Five YouTube Musical Activities for the Last Friday of October!

Here is the YouTube episode to accompany this post: https://youtu.be/SEaRPVOe0Qg

In the States, the last Friday of October is usually one close to Halloween, or close to a full moon. In many areas, either of these events is bound to cause your elementary students to have extra energy, especially if they are having some sort of celebration right before your music class.

If that is the case, here are five YouTube musical activities (plus a bonus) you can do to promote the following concepts:

• Ensemble playing

• Listening

• Following a conductor

• Learning how to trill on a boomwhacker

• Pitch

• Rhythm reading

• Accidentals or key signatures

• Finding patterns in music

• Performance skills

• Melody

• Harmony

• Bass lines

• Tempo

• Coordination

• Cross-curricular connections of reading words and how syllables relate to rhythm

• Compare and contrast thinking map

• Triplet rhythm patterns

• Moving to music

• Comparing body percussion to rhythm patterns

• Fun!

Musication YouTube Channel

Musication

Musication has become a staple in many elementary music classrooms. From their popular boomwhacker play-alongs to their percussion videos, my students find them so much fun. I like that I am having them experience and practice skills mentioned above. Two of my students’ favorites are Skeleton Dance (they loved the melody and learning how to trill on a boomwhacker with a triangle) and Ghostbusters (learning the difference between melody and the bass line).

Rhythm Recess

Rhythm recess came out this week with two videos involving the song, I Want Candy by Bow Bow Bow. One is for body percussion and one is for rhythm reading. Both emphasize steady beat, coordination, and creativity. If your students cannot stop talking about candy, these will be beneficial and fun.

Elementary Groove Tracks

Cameron creates wonderful play-alongs that involve him conducting the music as he plays it. This is amazing as it includes multiple modalities for your students to perform. They can watch him play, or follow his conducting, or perform rhythm patterns by reading notation or the words. He updated his popular Halloween Percussion Play Along and just added an Autumn Themed Percussion Play Along. All with originally scored music by Cameron.

Pequeño Mozart

Back in 2017, Pequeño Mozart created a rhythm practice (Lectura rîtmica) video to Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. To this day, my first and second graders (current and previous) ask for this video and a pair of rhythm sticks. When I use this in my classroom, I take screenshots of the five rhythm patterns and have the students perform a retrieval practice with that before they perform the song. This play-along is basically the students performing the rhythm of the melody, which I believe, is what they like so much about it. Level it up by having them compare and contrast the song with Trolls Hair Up (found here), and then watch the line rider video to reflect on how that video showcased the song.

Music Class with Ms. Watson

Abby Watson is an elementary music teacher who created her YouTube channel for her students at the beginning of the pandemic. She loved creating the videos so much, that she created more for any teacher to share with their students. What I love about Abby’s videos is that she teaches the musical concepts throughout the video and then ends with the play-along portion. Her bucket drumming videos are excellent. They are wonderful to leave as a sub plan.

Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches

Bonus: My students have liked the October Rhythm Play-Along and the October Body Percussion very much. This is a mashup (30-second audio clips) of The Addams Family by Vic Mizzy, Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr, The Munsters by Jack Marshall, Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter by John Williams, Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers, and Werewolf in London by Warren Zevon. This can be used to read and perform rhythm patterns, body percussion, compare the two, and for fun.

I wish you much luck this week if you are experiencing the full moon, the anticipation of a certain day, the sugar highs, and anything else that might come your way this week.