Submitted by Camille Page, Washington

Idea posted September 20, 2013

I began this 3rd-5th grade lesson plan with three questions written on the white board:

  1. What does it mean to "murder" or "butcher" a piece of music?
  2. Is music alive?
  3. Can music speak to you?

We continued with the Lemony Snicket book, The Composer Is Dead, then revisited the questions. After that, we turned to Beethoven and discussed his birth in 1770 and the possibility of his still being alive. We listened to "Für Elise" followed by "Furry Leez" (Music K-8, Vol. 22, No. 5) and did a compare/contrast Venn Diagram. Forty-five minutes zoomed by.