I use this to introduce the boomwhackers to primary and secondary pupils. There is 2+ lessons worth of material covering scale, chords, melody and rhythm. 3 songs are used throughout the lessons and everything is colour-coded to match the Boomwhackers. Songs are from The Sound of Music, The Ramones and Journey. Having had issues with Powerpoints being the same on every computer, I’ve moved to PDFs (as all school computers should realistically have Adobe). Saves installing fonts and having pieces missing from the presentation. Works just like a Powerpoint just in a different program.

This 35 page Samba book covers how to teach, learn and lead Samba. From reading music notation (rhythm) to piecing together your first performance. Each piece has a different theme and gives you the freedom to make your own version. 10 Samba Pieces 10 Songs for Samba 10 Warm-up Ideas 10 Call & Responses 10 Breaks 5 Audio Examples 5 Ready-Made Lessons [PDF] 5 Music Games 4 Pages of alternative rhythms 3 Pages of Grid Method rhythms 3 Templates for making your own 1 Print-out Poster [rhythm circle] NOTE: Make sure you install all the fonts after unzipping the fonts.zip folder to ensure that all Powerpoints look as intended/created. If you have any issues with any files (or would like the PowerPoint versions) then please contact me through Sticks, Keys & Frets: Teaching Resources on Facebook.

This is just the book from the full Samba series I have been working on for the past 2 years made up of rhythms and a line of progression I have used with year 3, 4 and 5 pupils. The full series comes with Audio, Powerpoints and more (COMING SOON). There are 8 pieces included with call & responses, breaks and rhythms as well as songs to use in conjunction with teaching Samba. Also included, especially suited to non-specialists or even just those struggling to communicate rhythm effectively, 3 different methods for teaching rhythm to KS2 and KS3 pupils. Any feedback on this book would be massively helpful to me before I embark on one for snare drum/drum kit, tuned percussion and ukulele. A free (reduced) version of the book is also available.

KEYBOARD, GUITAR, UKULELE, BASS USING C F Am G in different orders. Songs have been transposed to suit the purpose of the learning, focusing on moving between those four shapes. On one occasion, you move to the G chord for one beat which is a great challenge for kids! Drums can easily be added and then used in a band setting so have also added a sheet of 4 drum beats to of varying difficulty. Enjoy!

Simply open like a PowerPoint presentation, have a go through it yourself first so you can see what actions are triggered when and how. #1 Rhythm Shoot-Out - Pupils hear a rhythm, the first to shout 'BANG!' and give the correct answer gets a point. If they guess wrong, the other person gets a chance to guess. #2 What's Behind The Door - Students have to play the rhythm "What's behind the door?" first then the rhythm they are presented with on screen. #3 Music Monopoly - 4 teams navigate a maze to collect points by answering questions, playing rhythms and taking chances. Print out Characters on final slide. #4 Musical Stairs - Teams have to follow the beat of a rhythm and tell you what beat you were on when you stop. Guide rhythm to follow. NOTE: make sure to install the fonts in the .zip file otherwise the games won't look as intended and created.

The 5 pieces included here are: 1. Snow White - Heigh Ho 2. Lion King - In The Jungle 3. Bare Necessities - Jungle Book 4. Do You Want To Build A Snowman? - Frozen 5. Under The Sea - The Little Mermaid I use these alongside games, singing the songs, using solfege (do-re-mi) as well as teach pupils to read notation so that by the time they get to ‘Under The Sea’ they can work out the colours needed. Also included is a Powerpoint file which has the pieces broken down in to chunks (chords and melody). NOTE: Make sure to install the fonts included to ensure the ppt. file looks as created.

Includes 2 introduction lessons and then 5 songs to play. Intended for half/full term. Clear colour coding, instructions and design. Aimed at usage with KS2-3 pupils. Keep in mind, these are not the full songs, however, if you change the lyrics for each verse you can repeat what you need to play it. Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit Queen - We Are The Champion The Ramones - Blitzkreig Bop Journey - Don’t Stop Believing This is also part of a bundle with 10 other Pop and Film songs. FONT: If using the PowerPoint Presentation and not the PDF then you may need to install the fonts inside the .zip file provided

Perfect for guitar, keyboard or ukulele! 30 pop and rock songs ranging from the 1950s to modern day. All songs have been shortened to mostly the beginning to just after the first verse. Most songs have also had their key changed. If this doesn’t mean anything to you, it means that it will be at the wrong pitch to the original version to make it easier to play.

