7th Grade Music Lesson

In Own the Beat or Take a Seat the teacher will play a four to eight beat rhythm (as displayed on the powerpoint). After teaching them the rhythm, the entire class will perform the rhythm back in unison

Then, the teacher will ask the class to repeat the rhythm a certain amount of times (1 time, 2 times, 4 times, etc)

What do students have to do? OWN THAT BEAT...!

• Students will perform the rhythm on rhythm sticks, drums, Orff instruments, their hands, their laps, however you do it!

• Students will have to focus on performing that rhythm exactly how it is written

• ... and of course, focus on repeating the rhythm for the EXACT many times as stated ... or else...

TAKE A SEAT! If a student plays an extra beat or an extra part of the rhythm after the class has ended playing it, they have to take a seat (either on the floor, in the circle, on their chair, however you want to do it)

The class will then repeat the rhythm again the amount of times listed until it is played without an extra beat or part of the rhythm. The ones who took a seat are allowed to stand back up again and join the game already in progress

...Then you go to the next level!

Play the rhythm 5 times....
Play the rhythm 6 times...

_Play the rhythm 7 times....
_
(but of course if there's an extra beat... that student takes a seat, and you go back to performing where you left off to get that student back in!)

THEN ONTO THE NEXT LEVEL

Dependent on how fluent your class is, you can use this as part of a lesson, a good chunk of it, or even continue it onto the next weeks lesson to see how good they really are (and what level they can get to)

Play it with a ten minute time and keep score of which class can get the highest by the 3rd week or the 4th week?

Possibilities are endless!

Play it as is or some background music (I like to throw on some 80s, 90s, or clean pop just to get a groove going). Enjoy this game

We're BACK and for 2021 in the follow-up to the #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music" series, we now bring you....

Part SEVEN!

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 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 2021 hit list:

• Bang!, AJR
• Blinding Lights, The Weeknd
• Drivers License, Olivia Rodrigo
• Follow You, Imagine Dragons
• Kings & Queens, Ava Max
• Levitating, Dua Lipa
• Mood, 24kGoldn
• Save Your Tears, The Weeknd
• Selfish, Nick Jonas
• Watermelon Sugar, Harry Styles

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

Have fun, kids LOVE this!

______________________________________

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

Halloween is right around the corner just in time for your upper elementary or even middle schoolers, a brand new trap remix which is a mashup of "Spooky Scary Skeletons" and Disney's "Skeleton Dance" we present to you the "Skeletons Remix" trap version!

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 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=pzdqbeuakHo

Keep it steady and keep it spooky! This is a terrific resource to work on triplets and a great piece to showcase to admin, parents, assemblies, and the alike -- it really gets the kids jamming!

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!

Need to connect with your kids with their classical music with a twist? Involve them in bucket drumming with TRAP Remix version of "Rondo Alla Turca" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A WIN-WIN for all of your kids while you teach about Baroque and Classical!

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, 4, 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)

The mp3 background file is included in this

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!

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.

__________________________________

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

Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with Teddy Swims' smash number "Lose Control"!

There are six 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 6 times). Then, apply it to drums!

• This is a great piece to work on groupings of three (the original is in 6/8, but it is modified to two sets of 3/4 bars)

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/hbLQcznfXlc?si=MIjHOSiJlyg1J6AE

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!

Need to connect with your kids with their game music? Involve them in bucket drumming with the famous theme that spanned last generation right into this generation - The POKEMON theme!

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 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://youtu.be/JuYeHPFR3f0

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!

Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with Billy Joel's hit from 1983, everyone's favorite Uptown Girl!

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 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=o-0Oect0nVQ

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!

The #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music!" has multiple follow versions! In addition to the Original Version, you can download Part TWO (2014), Part THREE (2015), Part FOUR (2017), Part FIVE (2018), and Part SEVEN (2021) below:

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 SEVEN

We're BACK and our space tech theme has taken over the layout for 2019 in the follow-up to the #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music" series, we now bring you

Part SIX!

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 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 2019 hit list:

Lose You to Love Me - Selena Gomez

Old Town Road - Lil Nas X ft. Billy Cyrus
Memories - Maroon 5
Beautiful People - Ed Sheeran
High Hopes - Panic! at the Disco
If I Can't Have You - Shawn Mendes
How do you Sleep? - Sam Smith
Sucker - Jonas Brothers
Back to You - Selena Gomez
Senorita - Camilla Cabello, ft. Shawn Mendes

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

Have fun, kids LOVE this!

