Music List

Fifty Nifty United States

Charles Raymond Offenberg, composer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWGc6AZQlAE
This song is in usual paired meter. It is in major mode. Great learning tool for
elementary students and this piece contains many tempo changes.
2. Ode to Joy
Ludwig van Beethoven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wod-MudLNPA
Great introduction to classical music for young students. Also this piece is a great
way to demonstrate the macro and micro beats.

3. Scarborough Fair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZJP_XLmrQ
Simon and Garfunkel popularized it but it is a traditional European song from Great
Britain
Artist: Hayley Westenra
The mode for this piece is Dorian. It is also good that students get an idea of this
unusual paired rhythm. The macro is duple but the micro is in triple.
4. Adagio for Strings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50WIs0Rbm9Q
Samuel Barber is the composer
Performed by the Los Angeles symphony orchestra
An art piece that is in the mode of Phrygian. It is a popular song that can be
connected to movies, commercials and television shows of today.
5. My Favorite Things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IagRZBvLtw
Rodgers and Hammerstein
This song is in the mode of Aeolian. Also it has a triple feel in the micro and a duple
in the micro.
6. Waltz of the Flowers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwgOWDUlDgY

Tchaikovsky
Performed by the Vancouver philharmonic
It is really popular and at some point all of the children are going to either hear this
particular piece of the ballet or another. It is a waltz so the meter is triple.
7. Brahmss Lullaby
Johannes Brahms
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=brahms+lullaby&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=7BD5D8371E34EC62AD127B
D5D8371E34EC62AD12
Performed by Nat King Cole
Most popular melody in major mode. It is a great introduction to the world of
classical music and its development through the ages
8. Liang Zhu
He Zhanhao and Chen Gang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8MlorvWVJE
Fantastic concerto that incorporates the pentatonic scale. The meter is usual paired
in the orchestra. The soloist rifts in between paired and unpaired.
9. One Morning in May
Traditional Irish folk song
Performed by Geraldo and His Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sZ3EtTrrlc
This piece is in C mixolydian, it also has a meter of usual unpaired with the triplets
in the melody. It is good for the students to start understanding different vocal
timbres and connecting them to vocal timbres of today.
10. Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sgkMXm6TkA
Disney Symphony Orchestra
The meter is duple and is good for macro beat study. This is Gershwins most
popular piece and it is a great segue into other art pieces.

11. The Rite of Spring: Dance of the Adolescent

Igor Stravinsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKoO_3-I1dw
This piece is great for movement activities. Have your students do body awareness
exercises and watch to see if any land on the emphasized beats.
12. Nuages
Debussy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5d4r7Yt00
Pierre Boulez is the conductor
A fantastic impressionist art piece. Have the students listen while drawing a picture
of how the orchestra makes them feel or just describe certain lines or phrases.
13. Turandot: Nessun Dorma
Giacomo Puccini
Singer: Luciano Pavarotti
This piece is a great introduction to music in different languages. Have the English
translation so that students are able to make the connection. It is a great discussion
piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4
14. Der Rosenkavalier: The Presentation of the Rose
Richard Strauss
Ann Sophie von Otter, Barbara Bonney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuS337uc-4Y
This is a good opera for children to listen to because they can listen to the different
timbres of the two singers. It also is a good chance for students to hear extreme
ranges in the voice.
15. Tunbridge Fair
Walter Piston
US Marine Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDXQaLRCAfM
A major wind ensemble piece. This will be a chance for students to hear an
ensemble sans string section. It is also a good introduction to more neoclassical
pieces.

16. Joy to the World

Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukaA1szoMQ
First listen to the traditional version of this piece. Compare the instrumentation and
the modulations in the Houston version. Compare style as well.
17. Mr. Naganos Foolish Proposal
The Yoshida Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfCmCy3AziQ
This Is a great introduction to classical Eastern Asian instruments. Compare the
fusion of the more western instruments with the traditional Japanese instruments.
18. Just a Closer Walk to Thee
Doreens Jazz Group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbH3HJvh2N0
Features Jazz clarinet. It is also a great segue into improvisation activities. It is also
a great way to introduce non-traditional jazz instrumentation.
19. Take on Me
a-ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914
This song is a great introduction to synthetic instrumentation and the qualities of
eighties music. Also a great introduction to the male falsetto.
20. The Sorcerers Apprentice
Paul Abraham Dukas
Fantasia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneUNq_Ndbw
Great way to hear the different usual unpaired rhythm. The triple meter with the
syncopated dotted quarters can develop a good movement activity with your
students.