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Elementary students love learning about different instruments! Whether you’re teaching in person, hybrid, or online, here are some great resources for teaching timbre and the instruments families of the orchestra. If you’re planning a teaching unit on the instrument families, be sure to bookmark this page for quick access to all the links and ideas!
Teach Conducting – Conducting is a wonderful skill that ties learning about tempo, dynamics, and steady beat into your families of the orchestra lessons for a more complete music unit.
Use video of orchestras playing – Elementary students love watching the instruments in action. There are tons of amazing orchestras with surprisingly full YouTube channels, many with performances geared especially to children. A quick search will find you tons of great examples.
Try using movie scores – If you’re looking for some trendier music samples to listen to, try looking up movie scores. Kids love playing “name that movie”.
Symphony Storytime – These adorable 10-min episodes are perfect as either an introduction or ending to your music class – they’d also be great as edutainment during snack time. Each one shares a story featuring accompaniment by an instrument from the orchestra, followed by a Q&A with the instrumentalist and a demonstration. My primary classes love them and they have sparked some great conversations about different instruments.
Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures – The Young Person’s Guide To the Orchestra – This online game features the entire Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten and teaches lots of great details about different instruments and the instrument families. It works great as a class activity on the smartboard, or can be assigned to individual students as a center activity or while working remotely.
Backstage with Bleeckie – This video is so silly but also adorable and primary students just love it. It also ties in nicely with the Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures (see above) because it uses the same piece of music. I love how Bleeckie asks the kinds of questions that a kindergartener would totally ask.
These ready-made, printable music lesson plans instruments of the orchestra are available in my teacher shop. Each 4-lesson pack includes:
These lessons are designed for non-specialists, so that you can teach music effectively even if you have no background in it. Click each unit cover for more information.
detailed lesson plan about musical instruments
Pin this page and save these instrument of the orchestra lesson ideas for later.
