TeachersFirst's Music Appreciation
Music appreciation involves introducing students to the history and various genres of music. There are many different musicians to discover and genres to enjoy. Peruse this collection to learn about musicians from different periods. This collection covers blues, jazz, classical, and other genres. Share these resources during Music In the Schools Month or any time throughout the year. This list includes resources for all grades. See our complete collection of jazz and blues resources.

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The Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement - EDSITEment!
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): 1960s (28), black history (109), civil rights (181), martin luther king (41), oral history (15)
In the Classroom
Integrate this lesson into your teaching about civil rights, Freedom Fighters, or the 1960s to engage students in learning about this period through music. Enhance learning by dividing students into groups to analyze different songs, then ask them to share their findings with the class by sharing a presentation created using one of the tools found at Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here. After viewing the presentations, encourage students to look for similarities within each message. Use Answer Garden, reviewed here, to post a question and ask students to post responses to create a word cloud. For example, ask each group to share important words or concepts from their song, then view the word cloud to understand overlapping content. As a final activity, extend learning by asking students to create interactive timelines that include important civil rights events, 1960s music, and highlights of civil rights leaders' activities. Use a timeline creation tool such as Time Graphics Timeline Maker, reviewed here, or the timeline feature found in Padlet, reviewed here. Using either option, ask students to include links to videos, recordings, and discussions of the civil rights events.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Jazz - BrainPOP
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): 1920s (8), commoncore (79), jazz (16), Teacher Utilities (134)
In the Classroom
Use resources on this site as part of any lesson on music, musicians, and the early 1900s. Create a link to the site on classroom computers for students to explore independently. Replace pen and paper and have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo video, or Twitter links. This blog creator requires no registration. Ask students to research a jazz musician, share their favorite songs, or explore a neighborhood famous for jazz. You could enhance learning and challenge older students to create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.. Activities are correlated to Common Core Standards.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, concert Carnegie Hall 1938 restored - Itapirkanmaa2
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): musical instruments (42), video (247)
In the Classroom
Include this video during music classes when teaching about different instruments or music genres. Share with students as you teach about historical events during the 1930s. In addition to sharing Benny Goodman's music, this site complements Black history lessons due to Mr. Goodman's leadership in featuring Black musicians. Engage students in learning by creating and sharing mind maps as a class or within groups. mindmaps, reviewed here, features easy to use tools for creating and sharing concept maps. Enhance learning using Blendspace, reviewed here, to create an interactive lesson that includes portions of this video, articles about Benny Goodman, and other activities that guide students in learning. Extend learning further by asking students to create multimedia presentations using Sway, reviewed here. Offer students flexibility in the topic of their presentations - ideas include further research on Benny Goodman, a presentation on clarinets, or an in-depth look at the 1930s. Include images, links, videos, and much more on Sway presentations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Benny Goodman: The Official Website of The King of Swing - CMG Worldwide
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): biographies (96), black history (109), music theory (43), musical instruments (42)
In the Classroom
Introduce your students to Benny Goodman using the information found on this website. The site does not include recordings of Benny Goodman, find those on YouTube at Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, concert Carnegie Hall 1934, reviewed here, or on Spotify at Benny Goodman. Engage students in learning about Benny Goodman using Padlet, reviewed here, to share and organize resources. On Padlet create columns with links to books and articles, videos, audio recordings, and interviews for students to explore. Have students experiment with music using Chrome Music Maker, reviewed here. Select the Song Maker, then change the instrument type to woodwind and start creating! Enhance student learning by asking them to research and share information on favorite musicians or different types of instruments. Use Genially, reviewed here, to create interactive presentations and images that include links to audio and videos related to their topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BlackPast - BlackPast.org
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): african american (105), biographies (96), branches of government (59), civil rights (181), inventors and inventions (70), journalism (72), racism (73), sports (76), STEM (236)
In the Classroom
BlackPast is a must-have for any social studies classroom. Bookmark this resource to use when learning about Black history, African-American biographies, important events, and more. Consider creating a Padlet, reviewed here, to save different articles from BlackPast for students to easily access specific information. Use the shelf option to divide your Padlet into sections by date, topic, or events. Padlet also has a timeline feature when creating biographies or highlighting important dates within a specific time. Ask students to create blogs using Edublogs, reviewed here, to share information learned from this site. As students prepare to "show what they know," modify their technology use by asking them to use Sway, reviewed here, as a presentation tool and include images, videos, and student writing to share their learning.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Carnegie Hall - Education - Carnegie Hall
Grades
K to 12tag(s): black history (109), cross cultural understanding (148), cultures (123), music theory (43), musical instruments (42)
In the Classroom
