The Music Box is an interactive music education podcast for elementary-aged kids. This Teacher Edition is specifically designed for classroom use. Hosted by musician and educator Jecorey Arthur, the current season explores four fundamental music concepts — beat, rhythm, pitch and timbre — with episodes targeted at different levels of difficulty. Our website at musicboxpod.org includes extras like printable lesson plans and how-to videos. From Louisville Public Media and PRX, and sponsored by PNC.
Latest episodes
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8 min
Rhythm: Advanced
We'll explore the rhythms of our own names, and the special nonsense sounds we use sometimes to speak rhythms aloud. This is the final of three episodes about rhythm; this one is m…
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7 min
Rhythm: Intermediate
Rhythm patterns coming at you again this week -- and this time we'll try putting different rhythms on top of each other to make a BIG pattern! We'll use the length of your hair to…
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6 min
Rhythm: Beginner
Rhythm is a pattern! We'll practice listening to rhythms and clapping them back. See if you can keep up! This is the first of three episodes about rhythm; this episode is aimed at…
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7 min
Beat: Advanced
Rocking to a steady beat... and waltzing, and marching, and bopping, and more. This is the final of three episodes about beat; this one is aimed at 4th and 5th grade level, but all…
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5 min
Beat: Intermediate
We'll keep exploring that steady beat! This time we'll learn about how beats are grouped in different ways to make time signatures, and we'll move around to a march, a waltz, some…
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6 min
Beat: Beginner
Beat is STEADY! We'll be moving around to different types of music today -- get ready to tiptoe, skip, walk, and hop. This is the first of three episodes about beat; this episode i…
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5 min
Timbre: Advanced
Our special music word is "timbre" which means the way something sounds. We'll be using different timbres to tell a story from our imagination -- we'll supply the timbres, you supp…
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9 min
Timbre: Intermediate
We'll continue our investigation of timbre (a music word that means "the way something sounds") with a movement activity that'll get you going in all directions. Plus, we'll make o…
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7 min
Timbre: Beginner
Timbre = the way something sounds! We'll play with different timbres, and we'll use body percussion to make our own thunderstorm. This is the first of three episodes about timbre;…
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7 min
Pitch: Beginner
Pitch is high, pitch is low. We'll have some fun with animal sounds that make high and low pitches, and we'll pretend to be birds and cows. This is the first of three episodes abou…
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6 min
Pitch: Intermediate
High pitch or low pitch or something in between? We'll use pitch to help us know which way to go, and we'll hear different members of the instrument families with high or low pitch…
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7 min
Pitch: Advanced
Pitch is high, pitch is low -- and we'll use some singers you know (and a few you probably don't) to explore different pitches in the human voice. This is the final of three episod…
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3 min
Trailer
A new season of The Music Box is coming soon! Hosted by musician and educator Jecorey Arthur, we’ll explore four fundamental music concepts — beat, rhythm, pitch and timbre — with…