Classroom activities for ESL that use music and musical instruments are suggested to develop locomotor skills, auditory discrimination, and reading and writing skills. Such activities could include using musical instruments, playing imagination games, writing lyrics, hearing ethnic music, and having music-related events and visitors. (MSE)

Annotates 13 recent documents and journals from the ERIC database that discuss the benefits of art and music education to children's development and academic achievement. Includes art and music education Internet sites. (LBT)

This book offers teachers a practical and theoretical classroom guide to the many ways music and stories may be explored, both independently and in tandem, to give students a better understanding and appreciation of each art form separately and of their power together. The crucial aspect of activities described in the book is original productions…

This study is designed to evaluate the musical listening ability that children have acquired through present instructional practices. To obtain an estimate of what children learn, over 3,000 students in grades 4-7 were administered a Melodic Listening Survey (structured into nine subtests) by tape recording under the direction of their own…

Children are taught to discover concepts which are common to all art forms through live performance workshop presentations. The goal is "...to encourage children to discover their own aesthetic understanding of academics, of works of arts, and ultimately, of life processes." (Author/RW)

Argues that classroom learning requires teachers who are keenly aware of everything that poetry and art bring to human existence, as well as an environment that is stimulating and peaceful. Describes elements of successful classroom environments. Suggests methods for teaching poetry and for inspiring students to create paintings. (AJL)

Describes the Eakin School Project, developed in collaboration with the Nashville (Tennessee) Institute for the Arts (NIA), a five-year project begun in 1991 to make the arts and aesthetic education central to the kindergarten through grade six curriculum at the Eakin School. Students view performances in and around Nashville and are taught by…

Discusses parents' roles in introducing music to children before birth, in infancy, and throughout childhood. Children need encouragement to listen, enjoy, and explore sounds, music, and rhythm. Schools must continue the process of music education. The article includes a discussion of how parents can tell if schools are successfully exposing…

Reports on a study of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students to identify and conceptualize meter in music. Finds that ability to perform these tasks improves with maturity and with use of hand gestures as well as verbal response. Concludes that it is important to match curriculum with the developmental levels of students. (CFR)

Discusses a six month project where pre-K-4 students in a music class explored whether humans were the only beings on earth who could sing or were musical. Explains that the music and science teachers collaborated on this project enabling the students to create hypotheses and test their observations on animals' musical abilities. (CMK)

This weekly syllabus designed for teachers in small schools in Australia uses the Kodaly singing-based approach to teach music skills to students in primary years one through seven. The program divides instruction into four units: year one, years two-three, years four-five, and years six-seven. Teaching plans for each unit contain learning…

GRADES OR AGES: Grade K-6. SUBJECT MATTER: Elementary Music. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: This instructional guide is divided into seven sections covering grade levels K-6. The introductory material includes a statement of purpose for the teacher. Each section is presented in three columns: concept and skills, teacher and pupil…

Describes a two-week arts appreciation unit implemented by a sixth-grade teacher at Graham Elementary School in Los Angeles. The unit introduces the students to Parisian art and architecture, the music of Wagner and Stravinsky, and the paintings of Monet and Chagall. Visual and aural exposure to art and music, group discussions, and hands-on art…

This source book provides songs, activities, ideas, and hints on how to use folksongs with children. The book contains 30 folksongs and over 140 accompanying activities. The simplest activities work well for preschool children with the most complicated design for 10- or 11-year-old children. Each activity utilizes one of the 30 songs and supports…

The three approaches of Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly, and Shinichi Suzuki to early childhood education can be successfully fused to provide a foundation for a total music curriculum from the nursery to secondary school. Basically, Orff suggests that rhythmic patterns should be experienced in children's natural language as they improvise melodies and…