Less than $5 Music Composition Activities (by price, high to low)

We're BACK and for 2022 in the follow-up to the #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music" series, we now bring you....

Part EIGHT!

Kids love their pop music, right? Want to integrate it into your classroom? This is great lesson to do with 4th and 5th graders that lets them listen to their favorite pop music (as always, kid friendly 100% CLEAN!) while learning about musical form!

The lesson begins with an introduction to popular music and how the music is formulated by the artists songwriters. We talk about the intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and outro, and include the collision and the channel and then go onto our activity.

I cut out cards... a whole bunch of intros, verses, chorus, bridges, outros, channels, and collisions (or you can do it with a whiteboard/marker, or even as a unison class response) and give them to each student, then have have the kids sit on the floor. I then play an mp3 of a song which has 10 second clips of each of the sections (there is about a 2-4 second gap in between each clip and all clips are safe for little ears -- no profanity!) and have the students identify them by spelling them out on the floor in front of them. This works great if you're putting kids into groups of 2 or 3 as they try to figure out the form of the song.

It's a great compromise to having your kids listen to their music and still satisfy a 4th and 5th grade standard in identifying the structure of music!

The 2022 hit list:

• Enemy, Imagine Dragons
• Something in the Way, Nirvana (from The Batman)
• Good 4 U, Olivia Rodrigo
• We Don't Talk About Bruno, Encanto
• Easy on Me, Adele
• Butter, BTS
• Cold Heart, Dua Lipa/Elton John
• Ghost, Justin Bieber
• Heat Waves, Glass Animals
• Bad Habits, Ed Sheeran

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment email me at jasonlitt@gmail.com

Have fun, kids LOVE this!

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All the previous versions can be found here:

Identify Form in Pop Music

Identify Form in Pop Music PART TWO

Identify Form in Pop Music PART THREE

Identify Form in Pop Music PART FOUR

Identify Form in Pop Music PART FIVE

Identify Form in Pop Music PART SIX

Identify Form in Pop Music PART SEVEN

Mastering the “Call and Response” technique just got a bit more automonous! Sit back and let the music be freely created with “Call it the Response” for Orff Instruments!

In this lesson, student swill hear a “Call” which is the first part of a musical phrase. They will then play a “response” which completes the short musical phrase. Their response may be a certain number of beats or maybe a certain rhythm (could be same or different than the call)

There are 8 different exercises for your kids to give their response on Orff Instruments (or even auxiliary percussion instruments or boomwhackers, the possibilities are endless!).

Each exercise has a percussive backing track with the "Call" built in (played by marimba and xylophone, so you as the teacher aren't responsible for making it up yourself!) and varies in tempo from 100bpm to 110bpm and covers V7, Pentatonic, IV chords, and bourdon notes.

Get creative with “Call it the Response!”

Learning to read music can have many benefits for students. These colorful music note-matching cards and posters are easy to set up and fun to use! Note-matching games are a great activity for both individual and group learning. They are easy to set up and can be adapted to different skill levels, making them suitable for learners of all ages.

Learning Objectives

• Memorization and understanding of each music note
• Improved memory and concentration
• Increased creative thinking and problem-solving
• Greater appreciation of music as an art form
• Comprehension of music notes and how they work together
• Increased knowledge of the musical structure and theory

What's Included

This activity pack includes full-color and white background posters, matching cards, and full-page posters for learning and checking answers. Great for centers! Simply print the cards and posters, cut out the note cards, and laminate for durability. Students match the note with the correct letter card. This is a great activity for reinforcing note names.

18 Grand Staff Puzzles (18 in all)

Treble Space Notes: f - a - c - e

Treble Line Notes: e - g - b - d - f

Bass Space Notes: a - c - e - g

Bass Line Notes: g - b - d - f - a

5 Wall Posters / Music Center Sheets

Grand Staff: Illustrates the two staves

Treble Clef: Explains at-a-glance what the treble clef looks like

Treble Notes: Displays and defines the notes on the treble clef

Bass Clef: Explains at-a-glance what the bass clef looks like

Bass Notes: Displays and defines the notes on the bass clef

A game that will keep your students entertained, engaged, and competitively charged with identifying chord quality, here's One "Minor" Imposter inspired by "Among Us"!

