Music

Specific Pieces / Single Songs / Artists:

Hercules: Zero to Hero – from Disney’s Hercules, includes a little bit of set-up before the song.

Hercules: Zero to Hero – from Disney’s Hercules, song only. (better sound)

Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin) – from Fantasia 2000.

Trombone Shorty videos – videos of the artist Trombone Shorty performing.

Silent Movie background music – a variety of music used as background in silent movies.

Boogie-Woogie (used prior to Ray Charles for intro)

Jazz, R&B, Blues (used prior to Ray Charles for intro)

  • In The Mood (Blues – Tex Beneke and Glenn Miller Orchestra) – 2:57
  • Maple Leaf Rag (Ragtime/Jazz – Pianola version – player piano – played by Scott Joplin) – 2:46
  • Tutti Fruitti (Rhythm and Blues – Little Richard) – 2:05

Revolutionary War Music:

18th century Music – performed at Fort Frederick, MD at the Market Fair April 29, 2011.

British Grenadiers song – with lyric annotations.

Colonial Dance – Colonial Day Performance – Collegiate School 3rd Grade – May 1st, 2009.

Fife and Drum Music of the American Revolution – produced by the Company of Military Collectors & Historians, Washington, D.C. with George P. Carroll, Director of Music — from about 1976.

Music of the American Revolution – a variety of music from the American Revolutionary War.

Old Guard Fife and Drum Corp – performing on November 11, 2010.

US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corp – performing at Colonial Williamsburg in 2009.

Yankee Doodle – the original lyrics.

Achievements and Influences of African American Music – In 2016 the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, Tennessee, created programs to further educate the community on the achievements and influences of African American music. NMAAM has now partnered with QuaverEd to bring the museum’s school curriculum, From Nothing to Something (FN2S), into the digital space. FN2S is a series of one-hour workshops, consisting of one of six musical presentations: Spoons, Harmonica, Cigar Box Guitars, Banjo, and Washtub Bass. Led by artists, each presentation focuses on a singular instrument. Students will learn and explore the musical history, techniques, and other exciting stories and facts throughout each lesson. The Spoons Project includes three lessons designed to guide fourth-grade students to learn how to play the spoons and how the spoons and related instruments are a part of music in America. Students also perform a list poem inspired by the spoons. The Banjo Project has three lessons designed to guide fifth-grade students to learn about the cultural and traditional origins of the banjo in Africa, how it made its way to the Americas, the concept of cultural appropriation, and the essential parts of these instruments. (from the site)

African Music Encyclopedia – Search by artist or country or look at the glossary for terms and definitions.

Aria Database – Information, translations, and MIDIs of over 1,000 famous opera arias.

ArtsAlive.ca – Music : Activities and Games – Activities and games that show how much fun orchestral music can be!

Children’s Music Archive – Lyrics, sing-along suggestions, coloring sheets, and activities for many children’s songs.

Cultural and Historical Perspectives of New Orleans Music – The Preservation Hall Foundation has unveiled Preservation Hall Lessons, a free series of online music lessons for K–12 students co-created by the foundation and members of the Preservation Hall community of musicians. The lessons include content focused on introductory and advanced techniques for the range of instruments in a traditional jazz band, as well as stylistic tips and the cultural and historical context of New Orleans music. Whether a classroom is “in-person” or virtual, whether students play instruments or simply enjoy music, whether one is seeking creative ways to teach math or social studies or art, there is a wide range of lessons to meet a variety of needs. The lesson plans are searchable on the database according to grade, subject, genre, topic, and discipline. Currently 22 lesson plans feature exclusive videos and support materials, with more scheduled for the site in the months and years ahead. Each lesson includes an outline of educational standards addressed, the lesson’s objectives, and suggestions for applying and evaluating that lesson. The lesson plans include natively hosted videos, Google Docs and Slides. Various tools and links support each exercise. Available to teachers across the country, this complimentary resource is suited to all grade levels and is aligned with national arts standards. (from the site)

Digitrad Keyword Search – An index of folksongs with their music and lyrics.

America Singing – Sheet music, sound files, and other information about American music – from the Library of Congress.

K-12 Resources For Music Educators – Resources for music educators and students of all areas and educational levels.

Music Activities and Arts Integration Lessons by Phil Tulga – Links to resources, activities, and homemade instrument projects connecting music to other areas of the curriculum.

Music Connects – Visitors to the San Francisco Symphony’s Music Connects website for children will discover the innovative ways symphony musicians are coming together to keep the music playing during this disruptive time. Students can explore and learn about the instruments in a symphony orchestra, and educators will find suggestions for lessons and activities that may be adapted to their school’s distance-learning plan and scaffolded to best suit the age group of their students. The music-focused lessons have been designed to facilitate curriculum connections with other disciplines. Activities are organized around Music Concepts and Listening Skills, Music and Language Arts, Music and Social Studies, and Music and Physical Sciences. The site also offers special playlists designed for family listening, as well as activities to print out.

Musical Puzzles – See how musical “shapes” contour the melody and create your own “shapes” for music.

New York Philharmonic – An interactive site designed for students that shares information about composing, musicians, instruments, and conductors.

Play Music – Links to activities related to composers, instruments, and other areas of music (includes sound files).

Science of Music: Exploratorium’s Accidental Scientist – Explore the science of music through online exhibits, movies, and questions that let you compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and above all…listen.

SFSKIDS – San Francisco Symphony website with activities, “meet the notes”, instrument information, and more.

Shambles in S.E.Asia – The Music Department – Music related curricula, links, and resources. This site was designed to support international schools in SE Asia, but has other wonderful resources as well.

Smithsonian Folk Ways – Music Browsing by Geography – Music searchable by artist, type of music, geography, and label.

Smithsonian Folk Ways – Tools for Teaching – Teaching ideas for audio clips by country or instrument, including activities, lessons, videos, and more.

Theory Tabs – Conventional tabs and sheet music are great for showing you how to play a song, but they’re not ideal for understanding how everything fits together. TheoryTabs by HookTheory show you the function of each chord and note within the song and reveal structure that isn’t readily apparent. To see this in action, listen to the introduction to “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music, in which Maria shows the Von Trapp children this basic concept. As she sings, you can watch how the colored degrees of the scale light up in time with the words she is singing. In this song, the red, orange and yellow notes correspond to the notes Do, Re and Mi. A community of expert musicians has analyzed thousands of popular songs. Search by genre, complexity and artist to see exactly how songs use different chords. You can also search by chord progression to find songs that share the same progression and see the chords that are “most likely” to follow any progression. In addition, you can copy any TheoryTab into Hookpad (HookTheory’s free online music editor) with a single click. Change the chords and melody around to get your own unique sound.

Wide World of Instruments: a guide to 100 musical instruments – This interactive tool lets users hear the sounds of 100 musical instruments from around the world. It also includes the type of instrument and the typical note ranges. The clips are more than just a 5 second taste of the instrument.

Wild Music – On Wild Music, students can listen to the sounds of nature and explore what creates those sounds. For example, in a game of animal audio memory, students hear sounds and have to match them to each other. Students will also find activities such as “The Mosquito” in which they compare their hearing to the hearing of various insects and animals. The site is accessible in English and Spanish.