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"!

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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!

Looking for some new Orff compositions? In this pack you will get 3 different Orff compositions entitled "Spirit of the Phoenix", "A Minor Mystery" and "Pentatonic Soundscapes" for Xylophones (Soprano, Alto, and Bass), Tubanos, and Tambourines.

Detail is given on how pieces are structured so you kids can play along, and notation comes will letters below (just in case you'd like to teach them by rote).

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. Enjoy these compositions!

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 :)

Right in time for Halloween with your bucket drumming kids, and of course a classic anytime of year is the #1 All-Time Hit from Michael Jackson's album of the same name, "Thriller" but re-envisioned in a TRAP Remix!

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 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=xXKuLqBJDRo

Have some halloween fun in class or even for a performance!

______________________

Terms of Use:

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

__________________________________

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

Get ready to Boom it up with your Boomwhackers in this new game that will get your kids engaged from minute 0!

In BoomBastic Rhythm Remix, students will all receive Boomwhackers (either 1 or 2, at the teachers discretion). They will see a series of notes on the bottom of the staff (F space) and the top of the staff (E space).

The notes on the bottom of the staff are designed to be played on the ground (either at an angle, perpendicular, however you choose). The notes on the top of the staff are designed to be played on their hand in the air.

If the entire class plays the rhythm correctly (on the correct area, air or ground), they receive 50 points as you advance the slide onto the next rhythm!

There are 6 rounds

Round 1 - Quarter Notes with Air and Ground signs

Round 2 - Quarter Notes
Round 3 - Eighth Note Pairs

Round 4 - Quarter Note Rests
Round 5 - Adding in playing on the knee on lap (A space with the "Knee" sign)

Round 6 - Continuation

The game is over at 3000 points -- congrats!

I like to play this with background music at around 90-100bpm for some of my older grades and give them a 4 count cue to play the rhythm. The teacher decides the level of mastery before advancing onto the next slide.

Have a great time with this and BOOM IT UP!

Listening to Popular music isn’t just for enjoyment. It contains critical pieces of musical composition that makes it sound the way it does!

In "The Elements of Pop", students will be given 8 short examples of pop music (about 30-45 seconds long all mp3s included and embedded into the powerpoint) and will be see a multiple choice selection of elements that described the pop music being played

It's mostly broad terminology you teach in your music class: Rhythm, Tempo, Major/Minor, Instrumentation, Vocal ranges, etc!

This is great assessment to do as a class, individually, or even through distance learning! Have your cake and eat it too!

Pair this with the Identify Form in Popular Music series and you got yourself engaging lesson material!

Let us know how it is goes in the comments :)

Looking for an upbeat tune that'll get your kids engaged? Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in a TRAP Remix version of this bucket drumming arrangement of Imagine Dragons' hit, "Believer"!

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)

• The mp3 is included in this so you can play right along.

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!

Listening to Popular music isn’t just for enjoyment. It contains critical pieces of musical composition that makes it sound the way it does!

In "The Elements of Pop", students will be given 8 short examples of pop music (about 30-45 seconds long all mp3s included and embedded into the powerpoint) and will be see a multiple choice selection of elements that described the pop music being played

It's mostly broad terminology you teach in your music class: Rhythm, Tempo, Major/Minor, Instrumentation, Vocal ranges, etc!

This is great assessment to do as a class, individually, or even through distance learning! Have your cake and eat it too!

Pair this with the Identify Form in Popular Music series and you got yourself engaging lesson material!

Let us know how it is goes in the comments :)

Need to connect with your kids with your 80s hits (and have your cake and eat it too?) Involve them in bucket drumming with the classic hit from the 1986 smash movie "Top Gun" in "DANGER ZONE"

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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tbap5exR-Y

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!

Something different in our #1 Selling "Identify Form in Pop Music" series, a THROWBACK to the greatest decade of music (dependent on when you were born of course!) ;)

Identify Form in the 80s!

The lesson begins with an introduction to popular music from the 1980s 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 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.

The 1980s hit list:

• Don't Stop Believing, Journey
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper
• We Didn't Start the Fire, Billy Joel
• Come On Eileen, Dexy's Midnight Runners
• Conga, Gloria Estefan
• Uptown Girl, Billy Joel
• I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Whitney Houston
• Mr. Roboto, Styx
• Thriller, Michael Jackson

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

Have fun, kids LOVE this!

______________________________________

Looking for the modern Identify Form in Pop Music? 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

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 :)