Lesson Plan Title : Musical Strokes

Age Range: Grade 6 through grade 8

Overview and Purpose: In this assignment, students listen to different types of music and paint the emotions they hear. The paintings are just a series of abstract lines, but students will enjoy explaining why they chose the colors and brush sizes they did for each piece of music.

Objective: The student will be able to create different types of brush strokes based on the tempo and mood of at least three pieces of music.

Resources:

Various sized brushes

Different colors of paint

CD's with different types of music

CD player

White paper

Activities:

Talk about how music can evoke feelings that can be represented in art. Play some different types of music and talk about what feelings the students think the musician was trying to convey. Have the students make brush strokes on the paper using different colors and size brushes for different feelings. Talk about why the students made the selections they did.

Wrap Up:

Students can end the activity journaling about the experience. An extension activity would be to take the papers after they have dried and have the students use them as a base for a secondary picture. It is interesting to see how students perceive different types of music and how they show those feelings in art.