___________________________________

IN ONE MINOR IMPOSTER, YOU WILL LISTEN TO 2, 3, 4 EVEN 5 CREWMATES PLAY MAJOR CHORDS ONE BY ONE. ONE OF THE MAJOR CHORDS IS ACTUALLY NOT THE MAJOR CHORD PERFORMED!

YOUR TASK IS TO DECIDE WHICH CREWMATE IS THE IMPOSTER BY SELECTING THE CREWMATE WHO PLAYED THE MINOR CHORD INSTEAD OF THE MAJOR CHORD

HERE WILL BE ONLY ONE CREWMATE WHO IS THE IMPOSTER

____________________________

In each example is a piano/guitar/harpsichord mix with different background percussion tempos to keep the kids engaged. Each crewmate, lined up on the powerpoint (1, 2, 3, etc) will be representative of the musical example played.

Included in this resource are

• Mp3 examples embedded in each question (15 questions)
• A printout where you can replicate and cut out cards (if you want the students to place on the floor or hold up to show which one was the imposter)
• 3 levels of rhythms with 3 crewmates (2 major crewmates, 1 minor imposter), 4 crewmates (3 major crewmates, 1 minor imposter), and 5 crewmates (4 major crewmates, 1 imposter)

Have a terrific time with this while your kids study chord quality!

Learning to read music can have many benefits for students. These colorful music note-matching cards and posters are easy to set up and fun to use! Note-matching games are a great activity for both individual and group learning. They are easy to set up and can be adapted to different skill levels, making them suitable for learners of all ages.

Learning Objectives

• Memorization and understanding of each music note
• Improved memory and concentration
• Increased creative thinking and problem-solving
• Greater appreciation of music as an art form
• Comprehension of music notes and how they work together
• Increased knowledge of the musical structure and theory

What's Included

This activity pack includes full-color and white background posters, matching cards, and full-page posters for learning and checking answers. Great for centers! Simply print the the cards and posters, cut out the note cards, and laminate for durability. Students match the note with the correct letter card. This is a great activity for reinforcing note names.

18 Grand Staff Puzzles (18 in all)

Treble Space Notes: f - a - c - e

Treble Line Notes: e - g - b - d - f

Bass Space Notes: a - c - e - g

Bass Line Notes: g - b - d - f - a

5 Wall Posters / Music Center Sheets

Grand Staff: Illustrates the two staves

Treble Clef: Explains at-a-glance what the treble clef looks like

Treble Notes: Displays and defines the notes on the treble clef

Bass Clef: Explains at-a-glance what the bass clef looks like

Bass Notes: Displays and defines the notes on the bass clef

► We know you'll love helping students create meaningful connections to classical music, so we are happy to share these free listening activities with you today!

Working on identifying genres with some of your older students? This one will be a breeze with **GenreMania!

**Students will be given a short example of a genre of music, which is a category of a musical composition. Genres are in different eras, different styles, and different sounds!

Select the genre from a multiple-choice list of which you think is the genre that best describes the piece that you’re listening to. Some are easy, some get a little more difficult.

The answer will illuminate on the following screen after the example is played. There are 15 musical examples students will be able to listen to. You can run this as a class, individually, or even assign it as a Distance Learning option!

Have a great time with this and let us know how it goes in the comments :)

Working on identifying genres with some of your older students? This one will be a breeze with **GenreMania!

**Students will be given a short example of a genre of music, which is a category of a musical composition. Genres are in different eras, different styles, and different sounds!

Select the genre from a multiple-choice list of which you think is the genre that best describes the piece that you’re listening to. Some are easy, some get a little more difficult.

The answer will illuminate on the following screen after the example is played. There are 15 musical examples students will be able to listen to. You can run this as a class, individually, or even assign it as a Distance Learning option!

Have a great time with this and let us know how it goes in the comments :)

This is a great resource to get your kids to work collaboratively as a team (or by themselves if you wish) to identify rhythms as they hear them!

