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 use a recording platform to layer tracks and produce a small ensemble piece as the only performer. This process encourages individual accountability and emphasizes the importance of ensemble performance skills.

Students will learn and perform a backing track as an ensemble, then improvise over that ensemble-recorded backing track. 

One of the key elements of any video is the sound that we hear along with it. In this lesson, students will use video editing software and/or a digital audio workstation (DAW) to record a soundtrack to a film.

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.

Students will learn and practice skills to adjust intonation and pitch. Students will use a short music example to practice the skills learned for adjusting unison notes in real time.

This instructional plan will introduce the foundational skills required for shifting and vibrato, including left-hand independence, proper instrument support, fingerboard navigation, and pre-vibrato motions.  It will offer the teacher step-by-step exercises to teach these skills in a heterogeneous orchestra setting.

This instructional plan serves as a resource to provide the instructor with a plan to instruct beginning string players of violin, viola, cello, and double bass (hereafter referred to as “bass”) in proper instrument posture and left-hand position. 

Students will compare music from current repertoire to an arrangement or piece of a similar historical genre. Students will view music through a historical lens by understanding the cultural influences of the original piece.

This instructional plan will provide the teacher with the outline and resources needed to instruct beginning string players of violin, viola, cello, and double bass (hereafter referred to as “bass”) in proper bow hold development.

This instructional plan will help teachers guide students’ composition of rhythmic variations. In this lesson, students will listen to musical examples of variations, discuss the aesthetic and artistic value of musical arrangements, and write their own rhythmic variations on scales and melodies.

This instructional plan will provide the instructor with the outline and resources to guide students in the composition of original music. Composition incorporates different aspects of music education including creativity, critical thinking, and the application of musical techniques. 

This instructional plan will take an instrumental ensemble through the process of learning or improving their ability to follow the conductor. This process will include demonstrating different conducting patterns and playing as an ensemble in response to the conductor’s gestures.

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.

In this lesson, students will use a recording platform to layer tracks and produce a small ensemble piece as the only performer. This process encourages individual accountability and emphasizes the importance of ensemble performance skills.