Teaching Music Across the Curriculum: Book

This book delivers exactly what elementary teachers need: standards-aligned lessons that make music feel relevant to what students are learning in math, science, history, and other subjects. The reproducible pages save preparation time while the carefully designed activities keep students genuinely engaged rather than passively receiving instruction. You get real classroom strategies from someone who spent 20 years figuring out what actually works with this age group.

Purposeful and energizing. Students move between listening, creating, and analyzing in ways that feel natural rather than forced, making connections between music and their developing understanding of the world. The activities invite genuine problem-solving and collaboration, not busywork dressed up as learning.

General music teachers and classroom teachers in Grades 2-6 who want to integrate music meaningfully across the curriculum without needing specialized music training. This works especially well for teachers managing mixed-ability classes and students who learn through multiple modalities.

• Start with the creative activities first. Students generate their own musical ideas before analyzing what professionals have done, which deepens ownership and critical thinking.
• Assign reproducible pages as independent or small-group work during lessons to differentiate without creating extra materials.
• Connect each unit to what students are learning in their other classes that week. Ask their classroom teachers what topics are coming up so you can reinforce those concepts through music.
• Use the assessment components built into each lesson to document growth in both musical and cross-curricular skills for your teaching portfolio.

Use these lessons as your core general music curriculum, selecting units that align with what your students are studying in other classes so connections feel natural rather than forced. The ready-to-teach format means you can adapt individual lessons into your existing schedule without overhauling your entire program.

• Connecting musical concepts to math (patterns, fractions, symmetry)
• Analyzing music through the lens of history and culture
• Creating and performing music with purpose and understanding
• Developing critical thinking by examining relationships between music and other disciplines
• Building musical vocabulary through cross-curricular context
• Interpreting and assessing their own musical work