In BlockChain Rhythm, students are given a set of 4 cubes with quarter notes, eighth note pairs, and quarter rests written on them (this is optional, but if you have these, it makes it a challenge for them if you have time to write them out!).

After hearing the rhythm example, they must "rubix cube style" arrange the rhythm that they heard in the right order that it is played. However, the first one to do it the fastest WINS!

Alternatively, you could play this by having the students write it down, have notation cards, or any other method you prescribe. Students can work together in teams of 1, 2, 4, or however may you wish.

To do it as a race: if you have a large and elongated classroom, try setting the blocks 10-15 feet away from the students. Students then have to run one by one and build each beat, go back and tag the next student, and build the second beat, and on and so forth until all four beats are completed.

There are 12 4-beat rhythm examples included in this. All you need to do is play the example and advance the powerpoint slide to show the correct answer!

Have a great time with this!

Based off the hit Windows 3.11 game we all knew and loved, Rhythm Sweeper is a progressive game where one slip can end you up on the dreaded mine! This will have your kids reading and mastering rhythms in NO TIME! Students will see a grid of 40 squares on the home page. Each square contains either a link to a rhythm.... or a mine :) I select one student at a time to pick a number. I'll then click on the number and it'll advance to the designated slide. If it's a rhythm, we add that rhythm to the Building Board on the home page. The teacher will click "Back to Game and Building Board" and put the rhythm they just received on the board. As for the rhythms they earned, you can cut out rhythms, write them in dry erase, or have a student keep tabs on the side. Students will now say, sing, or play the rhythm back. Then we repeat! See how it gets progressive? ;) ...until the mine! There are 5 mines in each game, and once the mine is hit, it's GAME OVER! At the end, you can tally up how many beats the class amassed (which is great if you can allow student to add it up as the game has half, quarter, and pairs of eighth notes). Compete against other classes, or themselves! There are 10 files in the pack and each one is completely different (all the rhythms are mixed up and of course, so are the mines) Have fun with this! I keep lively music in the background and have the kids on lummi sticks to play the rhythms back. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment!

Wanna get your Orff Ensemble moving and grooving but don't know where to start? Get percussive with an original composition named "The Fantastic Three" for your three groups in your families of Orff -- Soprano, Alto, and Bass!

This Orff Ensemble orchestration provides parts for Soprano, Alto, and Bass Xylophone/Metallophone All parts work together and you can perform the arrangement with all or just some of the parts

You are free to dissect melodies and harmonies to what you wish, or play right from the beginning to the end. There are 3 four-measure sections to teach your kids (by rote), and you can arrange these sections (labeled "A", "B", and "C") in any form you want. ABACA. ABABCAB. AABBCC, etc!

Included are:

• Part for Soprano
• Part for Alto
• Part for Bass

What's it sound like? Check out the preview and see if it's a good fit!

Ready to talk about Forte and Piano in any of your grades? Boom it up, Dynamically! will get your kids reading dynamics like a pro!

First, we start off with an introduction to Forte and Piano with a clip from Music K8's animated series (included in the zip file), and then get into the game:

Students are issued boomwhackers (all colors!) and dynamics are shown on the screen. Sometimes just 4 dynamics, sometimes 6, and even up to 8. The teacher points to the dynamic (optional) as the kids play along on their boomwhackers while the background music (included) helps them keep on beat! After the students master the dynamics, the teacher advances the slide and dynamic shifts get a little harder each time.

There are 9 rounds to challenge your kids over a course of 2 lessons, 4 lessons, or however long you wish

Round 1 - 4 Beats
Round 2 - 6 Beats
Round 3 - 8 Beats
Round 4 - With Quarter Rests in 4 Beat Patterns
Round 5 - With Quarter Rests in 6 Beat Patterns
Round 6 - Two Part Split (C,E,G + D, F, A, B)
Round 7 - Two Part Split 6 Beat Patterns
Round 8 - Two Part Split 8 Beat Patterns
Round 9 - Three Part Split

Three tracks at various tempi are included (slow for the little kids, and medium and fast for the bigger kids)

Have a ton of fun with this and let me know what you think!