Use the Carnegie Hall free resources to provide music education to students as part of your music education curriculum or within your role as a classroom teacher. For example, as part of social studies lessons about countries worldwide, be sure to see the activity for learning about countries through song. Many resources feature videos; engage and enhance instruction by adding questions and comments to videos using MoocNote, reviewed here. If your district blocks YouTube, flip your classroom and have students watch the MoocNote/Youtube videos at home. Include activities as part of a larger learning unit that includes online information, quizzes, and additional videos using a learning delivery platform such as Blendspace, reviewed here. Blendspace provides simple to use tools that make it easy to share a variety of resources with students and differentiate instruction.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Arts and Culture - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): art history (79), artists (74), museums (42), virtual field trips (73)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students and allow them time to explore on their own. Encourage students to find and share interesting art and activities with their peers. Use Padlet, reviewed here, as a collaborative tool for students to share items from this site. Ask them to include a link to a favorite portion, then add a comment on why they found it interesting. Include information from Arts & Culture when studying historical events to provide interest and perspective on that period. Have students use a map storytelling tool such as Google My Maps, reviewed here, to add information found on this site and others to tell the story of art around the world throughout history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Famous African Americans - Famous African Americans.org
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): african american (105), biographies (96), black history (109), cultures (123)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to use as part of a biography unit to match biographies to individual student interests. Allow students to choose a category. Have them read several biographies from that category, then research an African American that hasn't been included on this site. Have students use these biographies as a model to write about the person they researched. Instead of using paper and pen to write down information, ask students to use Google Docs or Microsoft Word to begin research. Using these online documents affords many benefits, including the ability to add comments, highlight information, and add links to online information. Once research is underway, suggest that students use a bookmarking tool like Raindrop.io, reviewed here, to organize information. Raindrop.io includes the ability to add notes to bookmarks, making it easy for students to label and add information for later use. As a final project and to extend student learning, ask students to create their own book using OurBoox, reviewed here, that includes images, videos, and text. Math teachers could have students figure out which category has the most people in it, or what percentage of the site is dedicated to the category they are interested in.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Perfect Blues:1920s, 30s and 40s Vintage Blues; Duke Ellington; Leadbelly (Past Perfect) - Past Perfect Vintage Music
Grades
K to 12tag(s): 1920s (8), 1930s (18), 1940s (11), 1950s (7), blues (21), harlem (7), jazz (16)
In the Classroom
Play musical selections for students to talk about musical elements and styles in music class. Scroll down the page to find links to other Past Perfect sites, or use the search bar and type in Past Perfect Vintage Music to get only that selection. Have partners explore the sites to find examples of different rhythms or styles they prefer. Enhance learning by having a class Padlet, reviewed here, where students share their favorites and listen to others' favorites. In social studies or history classes, use this Perfect Blues music as an introduction to any unit of study from the 1920s - 1950s in your classroom. Share with students for use in multimedia presentations (with proper attribution, of course). Try sharing this resource with students when they are creating podcasts, slideshows, and other media projects. Make sure students realize that "royalty-free" does not dismiss the need to give proper credit for their source!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BeeLine Reader Collection - Reading is Fundamental
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): independent reading (81), reading comprehension (132), reading strategies (87), Special Needs (45), Teacher Utilities (134)
In the Classroom
These BeeLine Reader PDFs are an excellent addition to the already valuable reading materials found at Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Central, reviewed here. Be sure to bookmark this site to find leveled reading passages with the enhanced function of BeeLine Reader. These PDFs are wonderful to share with ENL/ELL and Special Education specialists to use with their students. Remember, all teachers are reading teachers. Share this tool with your science, social studies, and math teachers, too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection Stories - National Museum of African American History and Culture
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): african american (105), black history (109), cross cultural understanding (148), cultures (123)
In the Classroom
Share stories from this collection to provide a personal look at events from African-American history in the United States. Use stories as an example, and ask students to find additional artifacts from the National Museum and research to discover the story behind the item. Have younger students use Kiddle, reviewed here, a kid-friendly search engine to find documents about their particular object. Younger students could bring an item from their home to tell the story of its history. For either of these ideas, enhance student learning by encouraging them to create online books for sharing the stories using a tool such as Ourboox, reviewed here. Ask students to find local residents with knowledge of historical events to come talk to your class about the "behind the scenes" story, or set up a Zoom meeting with an African-American leader. Use these stories for informational reading in your Language Arts classroom, and as a wonderful resource to use for covering the informational reading standards required with the CCSS.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Music of Hamilton: The Musical - Genius.com
