Less than $5 7th Grade Music Lesson

Curriculum connections: Music, Language, Visual Art   Grades: 6-8 What is Included: Songza Assignment (rough copy and final assignment with writing/art), Lesson Ideas, a rubric.   About this Assignment:   This is a great back to school lesson to use with students in September. It provides students with a chance to reflect on their music preferences while learning about musical terms, and about an online music streaming site. It is a chance for your students to curate their own playlists. This activity is suitable for grade 6-8 students. This activity also gives teachers a chance to get to know the music preferences of their students to help create future lessons based on their interests. This lesson could be adapted to be used with other online music streaming websites. The lesson also encourages students to start to discuss music in ways beyond “I like this song”. They can start to learn about the categories in Songza such as genre and decade. There is a short writing piece included so that students can express why they selected the songs they did for their own Songza Playlists. This assignment can be adapted and used to suit the needs of your students.

RHYTHM BASKETBALL is in with STAR WARS and it's sure to get your kids singing and bouncing right along -- it's "Duel of the Fates" Trap Remix!

There are four all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4 times).

• For this, your students will each have a basketball (can be regulation size or smaller) and bounce their ball on the ground each time they see a Death Star icon. Each Death Star is denoted as a quarter note. The rests are in between each ball for the students to hold the ball.

• There's also a "pat" icon with a hand below the Death Star icon itself, so you will have the student hold the basketball in one hand and pat the ball on the beat

• Death Star icons that are in pairs are played as paired eighth notes

The track can be found here to play right along:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDlr566eYcg

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Now with digital worksheet to support distance learning!

This product features an engaging back to school Music Talk activity that will have your new students thinking, writing, speaking, and moving on the very first day of school. In this activity, they must choose between 6 different quotes about music and articulate why the quote aligns with their own perspective using a particular song to explain their opinion. Use this lesson every year to set the tone for what you expect in class; it is a great way to gain insight about your students' current attitudes toward music while getting to know one another with a higher level thinking activity. We have also recently added a digital version of the Music Talk worksheet to support distance learning and cut down on paper.

Product includes:

• Comprehensive Lesson Plan
• "Music Talk" Worksheet
• 6 Corresponding "Music Quote" signs to hang up around your room
• Digital Worksheet to support distance learning for use with Google Drive - newly added!
• Detailed instructions for accessing digital resource

Though this lesson plan is ideal for the first day of school, it can be used all year long without modification.

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Also, check out these great products to start your school year off strong by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐Music Quote Posters

⭐First Day of School Powerpoint

⭐Study Hall Expectations Powerpoint Presentation

⭐Back to School / Open House Brochure

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Are you ready to introduce (or reintroduce-let’s face it, we all know they forget from year to year) your students to the captivating world of the Elements of Music? Then you’ll enjoy the Elements of Music Vocabulary Mystery Word Match Activity! This engaging lesson is designed to help students familiarize themselves with some essential music vocabulary associated with the elements of music in a fun and interactive way. We all know that students generally love games so they’ll enjoy the gamification of this activity. As they match vocabulary words with their definitions, they’ll discover some letters that they will need to unscramble to find a mystery word.

Activity Overview:

In this activity, students will match vocabulary words to their corresponding definitions related to the elements of music. Each correct match will reveal a letter, allowing students to unscramble and discover the mystery word. This interactive feature adds an extra layer of excitement and challenges to the vocabulary learning experience.

Included in this Activity:

With this activity you will get an interactive worksheet with some words related to the elements of music (e.g., Elements of Music, Duration, Pitch, Dynamics, Timbre, Texture/Harmony, Form and Tempo) and the corresponding definitions and explanations for each mystery word.

When students have completed and found the mystery word, you can provide them with a blank template and have them find additional words related to the elements of music and their corresponding definitions so that they can create their own. You can use this for earlier finishers, as an extension activity or to dig a little deeper for everyone into the elements of music.

By popular request, here's an arrangement of the holiday hit that'll sure to get your bucket drumming kids fired up, The Nutrocker, based on theme from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra!

There are five all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 1, 2, or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

The mp3 is included in this resource, so feel free to play right along!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

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*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

End of Year "Music Talk" Activity for Chorus, Band, or Music Class

This resource features an engaging "Music Talk" activity that will have your students thinking, writing, speaking, and moving all in one class period during the last week of school! In this activity, they must choose between 6 different quotes about music from famous figures like Taylor Swift and John Green and articulate why the quote aligns with their perspective on music. I use this lesson at the end of every year to see how my students' perspectives on music have developed and matured throughout the school year. This is perfect if you are looking for an engaging lesson plan during the one of the toughest weeks of the year!

Product includes:

- Comprehensive Lesson Plan

- "Music Talk" Sheet for students to fill out

- 6 Corresponding "Music Quote" signs to hang up around your room

Though I utilize this product during the last week of school, it really can be used all year long. I hope that it is as successful in your class as it is in mine!

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By popular request, here's an advanced arrangement of the holiday hit that'll sure to get your bucket drumming kids fired up, First Snow, by the Trans Siberian Orchestra!

There are four all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 3 or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

This version differs from the standard version with the implementation of sixteenth note patterns (which is great to work on with your kids for alternating hands!)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0DngW4WOGY

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? ***

**
Find them here!**

In "KING CAT", introduce your kids to some great music from indigenous instruments from Africa! Using your classroom Djembe or Tubanos, learn the music by rote by taking it one rehearsal section at a time (with rehearsal markings [A], [B], [C], and so forth). This is terrific practice with your older students who want to work on alternating hands, especially with trickier syncopations and advanced rhythms such as sequential triplets and sixteenth notes!