Five jamming Boomwhacker arrangements for your classroom! Each Boomwhacker is assigned an 8 beat rhythm, most different than others. This gives kids opportunities to reinforce their own rhythms while playing in an ensemble. If you want to explore a different method, you can split half of the class on one rhythm, and the other half on a different. You could play them in a round, canon, explore different dynamics, loop it -- the possibilities are endless! And with 5 different compositions, you'll have the freedom to explore without getting tired of the same arrangement. This can also be used with non-pitched and even pitched percussion. Included is a 5 minute African drum groove to get your kids going. Have fun -- here comes the boom!

The follow-up to "Rhythm Wind Up and PITCH!"
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This one will get the kids on their edge of their seats!

You will need 1 thing for this particular game:

• A sticky suction cup ball (or maybe a soft squishy ball)

The students will see a melody at the bottom of their screen and memorize the melodic direction or say it back in their head (just make sure the melodic is not sung out loud). They will then hear a musical example of an endless loop of melodic figures separated by 4 beats each in between rhythms. (Teacher will click the speaker icon to play)

Take a listen...

....

....

One of the melodic figures will be the melody that is on the screen. AS SOON AS THEY HEAR THAT MELODY, they throw their suction cup ball at the target. The first kid who gets it correct is the winner (and make sure you advance the slide to make the target turn green) :)

Obviously, we cannot play this as a class because of

1. The amount of suction cup balls tossed at the screen would be insane

2. Team A v Team B would be a bit more competitive and only two balls would be launched at once

If you don't have a whiteboard/projection screen, you can alternatively have the students raise their hand when they hear it and choose the kid who has their hand up the fastest.

Have a great time with this fast paced game!

This is a terrific tool to work on meter either face to face or as a lesson in Distance Learning! Students will learn and review about Time Signatures before listening to short examples of a piece of music in either 3/4, 4/4 or 6/8 time.

Students will then have to select the appropriate meter for the example being heard. You can play this student vs student, side vs side, individually, or even as a distance learning assignment!

12 musical examples (from Mozart to Aerosmith) are included with this lesson -- some examples may even surprise you :)

Have a great time with this!

Down, Set, HUT!

In Bar Line Blitz, student will see a meter with several beats of music – except the bar lines are missing to separate the measures from each other!

They will will see 2 or more line placeholders (small grey lines) in between notes. One of the placeholders is where the bar line should go… but which one is it?

Identify where the bar line should be placed and the correct area will illuminate
green if it is accurate!

Play team vs team, A vs B, or individually... and enhance it by playing some fun football music in the background (search NFL themes or college football fight songs on YouTube) ;)

There are 4 levels (4 quarters if you wish) of varying difficulties. The last quarter, they students will need to identify where it should be placed without any small grey lined hashmarks

Have a great time with this one!

Do you need fun and engaging music activities for December? Designed with the youngest composers in mind - these blank manuscript pages allow students to compose their own pieces! Draw the music notes or use small stickers to piece together a classical composition. Treble & bass clef tracing sheets are also included.

This set is inspired by "The Nutcracker" and features clipart from the well-loved story/performance.

More Nutcracker Resources!

Nutcracker Fairy Tale Story Listening Sheets (★ NEW!)

The Nutcracker Listening Sheets

The Nutcracker Listening Sheet Preview

El Cascanueces (En Español)

The Nutcracker Word Search

The Nutcracker Performance Journal

The Nutcracker Scene List

The Nutcracker Number Writing

The Nutcracker Activity Bundle

The Nutcracker Bingo Game

The Nutcracker Music Notes Match

The Nutcracker Listening & Match Bundle

The Nutcracker & Festive December Bundle

► We know you'll love helping students create meaningful connections to classical music, so we are happy to share these free listening activities with you today!

Are you ready for the sounds of the spooky season? Now's the time to make some Spooky Sounds with your students!

Spooky Songs is a PRINT AND GO activity and comes with a variety of options to use with your students in the packet. Part of this set is from The October Piano Book.

On each page, students can write notes or music alphabet letters on a set of spider webs.

