Picking out Individual Instruments

• Play a piece of classical music featuring an orchestra for the class. Ask the students to write down on a sheet of paper what different instruments they can hear, and in the order that they are first heard. Also ask the students their thoughts about why certain instruments are used for different parts of the composition. Discuss with the students the importance of the right instruments being used when attempting to create a certain mood.
  
  

Describing Tempos

• Ask the class to describe a variety of tempos in several classical music compositions and popular songs. Encourage the students to give their opinions as to whether the tempos work well, or whether they could be improved by different tempo changes or with no tempo change at all. Explain to the students the technical names for various tempos and when they are evident in the music; for example, "andante" is moderately slow, compared to "allegro," which is more lively.
  
  

Differentiating Music Genres

• Encourage the class to differentiate between music genres. Begin by playing music by various artists and composers that is easy to describe, for instance, classical, rock, rap and folk music. A lot of modern music is a fusion of different styles, and rap, rock and R&B can feature all in the one song; when all these genres are blended together it becomes harder to tell which are the individual genres in the song. Many genres of music have sub-genres; these can be fascinating for students to discover. Electronic music is one genre of music that has seen many different sub-genres appear since the early 1980s including ambient, trip hop and trance.
  
  

Naming Famous Compositions and Composers

• Use the music of famous classical composers to create a listening exercise. Choose one famous composer to represent one country, such as Tchaikovsky to represent Russia and Beethoven to represent Germany. Giving the country of the composer's origin as the only clue, ask the students if they know the names of the compositions as well as who composed the pieces of music. For a more in-depth study, assign the students the task of writing a 500 word essay on the music they have heard, which piece they liked the best and why.