The notation on the first space F is a bass (middle of the drum) and the notation on the third space C is a tone (four fingers near the rim of the drum, pitched a bit higher)

At the end, wrap it up and put on a show! Want to layer it?

• Have tambourines or shakers play on specified beats (try 2 and 4)
• Have shakers play 16th notes all the way throughout or in specific sections
• Have half the class play 1st and 3rd measures, the other half play 2nd and 4th measures
• Do it in a round! :)

Use this in class, a concert, a parent showcase, admin, faculty and staff, whatever you wish!

Have a terrific time with this one :)

Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with the hit song from the 1995 smash film "A Goofy Movie" with I 2 I from Powerline!

There are four all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4, 6, or 8 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://youtu.be/-qzWOhUURzo?si=quREsFN87FIonlmh

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!
Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

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*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music (which has turned into a great video meme)? Involved them with BUCKET DRUMMING! in the video turned meme "The Whopper Song"!

There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4, 6, or 8 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b35HEjVX9Wg

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

Right in time for your Christmas instrumentalists, we present to you Brenda Lee's hit Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree re-imagined as a HIP HOP TRAP MIX for BUCKET DRUMMING!

There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are grouped 2 or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

The mp3 track is included in this one, so no need to YouTube it. Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

In "To the Skies!", introduce your kids to some great music from indigenous instruments from Africa! Using your classroom Djembe or Tubanos (along with tambourines), learn the music by rote by aking it one rehearsal section at a time (with rehearsal markings [A], [B], [C], and so forth). This is terrific practice with your older students who want to work on alternating hands and adding different timbres in with the tambourine

Included is the key for tubano and tambourine notation

At the end, wrap it up and put on a show! Want to layer it?

• Have shakers play eighth notes or dotted quarters all the way throughout or in specific sections
• Have half the class play 1st and 3rd measures, the other half play 2nd and 4th measures
• Do it in a round! :)

Use this in class, a concert, a parent showcase, admin, faculty and staff, whatever you wish!

Have a terrific time with this one :)

A fall classic just in time for the spooky bucket drums to come out is the smash introductory song from Disney's hit movie of the same name, we present to you the theme from "Hocus Pocus"!

There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://youtu.be/tgagV6SqeR4

This is a terrific fortifier for triplets -- Keep it steady and keep it spooky!

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

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*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

Wanna get these kids engaged and smiling ear to ear? Get a TRAP REMIX going full of trap music, backbeats, and trance themes with the theme from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Bucket Drumming!

There are four all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 2 or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

Teenage Mutant Night Turtles TRAP Remix

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

Wanna get these kids engaged and smiling ear to ear? Get a TRAP REMIX going full of trap music, backbeats, and trance themes with the theme from Minecraft for Bucket Drumming!

There are two all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 3 or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL4i9FKuiEA

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

In a stark departure from our popular music series, here's a TRAP MUSIC bucket drumming arrangement for the theme song from the hit Disney/Disney XD animated series, Gravity Falls!

There are two all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the link to the TRAP Remix version on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Fs\_NqvKadOg

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

TREBLE CLEF FOUR CORNERS!

· To play Four Corners, ensure all students understand the lines and spaces of the staff (bottom line E to top line F).

· Number each side of the room 1, 2, 3, and 4 (or alternatively, color code it green, blue, red, or purple with floor tape)

· They will hear a 9 second timer. Students will have a chance to walk to one of four corners and stay there for the duration of the round.

· On the next slide, the treble clef notation will appear in each corner and you will see a letter name from the Treble Clef Staff

· The students will have to guess which treble clef notation it is by showing it with their fingers (1, 2, 3, or 4)

· The teacher then reveals to the students which treble clef note it was (#1, #2, #3 or #4) and the students who are in that corner are OUT!

· Keep repeating until no kids are left!

Included are 12 examples (you can switch it up each time and do different notation each time), the 9 second timer embedded in the powerpoint file, and instructions

eed to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with the Imagine Dragons smash hit from 2021, "Enemy"! This one REALLY grooves and is perfect for kids... as the lyrics are ALL clean! :D

There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 3 or 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

• For this, your students will each have a basketball (can be regulation size or smaller) and bounce their ball on the ground each time they see a basketball icon. Each basketball icon is denoted as a quarter note. The rests are in between each ball for the students to hold the ball. Any smaller balls (grouped in two) will be played as 2 eighth note pairs and students will have to lower themselves a foot or two to dribble eighth notes on the floor

• There's also a "pat" icon with a hand below the basketball icon itself, so you will have the student hold the basketball in one hand and pat the ball on the beat

The track can be found here to play right along:

https://youtu.be/QOQlBgKxc5w

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with the hit song from Zedd and Alessia Cara, "Stay"!

There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 4 times). Then, apply it to drums!

All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS2ifrLAadU

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes!

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

__________________________________

*** Looking for more BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *** Find them here!

Cup rhythms are terrific for your students of all ages! Inexpensive plastic cups from the dollar store, Target, or others make excellent substitutes for percussion instruments and in unison played together, solidifies steady beat, rhythm acuity, and gets everyone playing as an ensemble!

In this arrangement of Imagine Dragons' hit from 2022, the newly released "Bones"!

students will read each corresponding colored section along with the form identifier for the amount of times played.

Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats. Then, apply it your class set of cups (to be done on the ground, in their seat, or however)!

Notation is as follows:

• CUP WITH ARROW - to be played by striking the cup (upside down) on the floor
• CUP WITH HAND - to be played with cup on the floor and patting the top of the cup
• CLAP - hands clap once
• QUARTER REST - one beat rest

Here's the track so you can play along...

https://youtu.be/kK9g0XTxSM0