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 1700s (36), constitution (85)
In the Classroom
Use lyrics from Hamilton to introduce your unit on the Constitution. Have students explore the site on their own, ask them to take the time to through the annotations that provide historical context to the music. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own music related to the Consitution and record their music videos. Share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Have students make a multimedia presentation about events leading to the writing of the Constitution using a tool like Sway, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America - Library of Congress
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): 1800s (65), 1900s (59), 20th century (50), poetry (185), songs (44)
In the Classroom
This site is a goldmine for finding music to accompany any American history unit! Use resources from the site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Play music from the period you are studying during reading or research time. Allow students to explore the site on their own, and then share their findings with classmates. Have students create timelines (it can include text, images and collaboration) using Sutori, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Classic Cat - Classic Cat
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): composers (15), musical instruments (42)
In the Classroom
Incorporate this resource into your classroom music program. Use this site to introduce music eras (baroque, classical, romantic), lives of composers, or families of musical instruments. The comprehensive content can be used to supplement a music appreciation class, to augment a social studies or world language lesson on a particular historical/cultural era, or to serve as a guide for building a CD library.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Music and Musicians - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): composers (15), music theory (43)
In the Classroom
Share this list with students (and parents) during Music in Your Schools Month (March) or even during a unit on sound in your science classes. Bring the Arts into STEM to make STEAM!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TelevisionTunes - jayzoo.com
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): songs (44)
In the Classroom
Add a little interest to classroom games by downloading and including game show clips (music) as part of your activity. Play a sound clip as a classroom management cue, such as for circle reading time with young ones (turn up the speakers). Share with students as a resource for audio clips to add to offline podcasts and multimedia presentations for educational purposes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Daria -World Music for Children - World Music by Daria
Grades
K to 5This site includes advertising.
tag(s): hispanic (28), martin luther king (41), musical instruments (42), native americans (85), songs (44), sound (70)
In the Classroom
Turn up your speakers and try the limbo. Make simple instruments as part of your cultural heritage celebrations. Enhance learning by recording your class (or with older children - small groups) singing one of the simple songs using a simple tool such as Acast, reviewed here, or your computer's own recording software; then share the link to the recording on your class web page for younger students to sing along at home. During units on sound in elementary science class, make some of the instruments to explore how sound is created and transmitted. PE teachers can teach lessons using the song/dance options, such as the limbo. World language classes and world cultures classes may even find some of the ethnic instruments from other parts of the world interesting, despite the more juvenile appearance of this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent - University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): africa (134), air (106), architecture (62), black history (109)
In the Classroom
Teachers will find this site rich in resources for units on science, social studies, geography, architecture, music, art, and culture. Make Africa a "real" place by sharing on a projector as you share stories or learn about homes ("Structures") and habitats or landforms ("Landscape") with younger students. Use the sound recordings for lessons on oral history, myths, languages, and music. Assign student groups a topic area, which they can research and present to the class as a PowerPoint or another multi-media format using an interactive whiteboard or projector.Images, text, or other content downloaded from the collection may be freely used for non-profit educational and research purposes under Fair Use. That means that you may NOT put them on the web in a public site, blog, or wiki, since you would not be limiting access to class members. If you want students to create blog or wiki pages, create passworded access for class members only to areas displaying these images and resources. Check the website for instructions on how students can cite this source in their bibliographies.
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Smithsonian Global Sound - Smithsonian Institution
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): songs (44)
In the Classroom
Search this site for songs to supplement your unit in a US or World history class. This teacher was able to find a song about the suffrage movement, and was able to teach the beliefs of suffrage through student analysis of the lyrics and tone. Be sure to search - there are literally tons of songs that can be used for a variety of curriculum.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gullah Net - South Carolina ETV
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): africa (134), african american (105), black history (109), georgia (3)
In the Classroom
Use the stories and materials on this site as a writing prompt. Open the site and introduce it on the interactive whiteboard or projector before allowing students to explore it individually. Allow students to listen to the stories in groups or individually on classroom computers. Once students have explored the Gullah Tales, have them create their own stories on the website. The stories students can create on the site have pre-determined story titles and themes, making them more appropriate for lower-level readers. However, if there are a lot of advanced students in your class, use a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. This allows them to be a little more creative and put more work into designing their books. An interesting site for English class!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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