Guest Post By Jane Sandwood

Learning music at school is beneficial for all areas of school life. Schools that offer a music program to students have an average graduation rate of 90.2%, in comparison to 79.9% for schools without music. High school music students also have a higher Grade Point Average, and a poll done by Gallup found that 78% of students felt studying music helped them to perform better in their other subjects. Music is not only creative, it is also a great way of bringing classroom students together. Through fun musical activities, they can learn to work as a team, by expressing themselves through sound, melody and rhythm.

Learning a ukulele song

The descant recorder was once the most popular instrument given to complete beginners in music class. Many teachers and parents have a love/hate relationship with the recorder, however, it is an easy melodic instrument to learn. The ukulele is also great for beginners of all ages, because it lends itself well to all styles of music, and students can easily play chords and sing along. Having online ukulele lessons can then help students to hone their skills, pick up more complex rhythms, and master fingerpicking techniques. In the classroom, pick an easy song with a 3 or 4 chord sequence in a major key, such as Sweet Home Alabama by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and have a go at playing along together.

Drum patterns inspired by the weather

Music doesn’t have to have complex melodies and harmonies. Learning drum patterns, played on a percussion instrument is easy. Rather than assigning set drum patterns to each student, or small group of students, ask them to make up their own simple rhythms inspired by the weather. They could use hail, rain, thunder, sleet or even hurricanes to inspire them. Your students could then teach their rhythms to each other, or play them in a sequence to create their own percussive performance.

Singing in a round 

You don’t need any music theory knowledge to sing, and singing a song in a round is a great way of taking a simple melody and making it sound complex and impressive. Fun campfire songs like Call John The Boatman or London’s Burning work well. You Are My Sunshine is another popular song that works well being sung in a round – perfect for creating your own classroom choir.

Music is sociable, creative, expressive and brings joy. Through music you can bring your classroom students together, learning how to work well together and achieve a shared goal.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels