Gustav Holst's "The Planets" Listening and Guessing Game Activity

Using Gustav Holst's "The Planets" as a listening activity, learners can explore how instrumental music composers evoke emotion, meaning, and imagery in a piece of music. This listening and guessing game is set up to work with grades 5 through 12 and can be adapted to work well with K through 4th and engage the groups in discussion about how composers are inspired to write music.

Learners can use this as a jumping off point for composition activities in Music classes and is effective in getting learners thinking about where the inspiration for music comes from. There are even some cross-curricular connections with Ancient History, Language Arts, Mythology, History, Social Studies, Astronomy, and Science as well.

Try it as a great last-minute substitute plan for your non-music subs, too!