Over the last few weeks I've been sharing the songs and dances my K-6 elementary students have performed in our annual International Music Festival, and today I'm compiling them all for easy reference! If you're looking for something to add to your concert, informance, or your general music classes, I highly recommend all of these!
In each of these lists I've noted the specific grade level I use each piece with as well as a brief description of what students do/ how I arrange the song, but obviously these can be adapted for different grade levels, equipment/ instruments, etc so I highly recommend looking through all of them to see what might fit your needs.
Kindergarten / 1st grade: Native American, Bolivia, Colombia, and Syria
2nd / 3rd grade: Maori New Zealand, India, and Philippines
4th / 5th / 6th grade: Japan, Korea, Mozambique, and Brazil
I hope you find some new songs and dances to teach your students! If you're unsure about how to teach music from unfamiliar cultures, or want to see more of my lesson plans with music from around the world, check out all my posts on the topic here. If you have any questions or other songs you'd add to the list, leave a comment below! I love hearing from you!
I am so excited to be able to share this new lesson plan that I came up with for the end of the school year with my most challenging 4th and 5th grade classes that I knew were not going to want to listen to ANYTHING I had to say or want to do anything that felt like "work", but also would dissolve into chaos if we were just playing freeze dance or something the whole period. I already have so many ideas for ways to adapt this game for band, orchestra, or choir classes in middle or even high school, and it's a great way to review rhythm notation and music vocabulary for whatever they're working on! Introducing: the Team Rhythm Challenge!
I knew I needed to come up with a lesson that would be engaging, require as few directions from me as possible, have some level of friendly, low-stakes competition, and also get the kids to work together in teams. What I came up with was the idea of the Team Rhythm Challenge, and it kept even my most difficult classes engaged the entire lesson on their very last day of music class before summer (so I think that's saying something).
Setup
Before class, I set out a music stand at the end of each row of seats. My students sit in 6 rows that I label as "color teams" (read more about all the ways I use them in this post) so each team got one music stand at the end of the row. I rarely use music stands in my general music classes- they're mostly in the room for the band and orchestra to use- so this immediately piqued their interest when they walked in and saw something new. I also had a scoreboard at the front of the room to keep track of points, so they knew something was about to go down!
Process
The primary goal was for me to give as few verbal directions as possible, so that I wouldn't have to bother getting their attention. I put the basic directions on the board, told them at the beginning that they will win the most points for their team if they paid attention, then breezed through the game without stopping to wait for anyone. They figured out pretty quickly that they would lose if they weren't paying attention, so they did!
The basic idea of the game is that each team has a rhythm that they have to count, then count and clap, then count and clap with a dynamic marking, then play with the same dynamics on an instrument, then play as an ostinato with a track. They get 1 minute to practice with their team before each level, and they can earn 1 point for doing it correctly. The team with the most points at the end wins the challenge. Here's a sped-up re-enactment of how I ran it to avoid verbal directions as much as possible and keep things moving quickly:
There are so many ways to adapt this game and customize it for whatever vocabulary and notation students are reviewing! I will definitely be keeping this for right before breaks with my older students. If you want the full details on all the different ways to play the game, plus all the slides and print-outs I used, you can get those here.
What are your most successful lessons for the end of the school year with upper elementary/ middle school classes? It can be tricky to find something that they will get excited about but this one was a huge success! If you have any ideas or questions please leave a comment below.
I've been doing a school-wide International Music Festival, where every grade level performs music and dance from a different country, for a few years now, and it is probably my favorite performance event I've ever done but it is a lot to put together! Although for the most part each grade studies the same culture each year to fit in with the skills and concepts they are learning in general music, each year I change at least some of the pieces so it's never the exact same program. Here are the performance pieces I have used over the years with my upper elementary grades- each of these would work well as part of any concert, informance, or program on their own, or you can use this list to put together your own International Music Festival!
I'm listing the pieces by culture/ country below, with the grade level I used them with in parentheses. Obviously many of these could be done with different grades as well, not just the ones I use them with!
