TIMBRE — the distinctive quality of tone of a sound
Listen to sounds around you.
Using rhythm instruments - divide into 3 groups and instruct different groups to echo.
Wood - woodblock, guiro, sticks, etc.
Metal - triangle, cowbell, tambourine, cymbals, etc.
Skins - drums (some tambourines have both skin and metal)

Create sound effects for stories.   
Listen for high, middle, low, loud, soft, long, short. Use additional adjectives for descriptions: shrill, thump, rumble, crash, clunk, etc.

Create your own instruments.
Listen to musical instruments and identify instrument families.
Strings, Brass , Woodwinds , Percussion

Listen to different timbres in voices.
(Hide students and have them try to recognize voices of classmates, teachers, etc.)
Learn the voice ranges by sung example or by families of instruments (recorders, saxophones, etc)
Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

Look inside a piano.
See how the hammers hit the strings . Examine the long/low and shorter/high strings. Watch the vibration of the strings.

Demonstrate the concept of vibration.
Examine guitar strings, frets, and harmonic proportions as you divide the string into half, fourths, etc. Use bells to discuss vibration by letting them ring and then stopping the vibration with the mallet (or resting the mallet on the tone bar in order to not allow vibration.

Create a homemade string instrument with rubber bands
Play combs with wax paper to feel vibration 

Virginia Standards of Learning Connection – Science
Third Grade – 3.1
Fourth Grade – 4.1
Fifth Grade – 5.2

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