Teaching Theme and Main Idea with Music and Lyrics

Strategies to find and identify the theme in song lyrics and the main idea in poems, songs, and short stories. The theme of a short story or song is the big idea "message", moral, or lesson. Short stories, fables, and songs usually have one theme making it easier for students to identify the theme!

Examples of Popular Themes in Music and Lyrics: Love, Heartbreak, Friendship, Death/Loss, Coming of Age/Growing Up, Disillusionment/DISAPPOINTMENT, TRIUMPH, and Women's liberation.

Song lyrics, like literature and poetry use many similar themes of love, friendship, heartbreak, revenge, liberation, depression, triumph etc, Song lyrics like poetry use figurative language to convey the themes an,d main ideas instead of using literal language. Like poetry, songs try to raise the level of poetic arts by combining music, lyrics, rhythms and sometimes rhyming patterns into a transformative medium.

Step ONE! Start with an essential question! 

What are major and minor themes and how are they related to the main idea? 

Step TWO! FIND A COLLECTION OF SONGs THAT USES FIGURATIVE/LITERAL LANGUAGE TO EXPLORE THE MAJOR THEME/S. USE MULTIPLE SONGS TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE MAIN IDEAS AND THEMES, AND USE SONGS THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY FIGURATIVE AND/OR LITERAL

Step THREE! Listen, sing along, and enjoy the music and lyrics. Start analyzing the lyrics and have an open non judgmental discussion of ideas and viewpoints.  

Teaching Theme with Music Lesson PlanPDF Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its ... Learning objectives: Students will be able to analyze song lyrics to determine theme.

AN INTRODUCTION TO CLOSE READING THROUGH SONG ...PDF for this lesson come from a variety of contemporary musical genres, further making ... students will be displaying their understanding of our central theme, the ... on noticing individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas.

Building Schema: Exploring Content with Song Lyrics ... - ERICPDF validates the use of song lyrics to teach basic literacy. ... appropriate for intermediate and middle school students based on themes, depending on ... students a comfort zone to explore ideas and express logically-based opinions.

Magical Musical Tour: Using lyrics to teach literary elementsPDF Mensa Foundation Lesson Plan: MAGICAL MUSICAL TOUR. Materials. All songs ... Knowing the theme, who do you think ... pick words to fit it, creating a metaphor, simile or personification. ○ Display ... often a signal of a key idea. Ah! A hint of.