Looking for music resources for secondary music classes that have been tried and tested in the classroom? With 25+ years of experience teaching in secondary schools in the UK and internationally, I am deeply passionate about music and drama education.
Looking for music resources for secondary music classes that have been tried and tested in the classroom? With 25+ years of experience teaching in secondary schools in the UK and internationally, I am deeply passionate about music and drama education.
A fun, quick game which is perfect as a starter or plenary.
Students need to spot the odd one out - instruments, composers and musical terms.
This game can easily be played individually or in teams.
15 fun questions to answer. A great ice-breaker game.
This is a great pitch identification game you can play with the class as a warm-up game or activity.
The powerpoint has 10 different pitches for students to identify. Students have access to a worksheet with all the pitches. It’s best if the worksheet is placed in an individual plastic wallet to make the worksheet re-usable for many classes.
Display the first pitch and count down 3,2,1 and ask students to hold up the sheet pointing to the correct answer. This way you can visually see who understands the task with the correct answer and allows you to instantly fill gaps of mis-understanding about notes on the stave.
This powerpoint is the first in a series of lessons exploring music history - 1920s!
Students will get to explore and learn the Blues and then compare it to Minimalistic music. The powerpoint has links to relevant online music recordings, facts, diagrams and allows students to explore the blues scale, chromatic scale, tone rows and composing.
The powerpoint can also be used as a starting point for practical work or a composition task based around this musical time frame.
This powerpoint links with the Year 3 topic 1 (Popular Music) of the Middle School Curriculum that is for sale. However, this lesson will work perfectly for High School students.
This powerpoint is the second in a series of lessons exploring SCALES. It walks students through major, minor and pentatonic scales.
The resource has links to relevant online music recordings, facts, diagrams and allows students to explore the scales and has easy to follow compositions tasks.
This powerpoint links with the Year 2 topic 1 (Scales) of the Middle School Music Curriculum that is for sale. Worksheets for each scale are available to purchase separately.
Also, this lesson will work perfectly for High School students or any ensembles learning pieces based around scales.
This is the first lesson of the Blues topic where students explore the Blues Scale.
The powerpoint has been redesigned for remote learning and can be shared with students on google classroom or other learning platforms.
This is the second lesson in a series that will allow students to learn the chord sequence for the 12 bar blues.
It has been created for google classroom but can be adapted for other online platforms.
This is one worksheet that comes from a series of 10. The bundle can be purchased separately on the shop page.
Each worksheet explores a different genre and styles of music and will make a great one-off lesson, homework task or could even be expanded into a longer class project.
Each worksheet has an opportunity for students to complete initial individual research of the specific genre of music.
There is a listening exercise that expands upon the historical / context already learnt by the students.
Each worksheet finishes with the opportunity for independent project work where students can pick a task from the list and use it as a final assessment piece that can be assessed by the teacher. Students will have the flexibility in how they present the work for assessment making this a great student-led project.
This task is linked to Year 2 module 3 of the middle school curriculum (Instrumental music).
This is one worksheet that comes from a series of 10. The bundle can be purchased separately on the shop page.
Each worksheet explores a different genre and styles of music and will make a great one-off lesson, homework task or could even be expanded into a longer class project.
Each worksheet has an opportunity for students to complete initial individual research of the specific genre of music.
There is a listening exercise that expands upon the historical / context already learnt by the students.
Each worksheet finishes with the opportunity for independent project work where students can pick a task from the list and use it as a final assessment piece that can be assessed by the teacher. Students will have the flexibility in how they present the work for assessment making this a great student-led project.
This task is linked to Year 2 module 3 of the middle school curriculum (Instrumental music).
This worksheet will work perfectly with the the second in a series of lessons exploring SCALES. (powerpoint unit is for sale separately and you can buy all the worksheets as a bundle).
This worksheet is for composing melodies around the A minor scale. Students have space to write in rough, write notation and if time can be transferred on to music software.
These resources links with the Year 2 topic 1 (Scales) of the Middle School Music Curriculum that is for sale.
Also, this lesson will work perfectly for High School students or any ensembles learning pieces based around scales.
This is one worksheet that comes from a series of 10. The bundle can be purchased separately on the shop page.
Each worksheet explores a different genre and styles of music and will make a great one-off lesson, homework task or could even be expanded into a longer class project.
Each worksheet has an opportunity for students to complete initial individual research of the specific genre of music.
There is a listening exercise that expands upon the historical and context already learned by the students.
Each worksheet finishes with the opportunity for independent project work where students can pick a task from the list and use it as a final assessment piece that can be assessed by the teacher. Students will have the flexibility in how they present the work for assessment making this a great student-led project.
Musical elements dynamic terms quiz powerpoint for KS3 and KS4 music
There are 50 questions focusing specifically on dynamics that have been broken into 5 sets of 10 questions.
This gives you the option to decide whether you want to use each section separately as a fun starter activity or complete the whole powerpoint in one go.
You can have students working individually, in pairs or in groups to answer the questions. This gives you the ability to adapt the quiz to meet your specific classroom set up.
This powerpoint can work as a sub lesson with a non-specialist as the answers are at the end of each section.
