Mar. 28, 2007: Music Makers
The Mini Page is a syndicated,
four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the
Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through
the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).
Activities:
1. Draw a picture of your favorite
musical instrument on a large piece of paper. Around your picture, write
words and phrases that describe the instrument. Write a sentence telling
why you like it.
2. Interview several friends
and classmates. Ask them what instruments they play or what instruments
they would like to learn to play. Ask them to tell you why they like particular
instruments. What are the most popular instruments?
3. Look in the classified ads
in your newspaper to find ads for musical instruments. Categorize the
instruments into four groups: strings, winds/horns, percussion (drums)
and keyboards. Which group had the largest number of instruments for sale?
4. Explain how you can make
the pitch higher or lower on three different instruments by shortening
or tightening, or lengthening or loosening, a part of the instrument.
What does this tell you about the vibrations created by the instruments?
5. Use resource books and the
Internet to learn more about a specific instrument. Use these questions
to guide your research:
- What type of instrument is it?
- What were early versions of the instrument like?
- How does the instrument create sound and change pitch?
- Are there acoustic and electric versions of the instrument?
- How are they different?
- Who are some famous people who have played this instrument?
Now write a paragraph describing
and discussing your instrument.
This week's standard:
- Students listen
to, analyze and describe music. (Music)
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
