Instruments of the Orchestra Lesson Plans, complete with instrument family worksheets, activities and everything else you could need for ...

Learn about the four different families of instruments found in an orchestra. Understand the characteristics of each instrument so that you can recognize them the next time you go to the symphony!

One of the topics most of us teach in elementary general music that can easily become dry and boring to teach (and to learn) is the instruments of the orchestra. But it doesn't have to be! Today I'm sharing my 3 favorite ways to teach lower elementary students the 4 families of instruments in the orchestra. 1. Classical Pieces I'm sure this is an obvious choice for many- Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is an oldie but a goodie! The piece very clearly gives students a sense of the characteristic sound of each family, and it's short enough to hold young students' attention. I particularly love using this video that I found last year because the visuals are very clear and helpful but also colorful and fun: Another great way to explore the instrument families and watch an actual orchestra performing is with the London Symphony Orchestra's interactive videos that lets you view a performance from several different cameras at once, so you can focus on the different families at the same time. They have several pieces they've made available this way, but this one of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony is a good one that shows all the families well. 2. Instrument Family Four Corners In the basic game of 4 corners, you go to one of four corners of the room when the music stops, and one person who isn't looking calls out a number. Everyone at the corner that corresponds to that number is out. In instrument family four corners, it's the same basic idea but each corner matches an instrument family. There are a few ways to play it- play an example of a family or instrument playing, and tell students to go to the family they hear, or have everyone choose a corner and then whatever family plays after, all the students in that corner are out. It depends on how well students can identify the families aurally. Obviously you can use any sound examples to run the game yourself, which is what I did for a long time, but you can also now use these pre-made videos that basically run the game for you! 3. Poster Project I love doing this because it gets student work up on the walls! I give small groups of students a few pieces of paper with lots of different instrument pictures on them, and then I assign each group to one family of instruments. They have to figure out which instruments belong in their family, cut those pictures out and glue/ tape them to a piece of construction paper, and then decorate and label their posters with the name of the family. I love listening to the groups talking to each other to discuss which instruments are in their family, and the students love seeing their work displayed in the classroom! I hope this helps you breath fresh life into your lessons! For all of my full lesson plans on the orchestral instrument families, and the materials to go with them, you can get my full 2nd grade curriculum set here. And check out my post on Teaching Instruments of the Orchestra for how I sequence those concepts across grade levels.

This product contains a nine week unit of lesson plans on the orchestra families, including all the instrument family resources you need for a ...

These Books about Musical instruments for kids are a great way to teach your children about the Orchestra and other ways that instruments are used

Unit: Instruments of the Orchestra A unit about the instruments of the orchestra is frequently included in music education curricula […]

How to successfully organize an instrument petting zoo in partnership with your feeder middle school or another music group.

If you are planning a trip to the symphony you will want to incorporate some of these freebies into your homeschool before you go!We love the fine arts. My kids love to attend big theater shows, ballets and the symphony. It makes them feel so important and grown up and it is so relaxing. They absolutely love it. I really enjoy doing mini unit studies before we are going to go to a show.

This fun game is perfect to review instruments of the orchestra! Best part? It's ZERO PREP & ready to display and PLAY! For the whole class to engage! What's needed: a digital display (TV, projector, SmartBoard, etc.) How to play: - Teacher reads through first 3 slides of directions & instrument suspects - A student is selected as the "interrogator" - The interrogator sits in front of the display, where they are unable to see it - Teacher selects an instrument to display from the slides - The interrogator asks 7 "yes or no" questions to the class to uncover which instrument it is - The interrogator can make up to 2 guesses on which instrument it is - If they get it right- they win! A fun extension is to play teacher vs. students with the teacher alternating turns with students and keeping score! Kids love to stump the teacher!

This Is Halloween - Bass Clef Instrument sheet music from The Nightmare Before Christmas arranged for Bass Clef Instrument or Baritone Horn or Double Bass or Bassoon or Trombone or Cello. Instrumental Solo in A Minor. SKU: MN0097391

Organized Chaos: helping music teachers embrace the chaos of creativity through purposeful organization and simple ideas!