Included in this pack are pages for:

• 2 8-beat rhythms in “4/4” time
• 2 8-beat melodies in “4/4” time
• 1 16-beat rhythms in “4/4” time
• 1 16-beat melodies in “4/4” time
• 2 8-beat rhythms in “3/4” time
• 2 8-beat melodies in “3/4” time
• 1 16-beat rhythms in “3/4” time
• 1 16-beat melodies in “3/4” time
• 1 8-beat rhythm in “4/4” time in landscape orientation
• 1 8-beat melody in “4/4” time in landscape orientation 
• 1 6-beat rhythm in “3/4” time in landscape orientation
• 1 6-beat melody in “3/4” time in landscape orientation

Your support of a small business is greatly appreciated! Please note that while this resource is reproducible, only the original purchaser may make copies and distribute to their students, but not to their fellow teachers/schools. You may direct your colleagues here to purchase their own set.

Catalogue: MTP-SPCP-DG

© 2023 ZS Music Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Do you need fun and engaging Halloween music activities? Designed with the youngest composers in mind - these blank manuscript pages allow students to compose their own pieces! Draw the music notes or use small stickers to piece together a classical composition. Treble & bass clef tracing sheets are also included.

Make learning note names and their locations on the piano fun with Piano Bingo! This engaging activity is perfect for helping students begin to connect notes on the staff with their corresponding keys on the piano.

What’s Included:

• 6 Bingo Cards:
  • 2 Cards with Treble Clef, Piano, and Rhythm/Vocab: One with 25 spaces and one with 16 spaces.
  • 2 Cards with Bass Clef, Piano, and Rhythm/Vocab: One with 25 spaces and one with 16 spaces.
  • 2 Cards with Treble Clef, Bass Clef, Piano, and Rhythm/Vocab: One with 25 spaces and one with 16 spaces.

How It Works:

• Fill in the Blanks: Students fill in the blank spaces on their Bingo cards with note names, piano keys, or rhythm durations, based on the teacher's prompts.
• Play Bingo: The teacher calls out notes, piano keys, or rhythms, and students mark their cards. The first to get a line, full house, or pattern wins!
• Reinforce Learning: This activity reinforces the connection between the notes on the staff and their corresponding keys on the piano, while also helping students practice rhythm recognition.

Why You’ll Love It:

• Interactive Learning: Turns note identification and piano key location into a fun, interactive game.
• Flexible Use: The variety of cards allows for different combinations of treble clef, bass clef, piano keys, and rhythms, and vocab words making it adaptable for various learning levels.
• Engaging for All Ages: Suitable for beginners and young students who are just starting to learn how to read music and identify notes on the piano.

Perfect for:

• Piano Teachers: A fun way to reinforce note reading and piano key identification in lessons or group classes.
• Classroom Use: Great for music teachers looking to add a hands-on, engaging activity to their curriculum.
• Practice at Home: Parents can use this as a fun tool to support their child’s music education at home.

Bring excitement to learning note names and piano key locations with Piano Bingo!

Before you trim the tree, get your students in the holiday spirit and trim the page with their own compositions with Ornament Originals composing sheet set!

Ornament Originals is a PRINT AND GO activity and comes with a variety of options to use with your students in the packet. On each page, students can write notes or music alphabet letters on a set of tree ornaments.

Included in this pack are pages for:

• 2 8-beat rhythms in “4/4” time
• 2 8-beat melodies in “4/4” time
• 1 16-beat rhythms in “4/4” time
• 1 16-beat melodies in “4/4” time
• 2 8-beat rhythms in “3/4” time
• 2 8-beat melodies in “3/4” time
• 1 16-beat rhythms in “3/4” time
• 1 16-beat melodies in “3/4” time
• 1 8-beat rhythm in “4/4” time in landscape orientation
• 1 8-beat melody in “4/4” time in landscape orientation 
• 1 6-beat rhythm in “3/4” time in landscape orientation
• 1 6-beat melody in “3/4” time in landscape orientation

Your support of a small business is greatly appreciated! Please note that while this resource is reproducible, only the original purchaser may make copies and distribute to their students, but not to their fellow teachers/schools. You may direct your colleagues here to purchase their own set.

Catalogue: MTP-OOCP-DG

© 2023 ZS Music Publishing. All Rights Reserved.