Lesson Plan: Music Tells a Story

The lesson this week is about storytelling through music. Composers are like authors, using music to express the story they want to share. This is a great activity to get imaginations flowing!

All of TSO’s lesson plans can be modified to best suit your child’s learning style. Depending on your child’s age level, you can adjust whether they write or draw a story in response to the music. For the older grades, take the lesson even further as a research project about programmatic music – music through which the composer intended an explicit storyline. Or, for those students that thrive with abstract instructions, ask them to tell a story that they would like to write music about. What might that sound like? How would the different parts of the story make them feel?

Resources:

Many students in Tucson learn how to write their stories into music through the Tucson Symphony Young Composers Project. Learn more in the Young Composers Documentary, Orchestrating the Future: Tucson Symphony’s Young Composers Project, premiering online on Tuesday, April 28 at 5 PM.

Did you find this lesson plan useful? A $5 donation will allow us to continue to provide these to you and other students at home.

When you click the “donate now” button you will be redirected to your TSO account. You will need to create an account to make a donation so that we can acknowledge your giving. If you have ever purchased a ticket or currently receive emails from Tucson Symphony Orchestra, you already have an account. Please select “Forgot Password” and enter your email address to access your account.