Looking for a fun way to review the instruments of the orchestra? This write the room activivty was a huge hit with my elementary music students!

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Looking for a fun way to review the instruments of the orchestra? This write the room activivty was a huge hit with my elementary music students!

Digital sheet music for ukulele, melody, chords, and lyrics.

Digital Sheet Music for The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini scored for Piano Solo; id:94753

Buy your copy of Classic FM’s ‘The Very Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ on Amazon and Waterstones today.

"Practice, practice, practice!"—but what about practicing *smarter*? This article gives 10 useful tips to do just that. Get better, faster!

This printable sorting game is an easy, low-prep activity to review instrument families with students!Just print, cut & laminate!And print as many sets as you need!This is a great activity for substitutes, centers or a game day in class!A wonderful, engaging addition to your instruments of the o...

Benjamin Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" is one of the staples for introducing the instruments and instrument families of the orchestra to students. There are a lot of interactive websites out there that attempt to teach the instruments to students, but why mess with a good thing? Carnegie Hall didn't mess with a good thing; they improved it! Carnegie Hall's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" takes your students on an online safari to find all of the instruments in the orchestra in the wild. It is up to you, Violet, and her Uncle Ollie to find them, collect them, and guide them to the orchestra stage. Through the game you follow the form of the actual music. You start by listening to the full orchestra play the theme, followed by the four families playing the theme, followed by the individual instrument variations, and ending with the fugue. This online adventure can take a long time to complete, so I am breaking it up into five parts: 1. The introduction and four families 2. The woodwind family 3. The strings family 4. The brass family 5. The percussion family and finale 1. Getting Started When you enter the website, you are given the choice to register, log in, or play a local game. If you plan on using this website on an interactive whiteboard, I suggest simply playing a local game. However, if you plan on using this site in a computer lab, I recommend creating a teacher account here, and creating student accounts and passwords. In the computer lab, have your students click the "log in" button using his/her new account information. This will allow you to track your students' progress throughout the activity. Another option is to give each class a user name and password and use it to keep track of where each class is. I wouldn't give the students this password, or they could play it at home and make you lose track of where you left off. The next room has two books on podiums and a mask sitting on the ground. The book on the left says "new game!" Press this book to begin the introduction video. If you are coming back, you can press the second book to "continue" from your last spot. After I've shown the introduction video, I simply press the mask to play a "practice round." The practice round allows me to jump to any point of the game that I want. This can be handy if you only want to teach your students about one particular instrument rather than playing the entire game. 2. Introduction Video You will begin your safari with a little introduction video. In this video, your students will learn what "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" is, who Benjamin Britten was, what an orchestra is, and what the four families of instruments are. Violet reads through the first few pages, but when you get to the instrument family pages, you are stuck reading it yourself. I used to be able to zoom in to the words, but with updates made on my computer and browser, I am no longer able to do that. I decided to make a printout for the different pages so that my students could read along have something to keep from the introduction. You can download the worksheet here. The pages for each instrument family have very nice audio samples of each instrument family and each individual instrument. You can listen to the range of each instrument individually, or you can press the bottom tab to hear all of the instruments play their pitches in order from lowest to highest. 3. Garage Lock After getting a basic understanding of the four families of instruments, you are ready to begin your safari! There is just one problem: the safari truck is locked in the garage! This is the first mini-game on the website. Your students have to press the pictures of instruments that match the instrument family labeled at the top. If a mistake is made, the student has to start that family all over. My student love playing this game on my interactive whiteboard. I call students up randomly and they get a turn to press one instrument. They have to be quick, or the picture might change! If that happens, I usually give that student one extra try. This game is a great way to quickly assess your students. Just the Beginning... This is just the beginning of the safari. I will be providing activities, worksheets, and Smart Notebook files that you can use for the safari, so be sure to check back for updates! My goal for this blog is to share ideas, so please feel free to share your own ideas in the comments below. You can also follow IWB Music on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Please feel free to share these ideas and share yours on those sites. Happy hunting on your safari!

Its been a VERY long week, only one more week left of school for the kids and they are bouncing off the walls like the school is a bounce house! I can blame it on the spring fever right? I save my …