Originally published December 9, 2024
Latest update May 14, 2026
Adding Orff instruments to the African-American singing game Pizza Pizza Daddy-O gives you a perfect arrangement for concerts as well as extended lessons to explore and practice mi, so, la, and syncopation in the classroom.
Integrating culturally responsive elements into these lessons is seamless, as students can incorporate dances that hold personal meaning to them into the song lyrics.
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Table of Contents
Watch: Pizza Pizza Daddy-O Song & Dance Overview
When to Use Pizza Pizza Daddy-O?
Pizza Pizza Daddy-O is such a classic, fun game and kids love to play it year after year. This resource extends learning with an easy Orff arrangement that can become a concert showpiece!
- Year-round as a fun singing game with instruments
- During Black History Month (African-American singing game)
- Valentine’s Day (best friends)
Available in both PowerPoint™️ and Google Slides™️ formats.
Pizza Pizza Daddy-O Orff Arrangement Analysis
- C Major tritonic scale
- 4/4
- Rhythmic Content-syncopation, quarters, barred eighths
- Melodic Content-mi, so, la
- Form-Rondo ABACA
- Harmony-C chord only
Teacher & Student Benefits
Using this resource allows students and teachers:
- to use speech, body percussion, and movement to help learn the instrumental parts
- to create and improvise
- to be guided through the learning process with a sequenced resource
- students input their own background into the resource
- to engage with a process that uses sequenced learning
- to learn with a presentation that uses differentiation through color-coding and varying text styles
Easy Orff Arrangement Instrumentation
- bass and alto xylophones
- glockenspiel
- drums, guiros, claves
- ukulele (opt) chord C or C6
- recorder (opt) notes E, G, A
- voices
Check Out the Resource on TPT
- Listen to the song in the Video Preview on TPT.
- Look at the resource in the PDF Preview on TPT.
More Folk Song Resources
A book full of wonderful African-American folk songs including a version of Pizza, Pizza.
