All Band Units

Explore Grades 5–8 Band unit plans with standards-aligned lessons that build technique, ensemble skills, musicianship, and confident performance.

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 36 (Grade 8 Band): Culminating Band Performance

Grade 8 band culminating performance showcasing musicianship, leadership, and professionalism through accurate, expressive ensemble playing.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 35 (Grade 8 Band): Final Performance Preparation

Grade 8 band unit polishing repertoire with feedback, targeted rehearsals, and a final expressive, accurate ensemble performance.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 34 (Grade 8 Band): Purposeful Music Choices

Grade 8 band unit explaining how instrumentation, tone color, articulation, and style match music to audiences and purposes, with personal connections to choices.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 33 (Grade 8 Band): Evaluating Ensemble Growth

Evaluate Grade 8 band ensemble progress using a rubric and musical evidence—tone, intonation, rhythm, balance, blend, and expression—by analyzing recordings, comparing growth over time, and setting clear next-step goals.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 32 (Grade 8 Band): Expressive Performance

Grade 8 band unit refining expressive, stylistically accurate ensemble performance—blending accurate pitch/rhythm/tone with dynamics, phrasing, articulation, balance, and feedback-driven polish.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 31 (Grade 8 Band): Student-Led Rehearsals

Grade 8 band unit where students plan and lead warm-ups and rehearsal segments, using targeted strategies and respectful feedback to build leadership, professionalism, and personal growth as musicians.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 30 (Grade 8 Band): Refining Technique & Endurance

Grade 8 band unit on sight-reading using pre-reading scans, rhythm strategies, and error recovery to build confident, accurate ensemble reading.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 29 (Grade 8 Band): Advanced Sight-Reading

Grade 8 band unit on sight-reading using pre-reading scans, rhythm strategies, and error recovery to build confident, accurate ensemble reading.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 28 (Grade 8 Band): Expressive Composition

Grade 8 band unit where students improvise emotions into motifs, compose expressive pieces, perform them, and explain how musical choices communicate mood.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 27 (Grade 8 Band): Ensemble Performance

Grade 8 band unit building ensemble accuracy, balance, leadership, and professionalism through focused rehearsals and a culminating performance.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 26 (Grade 8 Band): Musical Storytelling

Create Grade 8 band musical stories—students compose and perform short narrative pieces, then explain how motifs, dynamics, tempo, and texture express intent and reflect identity.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 25 (Grade 8 Band): Style & Cultural Authenticity

Grade 8 band unit on stylistic performance using cultural context to guide articulation, dynamics, phrasing, tempo, and tone.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 24 (Grade 8 Band): Music in Cultural Context

Grade 8 band unit exploring cultural and historical context to guide tempo, style, and interpretation for more authentic, expressive performances.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 23 (Grade 8 Band): Music & Personal Growth

Grade 8 band unit reflecting on identity, goals, and leadership, helping students connect personal experiences to musical growth and future plans.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 22 (Grade 8 Band): Evaluating Performances

Grade 8 band unit evaluating performances with a rubric on tone, intonation, rhythm, balance, blend, and expression, using evidence to set improvement goals.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 21 (Grade 8 Band): Comparing Interpretations

Grade 8 band unit on critical listening and interpretation, guiding students to compare multiple recordings of the same work using evidence about tempo, articulation, balance, and style to determine which best matches the composer’s intent.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 20 (Grade 8 Band): Tone Color & Instrumentation

Grade 8 band unit exploring tone color and instrumentation, helping students analyze how timbre, articulation, and style shape musical meaning and expressive impact.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 19 (Grade 8 Band): Musical Form & Meaning

Grade 8 band unit analyzing musical form, repetition, and contrast, helping students map sections and explain how structure and musical elements create unity and expressive meaning.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 18 (Grade 8 Band): Sharing Instrumental Creations

Grade 8 band unit where students perform original music with accurate tone, rhythm, and balance, and explain how expressive choices communicate mood and meaning to audiences.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 17 (Grade 8 Band): Rehearsing Created Music

Rehearsal-focused Grade 8 band unit using chunking, looping, metronome/tuner work, and recordings to improve accuracy, rhythm, balance/blend, and intonation while setting goals from feedback.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 16 (Grade 8 Band): Interpretation & Expression

Grade 8 band unit on expressive interpretation, comparing recordings and applying dynamics, tempo, articulation, and phrasing in performance.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 15 (Grade 8 Band): Revising Musical Ideas

Grade 8 band unit refining compositions for clarity, balance, playability, and expression using criteria-based revisions with documented before-and-after changes.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 14 (Grade 8 Band): Notation & Composition Tools

Grade 8 band unit on documenting compositions using standard notation and digital tools, clearly showing pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and articulation for performance.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 13 (Grade 8 Band): Musical Form & Structure

Grade 8 band composition unit focused on musical form—students organize motifs into ABA, theme-and-variation, or call-and-response using repetition, contrast, and resolution to support expressive intent and clear section labels.

Paid-members only

Grade 8 Band Units

Unit Plan 12 (Grade 8 Band): Melody & Rhythm Creation

Grade 8 band unit on composing short melodies and rhythms in a set key and meter, building contour, motifs, and clear resolution using standard notation.