Students identify a specific advocacy message regarding music programs. Students create or remix a short video/audio clip to support that advocacy message. Examples may include “Join Music” “Come To Our Concert,” and “Why Music?”

Using a digital recording platform, create a short video or audio recording to send to a neighboring school of something students have been working on. Issue a challenge to the other school to send a video or audio recording in return.  Students provide feedback to others, and practice performance and audience etiquette on a digital platform.

This game provides accountability and some fun when it comes to rehearsing your ensemble. Using a digital whiteboard or slidedeck, create a Battleship board game that represents each instrument group (can be applied to Band, Orchestra or Choir). Students then take turns “firing” at different sections. Teachers and students are encouraged to provide feedback to sections after each “hit” or “miss” to encourage growth and improvement.

Using teacher-suggested resources, students will select music from appropriate and credible digital sources to plan a concert for a performing ensemble.

Students actively listen to a practice or performance track to practice and improve their individual part. Students are able to listen and learn the various sections of the song, and develop a deeper understanding for how their individual part fits into the larger ensemble sound. Practice and performance tracks can be stored on a students’ learning management system for student practice.

Students use video/audio recording software to review and critique the performance and practice of their peers. Students provide feedback to one another, building community while demonstrating an understanding of music performance, technique, terminology, and technology.

Students will collaborate to produce a music video of an assigned piece. Using a digital audio workstation (DAW), students record themself on their individual part. Students create individual visual storyboards for the music video then collaborate as an ensemble to make a master storyboard. Using the student storyboard ideas, the teacher and students film and edit the video to align with the audio and create a final music video.

Learn about inspirations for a story and how that story can inspire a new song.  Mary and Mike travel to the Music Resource Center in Charlottesville to meet up with the author, Marc Boston, and the musician, Tevin White. Marc shares his beautiful children’s book, inspired by his own daughter. And Tevin shares a special song that he wrote, inspired by Marc’s book. Together, we learn how to stop carrying so much stuff!

This plan will introduce choral students to the basics of aural dictation using solfege. Students will apply knowledge of solfege and counting to dictation skills. Students will find success through the application of solfege by discovering why and how it impacts them as independent musicians.

In this lesson, students will learn to watch and listen critically to choral music performances.

Students will explore copyright and intellectual property standards as they relate to music, music technology, and digital citizenship. Students will identify and apply their knowledge of copyright law and licensure to select appropriate licenses for an original work. Students will then analyze copyrighted material and understand how to obtain appropriate permission to use the material.

Students will investigate ways that choral music can influence the community. Using project-based learning, students will research organizations in their community to be the beneficiary of a benefit-type concert. Students will select level-appropriate repertoire and create advertising. This project is imagined to be used for collaborative small groups, but could be adapted to work as an individual project.

This plan will introduce students to a clear and consistent method for practicing and performing sight reading. Students will evaluate and assess sight reading of their peers and gain experience in listening and error detection.

Students will explore copyright and intellectual property standards as they relate to music, music technology, and digital citizenship. Students will apply their understanding of copyright law to complete the copyright process for an original work. Students will further apply their understanding by participating in a class debate about real-world copyright issues raised by a song that sets original lyrics to an older song.

Students will use creativity, critical thinking skills, and collaboration to develop and produce podcasts that inform and educate listeners on various musical topics.

This plan guides students through an investigation of cross-disciplinary connections between music, dance, visual art, and creative writing within the context of choral repertoire.

Students will demonstrate understanding of rhythmic symbols and their values (whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes/rests). Students will create note trees to make connections between musical rhythms and mathematics. Students will apply their knowledge of rhythm to express their musical ideas and engage more deeply with music.

This lesson introduces students to composition through the application of rhythms being used in daily sight-reading and/or repertoire. Students will notate and perform short rhythmic/melodic examples individually and in pairs and groups.

This plan will introduce beginning choral students to the basics of sight reading using solfege. Students will find success through the application of solfege by understanding why and how it impacts them as independent musicians. 

This instructional plan teaches young students how to demonstrate leadership in a chamber music setting. This outline can be used to develop efficient rehearsal strategies with the proper resources for younger students to have consistent, meaningful rehearsals in the classroom with minimal teacher assistance.