Tubby the Tuba
Music tells stories in many ways. In this story Tubby learns a lesson about his ability, and all the instruments of the orchestra get to play a new melody. The composer wrote the music as part of the way to tell the story.Watch the video of book and music.
Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.
Extend your Learning
Use this link to find out more about the instruments.
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.
First Grade
Peter and the Wolf
Composers love to use music to tell stories. In this story, each character is represented by a special melody played by a specific instrument. You know something is happening to that character when you hear it's melody.Watch the animated video of the story.
Do the first sheet in your packet: match each instrument to the character it represents.
Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.
Review and Check Your Learning
Listen again and draw your version of the story on the second sheet in your packet.
Use this link to find out more about the instruments.
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.
Second and Third Grade
Feel free to watch the Peter and the Wolf videos (just because it's a wonderful story—not just for little kids!).
Composers love to combine different instrument sounds to make music more interesting.
Instruments are divided into families and ensembles. The four major families are strings,
woodwinds, brass, percussion. They are sorted by how the sound is made rather than how
they look or what they're made of.
Two important words:
Family - group of instruments that look and sound similar but come in different sizes
(larger ones are lower and smaller ones are higher)
Ensemble - team of musicians who play or sing together
Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the string section.
Watch these videos to see how the strings are played and how they make sound.
Green Bean's Music: String Instruments for Kids
House of Sound: How Do String Instruments Make a Sound
This video is a famous piece of music played by an ensemble called a string quartet. It's made of 4 players. Some of them are bowing and some are plucking (or playing pizzicato).
Boccarini's Menuet (a concert version of a dance)
Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the brass section.
Watch these videos about brass instruments.
Green Bean's Music: Brass Instruments for Kids
House of Sound: How do Brass Instruments Make a Sound
The Canadian Brass is a quintet, an ensemble with 5 players. Listen to these two examples.
Here's a song with brass instruments playing accompaniment for singers.
Here they are playing Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Review and Check Your Learning
Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the String and Brass pages.
Third Grade - Fill in the instrument words on page 6. Notice that the boxes fit the shape of the words: if the box goes up high, there should be a tall letter. If the box goes down low, there should be a letter that goes below the line.
Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the String and Brass pages.
Third Grade - Fill in the instrument words on page 6. Notice that the boxes fit the shape of the words: if the box goes up high, there should be a tall letter. If the box goes down low, there should be a letter that goes below the line.
Extend your Learning
If you're really wanting to explore, use this link to find out more about the instruments.
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.