Japan (4th grade)
Akatonbo (students sing the song, first together and then in a round, while playing different triple meter ostinato patterns on various instruments- I use things like finger cymbals, tone blocks, hand drums, and metallophones- along with other color instruments in between sections- I use ocean drums, wind chimes, etc)
Sakura (students sing the song while some play different ostinato patterns on percussion and barred instruments and some play harmony on recorder- link includes arrangement)
Tokyo Ondo (students stand in a circle (or two concentric circles if the group is large) and do the Tokyo Ondo dance with this track)
Korea (4th grade)
Arirang (students sing the song, first together and then in a round, while playing different triple meter ostinato patterns on various instruments- I use things like finger cymbals, tone blocks, hand drums, and metallophones- along with other color instruments in between sections- I use ocean drums, wind chimes, etc)
Buchaechum (students each hold 2 fans and do some basic moves with the linked recording)
Timbila (students gradually layer in repeated lines similar to the linked recording on bass, alto, and soprano xylophones)
Bombela (students sit in a circle and pass beanbags on the beat while singing, each verse the passing pattern gets gradually more difficult)
Brazil (6th grade)
Batucada (students stand in rows by instrument and step in place on the beat while playing some characteristic ostinato patterns on guiro, tamborine, tube shaker, tubano drums with the carrying strap, and agogo bells)
Escatumbararibe (students sit in a circle and do the cup passing game demonstrated in the linked video while singing the song)
Tambores (students stand in rows facing a partner and sing while doing the clapping game demonstrated in the linked recording, with 3 different versions gradually increasing in difficulty)
If you have other songs or musical performances you've done representing these cultures, or other ways you've used these songs, I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below! I've split up my lists of performance pieces I use in my K-6 International Music Festival into grade spans- here are the pieces I use with K-1/ early childhood, and here are the pieces I use with 2nd and 3rd grades. And if you are thinking about putting together a similar program, you can find all the information on what I do and how I do it, from logistics to teaching to stage setup, in this post:
I've been doing a school-wide International Music Festival, where every grade level performs music and dance from a different country, for a few years now, and it is probably my favorite performance event I've ever done but it is a lot to put together! Although for the most part each grade studies the same culture each year to fit in with the skills and concepts they are learning in general music, each year I change at least some of the pieces so it's never the exact same program. Here are the performance pieces I have used over the years with my middle elementary grades- each of these would work well as part of any concert, informance, or program on their own, or you can use this list to put together your own International Music Festival!
I'm listing the pieces by culture/ country below, with the grade level I used them with in parentheses. Obviously many of these could be done with different grades as well, not just the ones I use them with!
Maori New Zealand (2nd grade)
E Papa Waiari (students sit in rows facing a partner and do a different tititorea stick pattern with each verse, stopping to sing the last repeated line with the recording before changing patterns)
Hine E Hine (students stand spread out, each holding one poi rope, and do some basic repeated moves with the poi with the recording, singing along with the repeated A section)
Tutira Mai (students stand in rows and sing while doing the motions as shown in the linked video)
India (2nd grade)
Kochu Poocha (students stand and sing while doing the motions as shown in the linked video. I've also had them sing while doing a clapping pattern facing a partner)
Chakkardi Bhammardi (students stand in a circle each holding 2 sticks and do the stick game as shown in the video)
Philippines (3rd grade)
Tinikling (students stand in rows between jump bands and do the basic tinikling step with the music as shown in the video, with one student holds the bands on each end of each pair of bands, sitting on the floor as shown with the poles)
Bahay Kubo (half of the students sing the chorus while the other half plays a harmony line on recorder, then they swap parts)
Magtanim Ay Di Biro (students sing the song while doing motions to show the lyrics, similar to the linked video, in the A section, then face a partner and do a simple clapping pattern with the beat for the B section)
If you have other songs or musical performances you've done representing these cultures, or other ways you've used these songs, I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below! I've split up my lists of performance pieces I use in my K-6 International Music Festival into grade spans- here are the pieces I use with K-1/ early childhood, and check back for the pieces I use with upper elementary/ middle school. And if you are thinking about putting together a similar program, you can find all the information on what I do and how I do it, from logistics to teaching to stage setup, in this post:
