The Noble Duke of York is a great song for practicing 6/8 time, steady beat, and melodic contour in the elementary music classroom. The benefit of this song is that you can use it with a wide range of grade levels with simple adjustments to your lesson. Kindergarten...
Bate Bate Chocolate is a traditional children’s rhyme. As with many children’s rhymes, it has different versions. Some lyrics describe cooking mole sauce (a delicious sauce native to Mexico), while others describe stirring chocolate. My favorite version is...
The best advice I can ever give new elementary music teachers is to keep them moving. Use every opportunity you have to expend their energy. Movement has so many benefits, just a few being that it’s great for steady beat practice, expressiveness, and keeps...
Los Esqueletos is a children’s song from Costa Rica, and it’s all about skeletons. The thing I love the most about this song is its lyrics. I love the multiple verses, which describe skeletons doing ordinary activities, such as eating rice, going to the...
The Maple Leaf Rag is a fantastic piece to teach students about steady beat, syncopation, and the genius of Scott Joplin. The concern I hear from most teachers, is that they just don’t know where to begin when it comes to incorporating Western art music into...
I’m here today with some lesson ideas that will keep your kids moving and learning to Vivaldi’s Summer. Below is a fantastic video featuring Joshua Bell performing The Four Seasons “Summer” Presto. One commenter of the video said, “This...
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