I have done this with KS2 (years 3 + 4) on glockenspiel and it has gone down really well. I have used something similar with year 8 pupils (also including opportunities for ukulele, drums, guitar, bass and composition) but this is a good starting point for pupils before they get to high school. Progress is set out over 4 lessons, looking at the 12 bar blues, chords (broken) / walking bass lines, Blues melodies, flat/sharp notes and improvisation. There is a song that I came up with that pupils love to sing that works nicely with getting them to improvise in between too. Those that excel can also be pushed using the 'Blues Bass & Melodies' sheet to help expand their vocabulary for improvisation. Font: Century Gothic

I have put together 7 pieces from different Disney films based around the world. Quite a few Disney songs have a lot of chords in them or have needed transposing. Some still have harder chords used but I have a lot of pupils who have been bought Ukuleles as a result of doing whole-class lessons so these pupils tend to be able to do them. I usually split pupils in to a chord per team (6 chords, 6 teams), then 2 chords per team then split them in to easy chords and hard chords. These are not lesson plans but to be used along side other aspects of teacher (tab, notation, geography, language, etc). I have also included the Uke-Hero game I developed in these slides in case you do struggle for other things to do with pupils between songs. NOTE: You may need to download the videos for each song to input in to the slides (see: YouTube) Look out for part 2 to this covering countries like China (Mulan), Australia (Nemo), Norway (Frozen)...

I will be using this for my KS2 Ukulele class who've already done a year learning basic chords, bits of strumming, singing, locating frets and the likes (mostly just singing through pop songs and strumming chords). There are some more advanced chords used in this topic as well as a (predominant) focus on plucking and reading tab/fret numbers. There are 2-3 blues songs, 2-3 jazz pieces and 2-3 pop-jazz songs to play through. Some are just the main riff, some are chords that last the whole piece. This is a 6-7 week course with each week laid out with objectives and chance to tick them off at the end of each lesson. NOTE: You will need to install the fonts for it to look as I have made it.

20 Exercises to get you playing drums as well as more advanced beats for afterwards and drum fills. Covers counting, notation, making your own beats and a brief introduction to drum fills. Feedback always welcome and if you drop me your email address I can send you any updates. Page 1. Cover Page 2. Basic Beats 1 Page 3. Basic Beats 2 Page 4. Basic Beats 3 Page 5. Advanced Beats 1 Page 6. Advanced Beats 2 Page 7. Drum Fills 1 Page 8. Drum Fills 2

I have put together a book of all Major, Minor, Major 7, Minor 7 and Dominant 7 chords for Ukulele, Guitar & Keyboard. Root notes and chromatic notes for Bass Guitar are also included. All chords (apart from keyboard) are presented on an updated version of the normal grid/charts used practically everywhere online. I have found that this is easier for pupils to understand as they look more like the instrument than the normal black & white grids. However, it is easy to transfer from this updated version to the traditional look. When I do a song sheet for a song on ukulele I can quickly copy and paste the chords I need from here. Likewise, when I am doing a song sheet in the style of Musical Futures I can copy and paste chords for each instrument then all I need to do is all the lyrics and maybe a snazzy title and picture. Everything is of high quality in case you were thinking of printing them to place around your room or print as a booklet for pupils to refer to as and when needed. Tip: if pupils still struggle reading the grids then suggest that they rotate them left 90 degrees so that they lay the same way as you would then see them when looking down at the instrument (providing that you hold the neck of the instrument in your left hand).

This set of lessons guides pupils through learning 1, 2 & 3 fingered chords along with songs, games, activities, strumming patterns / rhythms, tied together with learning objectives. I've include 4 backing tracks for getting started playing the chords of C, A minor, F and D minor. I label my ukuleles so that each note has a colour; C = Red, D = Orange, E = Yellow, F = Green, G = Blue, A = Purple and B = Pink. Anything else (flats/sharps used) I mark with black stickers. This makes it easy to explain to pupils which finger goes on which colour. NOTE: install the fonts included to ensure the powerpoints look as intended.

Print and get pupils to fill in the notes or add them before photocopying. Four simplified tunes for KS2 pupils including: 1. Harry Potter * 2. The Lion King 3. How To Train Your Dragon 4. Star Wars *missing first note on purpose due to missing the lower note on most primary school glockenspiels / tuned percussion.

35 pages of lessons, pieces, tips on teaching and leading samba, music games, rhythm exercises and more. The full SAMBA pack comes with audio files, powerpoints and print-outs.

I use this for various things... a) to display to help pupils struggling to read rhythms b) to help pupils remember the names of Samba instruments c) to get pupils picking 4 to make up their own rhythms d) for games such as forbidden rhythms

A collection of gradually hardening beats, drum fills, combinations, linear playing, etc. for pupils to combine in their own pays, play along to their favourite songs, etc.

This is a piece of music I have managed to get year 3 pupils of all abilities to perform within one 40-minute session from top to bottom (twice - getting pupils to rotate on to a different instrument too). All rhythms have words to go with them to help. Any rhythms in red (other than the Ganza rhythm) are for the teacher to play and then anything in green (other than the Agogo part) is for the rest of the class to play back. Anything in Blue (other than the Tamborim part) is to be shouted. Enjoy! For more Samba pieces see my book 'Samba KS2 to KS3'. Fonts used: Amatic SC and Century Gothic (see Font Pack to download)