Suite, Claude Bolling
  • Symphony No. 1: A Symphony of San Francisco and Symphony No. 2: The Missions of California, Meredith Willson
  • Harlem Symphony, Johnson
  • San Francisco Suite, Situ
  • American Symphonette #2, Gould
  • New England Triptych, William Schuman

 

 

FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR MUSICAL EXPLORATION IN YOUR CLASSROOM
Musical Autobiographies: Have students share a piece of music that is special to them and share the ways it connects them to their own experiences and the culture around them.
Composer of the month: In addition to familiarizing students with a composer’s music, have them research his or her life and times.
History and Geography of music: Use timelines and maps to locate when and where composers lived, worked, and traveled and when and where famous pieces of music were first heard.