Invite special musician guests to attend a class. Ask the musician to explain her involvement with music, such as what instruments she plays, how she learned to play music, if it's a profession or a hobby. To really perk up the kid's interests, have the musician play favorite kids' songs so they can sing along. For an ongoing educational experience, have a special musical guest attend class once a month or as a reward for good classroom behavior.
A way to instill a love for music in children is to expose them to a professional, concert hall performance. Many concert halls with symphony and concert orchestras offer backstage tours and rehearsal sit-ins for educational purposes. Likewise, if the school budget permits, plan your field trip around a concert matinee, allowing the kids to enjoy classical or concert music.
Explain the different instruments, including the string, brass, woodwind and percussion sections of a symphony orchestra. Ask musicians who can play these instrument types to come into the classroom on Instrument Day to give simple and short lessons. To spice it up, add cultural instruments, such as the Indian sitar or the Chinese pipa. Another option is to let kids use homemade instruments, such as lids, spoons, trash cans and empty cartons, to create a kindergarten musical band.
Expose the kids to different genres of music, such as jazz, classical, pop, rap and folk, as well as different cultural music, such as Indian, African and Irish music. Let the kids get up and dance to the different beats of the music while explaining the important and technical elements in each. Ask the kids why they like certain music and explain the differences and similarities between all music. Test their ear by playing happy, sad and intense music as you ask them, "How does this make you feel?"