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!
Topics Include:
1. Amazon Samba
2. Dinosaur Samba
3. Caribbean Samba
4. Reggae Samba
5. Solar System Samba
Each idea can be easily expanded to last a few weeks or a half-term. All 5 topics come with 3-5 sections, including; Break section, Groove section and Call & Response section
At keystage 3-4 it is possible to complete in one lesson but you are more than likely going to want to expand the topic over a full half-term, in which case, some pieces you will also find songs to go with them, games you can play and - obviously - you can swap pupils round 5 times until they have been on each instrument [5 weeks].
The full book includes Audio files, how to learn, teach and lead Samba, more call & response and break patterns, alternate rhythms and exercises, songs for Samba, etc.
Note: Any issues, contact me through the Sticks, Keys & Frets: Teaching Resources page on Facebook.
This is the 1 of 6 volumes looking at music in the pop charts, tailored to suit keyboard, ukulele, bass, singing and drums. All charts have been standardised for ease and comes complete with print-out displays for the chords.
George Ezra - Shotgun
Jess Glynne - I’ll Be There
Years and Years - If You’re Over Me
5 Seconds of Summer - Youngblood
Tom Walker - Leave A Light On
This is the 3rd of 6 volumes looking at music in the pop charts, tailored to suit keyboard, ukulele, bass, singing and drums. All charts have been standardised for ease and comes complete with print-out displays for the chords.
Anne-Marie - 2002
Charlie Puth - How Long
Paloma Faith - Lullaby
Liam Payne - Familiar
Bebe Rexha - Meant To Be
This is the 5th of 6 volumes looking at music in the pop charts, tailored to suit keyboard, ukulele, bass, singing and drums. All charts have been standardised for ease and comes complete with print-out displays for the chords.
Post Malone - Better Now
Selena Gomez - Back To You
Clean Bandit / Demi Lovato - Solo
Ariana Grande - No Tears Left To Cry
Anne-Marie / Marshmello - F-R-I-E-N-D-S
6 weeks worth of simple activities to follow to get started playing the keyboard. Covering identifying the white keys, the black keys, playing chords, making chords and adding root notes.
Whether this is something you give to pupils keen to key started with keyboard, want to use it as a booklet for pupils to worth through as an addition to other learning or whether you want to see how much you can get through each lesson, or steal bits for other lessons.
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)...
This is an adaptation of the song 'Samba Lele' for KS3 pupils. It can be performed as 3 different sections or as 2 sections with parts layering up and pupils working in 2 different teams. Planning for 4 weeks is included as well as an mp3 of the tune to help. There are a few games included in this and pupils can swap colours around to get the most out of improving their timing (opposed to just remembering when to do one bit).
I have also transcribed a handful of pop tunes for Boomwhackers if you want to take it further (see my other resources).
Font: Amatic SC and Century Gothic (see: Font Pack to download the fonts I use)
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.
Includes group rhythms, rhythm reading exercises, breaks, call & responses, lesson objectives, etc. I've also included Sibelius audio of how the parts sound together for non-specialists.
I call the general piece 'Hungry Samba' as all the rhythms are based around food. I normally create food-based Breaks / Call & Responses with pupils as it keeps an overall theme and ensures memorability.
Note: install fonts to ensure it looks like it does in the previews.
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.
Quick one-off lesson for KS2 or KS3 for Hallowe’en. Good for looking at sharp and natural notes as well as crotchet and quaver rhythms. Print out the sheet if pupils need to write the notes on.
Singing: Michael Jackson’s Thriller (verse and chorus)
Tune: In the Hall of The Mountain King by Edvard Grieg
If you have pupils that really struggle or are really low ability then you could always get them to play the bass part on keyboard, glockenspiel or even bass: B E B E…
Note: make sure to install the fonts to ensure it looks as intended.
In preparation for BBC Music Ten Pieces, I thought I would introduce some Classical Music to KS2 pupils on the glockenspiel, whether you use these for keyboard or even Ukulele. I will probably use them for Ukulele along with my Glockenspiel classes (Y4).
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.
Pieces have been simplified in both notation and technical ability.
1. Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
2. Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis
3. We Are The Champions - Queen
4. Rolling In The Deep - Adele
5. All Right Now - Free
Note: The Tom positions have been changed to being on the lines (instead of in between) as I have reduced the stave down to 3 lines and pupils have stated they find this easier for identifying Toms with them having a line through them.
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
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.
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.
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