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Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Identify the musical instrument families.
• Classify Chinese instruments.
• Research and gather information on Chinese instruments.
• Create a Chinese instrument using recycled materials.
• Create a story to reflect on the musical experience.
• Participate in a classroom musical performance. 

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Next Generation Science StandardsNext Generation Science Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

Websites

• Music of China
• China: Arts and Culture

Additional Materials

• Chart paper or an interactive board
• Recycled items (cardboard boxes, plastic, paper scraps, paper towel rolls, strings, sticks for bows, etc.)
• Rubber bands

Teacher Background

Teachers should review the media resources before teaching the lesson. Familiarize yourself with work and review facts about traditional Chinese instruments, particularly the pipa and guzheng. Become familiar with Music of China, China: Arts and Culture, and the . 

Student Prerequisites 

Students should be familiar with different types of instruments (string, woodwind, and percussion) in traditional Western music. Students should have print and text research skills for gathering information. 

Accessibility Notes

Provide assistive technologies during research and the art-making process. Allow sufficient space for movement around the room.

Engage

1. Display the videos by Liu Fang on slides 2-3 from the resource, . Play a few minutes of each video to demonstrate how Fang plays the pipa and guzheng instruments. Show one instrument demonstration, stop, discuss, then show the next instrument. Ask the students: What is she playing? What does this instrument remind you of? What is making the sound? 

2. Engage students in a discussion about the origins of the instruments. Show students a . Ask the students: How does this music sound similar or different from the music you listen to? Share with students. 

Build

1. Discuss the three main instrument families in Chinese music. Tell students the main instrument families are percussion instruments (instruments that are hit and are used to give rhythm to the music, string instruments (instruments that have strings and can be played by plucking with fingers or played with a bow), and wind instruments (a hollow instrument that makes a sound when air is blown into it). Ask the students: What instrument family is missing from the list that we often hear in the Western classical orchestra? Have students explore the resource, , to familiarize themselves with the instruments.

2. Create an instrument family table on chart paper or an interactive board with the three main instrument families. Have students share facts about the instruments they explored. Ask the students: What instrument family do each of the instruments belong in? Collaborate as a class to categorize each instrument into its corresponding instrument family. Have students provide explanations about how they categorized the instrument. 

3. Explain the relationship between Chinese music and storytelling. Tell students classical Chinese melodies often told stories. Have students explore the best-known Chinese ancient melodies and the stories behind them on slides 5-14 from the . Ask students to close their eyes and try to imagine the story that the music is telling.

Apply

1. Research and gather information about a Chinese instrument from the following resources, , Music of China, and China: Arts and Culture. Assign one Chinese instrument to each student or group. Have students examine the instrument’s features, the way it is played, the sound, and important historical facts. 

2. Create a Chinese instrument. Using recycled and other materials, ask students to create a replica of the Chinese instrument they researched. Tell students they should be able to “play” the instrument, although it may not sound like the original. For example, rubber bands can be plucked, percussion instruments struck or shook, flutes blown through or across, etc.

3. Present each Chinese instrument to the class. Ask each student or group to present their instrument to the class. Have students explain what family the instrument belongs to. Have students describe how the instrument is played. 

4. Engage students in another listening session from the . Select a song from slides 5-14. Tell students they are going to listen to the ancient Chinese melodies again, but this time they will identify the instruments they researched and created. While students listen for their instrument in the music, demonstrate how to properly play the instruments. 

Reflect 

1. Divide students into mixed-instrument groups. Remind students that in classical Chinese music, instruments often speak to each other or answer each other. Play a song for students to listen to and play along with using the instruments they created.

2. Have students write a story to accompany the music. Using one of the ancient Chinese music compositions from the , ask students to write a short creative paragraph that tells the music’s story. There is no right or wrong story interpretation. Ask students to explain in their writing how the music works to tell their story.

Extend

1. Explore and classify instruments from other cultures like Music of India, Music of Greece, and Music of the Arab World. Have students choose a creative way to share their knowledge of instruments from other cultures. 

-Write creative stories based on other music, both traditional and non-traditional. 

-Create other hand-made instruments. 

-Explore the life and career of modern-day musicians. 

-Attend a Chinese musical performance.