A Virtual Field Trip to the Symphony Learning About Musical Instruments
Listen and learn about musical instruments with a virtual field trip to the symphony. Enjoy the videos of varying styles and genres.
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Have you ever wanted to take your students on a field trip to the symphony but it is too far away or it costs too much? Learning about the instruments of the orchestra and band has never been easier with all of the quality performances posted online.
But gathering videos and preparing lessons can be time-consuming. That’s why we created this FREE Virtual Field Trip to the Symphony that’s organized and ready for you.
Just add kids!

Note: Due to the extreme popularity of this post, the platform that we used to create this Virtual Field Trip is no longer feasible. So we embedded the videos into this blog post. Enjoy!
What’s in this post? Click to open Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Hook Your Students by Listening to a Wide Variety of Styles and Genres
- Use Quality Performances to Motivate and Inspire Your Students
- Space and Pace Listening Lessons
- Suggested Teaching and Learning Sequence
- String Family
- Woodwind Family
- Brass Family
- Percussion Family
- Keyboard Family
- Need More Quality Musical Instrument Resources?
- Use Safe Viewing as Outlined by Your School Policy
- Bonus: No Permission Slips Needed for this Field Trip
Hook Your Students by Listening to a Wide Variety of Styles and Genres
I created these musical instrument listening lessons to help my students learn about instruments. There are a wide variety of styles and performers, from pop to classical, to Disney, to a marching band drumline. There is something to “hook” all of your students.
Students can also access the performances at home and they do. Since I posted these listening lessons, the videos have been viewed over 400,000 and my sharing platform account was frozen! So I re-created the field trip inside this blog post.
Use Quality Performances to Motivate and Inspire Your Students
TRUE STORY – A classroom teacher reported that one of her boys had worked very hard to earn free iPad time. This was a rare occurrence for him. During his free time, he could choose to do any online activity that was school-appropriate.
He chose to watch my Virtual Field Trip videos! He spent his precious 20 minutes with headphones on, sitting quietly mesmerized by the instruments, the music, and the videos. His teacher was amazed and frankly so was I.
You do NOT know how you are touching and inspiring your students. Take time to teach about the main instruments of the orchestra and band.
Space and Pace Listening Lessons
These instrument activities are ideal for your sub plans if you have an extended absence.
Suggested Teaching and Learning Sequence
- String Family Day 1: Listen to 1-2 minutes of the first performance of each instrument.
- String Family Day 2: Listen to 1-2 minutes of the second performance of each instrument.
- Highlight only one instrument family per class session as you continue this same sequence.
When you highlight the same instrument family for two class sessions, absent students will not miss out completely.
And, this sequence gives you time to . . . .
Make music during each class session.
String Family
Violin


Viola


Cello


Double Bass


Harp


Woodwind Family
Flute


Piccolo


Clarinet


Oboe


Saxophone


Bassoon


Brass Family
Trumpet


Trombone


French Horn


Tuba


Percussion Family
Marching Band Drum Line


Marimba


Timpani


Drum Set

Keyboard Family
Piano


Celesta


Harpsichord


Pipe Organ


Need More Quality Musical Instrument Resources?
Although you’ll enjoy teaching these fun, informative lessons, they also work well as SUB LESSONS! Each No-Prep resource includes a PowerPoint presentation compatible with Google Slides and professional YouTube video links.
- Download
- Print the optional worksheet (if desired)
- Teach
It’s that easy! The presentations include teacher scripts, built-in student interaction, and optional guided notes worksheets to hold students accountable. Answer keys are included.
Save over 20% when you invest in the time-saving Instruments of the Orchestra and Band Bundle.
Use Safe Viewing as Outlined by Your School Policy
As an added benefit, when you currently access these YouTube performances through our website, you avoid any ads or commercials that pop up if you go directly to YouTube. Click the “play” button from our website, then click the “full screen” icon to avoid ads.
Frequent updates often change the way apps and websites work. Be sure to double-check from time to time to confirm that no updates or policy changes interfere with this feature.
Bonus: No Permission Slips Needed for this Field Trip
There’s NO long bus ride and no admission costs. This Virtual Field Trip to the Symphony is ready for use in your classroom. And, best of all, you can take your students whenever you want. 😊
P.S. You’re welcome to link this post to your school website. Please don’t forget to credit fraumusik.com if you do. Enjoy!
Fun Musical Instrument Puzzles – Just for Fun!
This Virtual Field Trip pairs well with these DIGITAL and/or PRINTABLE Musical Instrument Puzzles. Use them as standard printable worksheets or assign them as paperless activities on a computer or Chromebook.
Highlight one instrument family per class session or for use as centers or stations.
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Meet the Author
Terri Lloyd is an experienced music educator with over 25 years of teaching in elementary music classrooms. She holds a Master’s in Education, an Instructional Technology Certificate in Curriculum Design, and a Bachelor of Music. Her resources are designed to help music teachers develop students’ music literacy and performance skills while enjoying learning.
She presents music education workshops, develops curriculum, and writes for her blog. She is on the music staff at her church and leads a children’s program. She performs as a active community musician with a local Big Band, pit orchestras, and at various events.
Awesome Blog!!!!
Thank you Jenna! I am just getting started blogging. I am migrating some of the elements from my school website.
this is very interesting!
Thank you Daniel.