Dynamics covered:
Italian names
Dynamics symbols
English terms
Reading dynamics from a score - Beethoven and Chopin piano pieces
Popular music worksheet - comparing two pieces by Louis Armstrong
This is a great introduction lesson to the jazz musician Louis Armstrong. It’s a chance for students to learn to compare two contrasting pieces (these are easily accessible on music streaming sites - Heebie Jeebies and Hello Dolly). This single lesson activity will work perfectly for class lessons, homework or a substitute / cover lesson.
The worksheet starts with some basic historical facts about Armstrong and simple comprehension questions.
Then there is a comparison question where students listen to Heebie Jeebies and Hello Dolly. These pieces are easily found on music streaming sites. Students will describe the musical features of both pieces and then look for similarities. This is a great opportunity to develop understanding of musical elements and lead into to class discussion work about the music that they are listening to.
This worksheet links with the KS3 / Middle School Music Curriculum that is available to purchase on Passionate About Music Education page.
Concert Planning / logistic Checklist - excel spreadsheet
This is the perfect checklist for all busy music teachers who needs assistance with planning the logistics of a concert and want to ensure that nothing is missed.
The editable spreadsheet includes ideas of some of the tasks you will need to complete in the lead up to the concert, the day of the concert and afterwards.
It allows you to assign who is responsible for completing each task so that you can take some of the stress off your plate.
Don’t forget to follow this TES page and why not check out passionate about music education channel on Youtube.
A fun, quick game which is perfect as a starter or plenary.
Students need to spot the odd one out. Can be played individually or in teams.
15 fun questions to answer. A great ice-breaker game.
This is one worksheet that comes from a series of 10. The bundle can be purchased separately on the shop page.
Each worksheet explores a different genre and styles of music and will make a great one-off lesson, homework task, cover work or could even be expanded into a longer class project.
Each worksheet has an opportunity for students to complete initial individual research of the specific genre of music.
There is a listening exercise that expands upon the historical and musical context already learned by the students.
Each worksheet finishes with the opportunity for independent project work where students can pick a task from the list and use it as a final assessment piece that can be assessed by the teacher. Students will have the flexibility in how they present the work for assessment making this a great student-led project.
This task is linked to Year 3 module 1 of the middle school curriculum (Pop Music).
Choir Piece Review worksheet for music / choral classes.
This 2 page worksheet was created to help students start to think about the choral works they sing in class in more detail.
On the first page are general music questions about the composer, genre of music and musical elements (tempo, etc). On the second page students are to answer simple self-reflection questions about the piece to encourage them to consider how to practice and improve their own performance. They need to identify challenging passages of rhythm and melody and then to consider how they can practice these outside of the classroom.
This is an editable 2 page worksheet. It can be used as a homework task, classroom activity or for a sub lesson.
Band Piece review worksheet for school music / band classes.
This 2 page worksheet was created to help students start to think about the band repertoire they practice in class in more detail.
On the first page are general music questions about the composer, genre of music and musical elements (tempo, etc). On the second page students are to answer simple self-reflection questions about the piece to encourage them to consider how to practice and improve their own performance. They need to identify challenging passages of rhythm and melody and then to consider how they can practice these outside of the classroom.
This is an editable 2 page worksheet. It can be used as a homework task, classroom activity or for a sub lesson.
**Classical music worksheet KS3 - comparing two pieces by Mozart **
This is a great introduction lesson to the Classical composer Mozart. It’s a chance for students to learn to compare two contrasting pieces (these are easily accessible on music streaming sites - Rondo alla Turca and Marriage of Figaro Overture). This single lesson activity will work perfectly for class lessons, homework or a substitute / cover lesson.
The worksheet starts with some basic historical facts about Mozart and simple comprehension questions.
Then there is a comparison question where students listen to Rondo alla Turca and Marriage of Figaro Overture. These pieces are easily found on music streaming sites. Students will describe the musical features of both pieces and then look for similarities. This is a great opportunity to develop understanding of musical elements and lead into to class discussion work about the music that they are listening to.
This worksheet links with the secondary / middle school music curriculum that is available to purchase on Passionate About Music Education page.
Pop music worksheet - comparing two singles. This is a great introduction lesson to The Beatles and learning to compare two songs. Works perfectly for class, homework or even a cover lesson.
The worksheet starts with some basic history about the band and simple questions.
Then there is a comparison question where students listen to Love Me Do and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club. Students will describe the musical features of both singles and then look for similarities.
This links with Year 3, 1st Unit module from the Middle School Music Curriculum that is available to purchase on Passionate About Music Education page.
An introduction music lesson on Protest Songs - powerpoint
This resources was created for middle / high school music classes and is an introduction to protest songs. I have used the powerpoint on-line and in the classroom and it can take 2 x 45 minutes to work through the whole presentation. There are 12 slides.
The slides include the following artists and songs:
Bob Dylan - Masters of War
Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come
2Pac - Changes
There are links to the recordings, a brief historical intro and a series of musical questions for each artist. Questions can be answered verbally in class or as a written task. This powerpoint could be used for a cover lesson.
It would also work as a great intro for any general music classes or choral classes looking at studying protest songs in more depth.
There are some suggested musical extension tasks at the end of the powerpoint that you could use if you wanted the lesson to be the introduction to a whole unit.