How to Use Fairy Tales in the Music Classroom

Fairy tales are great tools for vocal, instrumental, and movement exploration for all students in the music classroom. From simple storytelling to a story with sound effects to a grand production, fairy tales are engaging and capture the imagination.

Start with the story, add body percussion, vocal sound effects, and then transfer to instruments. See the tables below as examples.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Instructions

Depending on your class length, schedule, etc., you can do everything on one day.

I think it’s more engaging to do it on two separate days.

I always talked to the kids about the fictional part of it (bears living in a house) and that no one should ever enter a house that is unknown to them.

Day 1

• Show students (quickly) the body percussion that you will be using.
• Tell the story and you and your students use the body percussion.
• The BP doesn’t have to be perfect so keep the flow of the story going without correcting anything.

Day 2

• Retell the story with body percussion.
• Discuss what percussion instruments might be used for sound effects. “What instrument would sound like walking and how would you play it?” “Why does this instrument NOT work?”
• Logistics– I liked the students sitting in a circle, with the instruments in chronological order (or close to it).

Other Ideas

•Create melodic themes for Goldilocks and the bears and play them whenever the characters’ names are used.

The Story, Body Percussion, and Instruments