xylophone Archives - Oodles of Music

Cheers To The New Year With JANUARY Music BEATS Play Along

January music lessons get an EASY kickstart with this Orff arrangement and improvisation play along to a FUN backing track.

This new year poem resource with sixteenth notes and a simple Orff arrangement, will guide you through improvising on barred instruments as you play along to a FUN backing track.

Available in both PowerPoint™️ and Google Slides™️ formats.

Look & Listen

Music & Resource Analysis

C Major la-based pentatonic scale
2/4
Rhythmic Content-sixteenths (4), quarter notes/rests, barred eighths
Harmonic Content-Am, C, C6 (opt. ukulele)

Barred Instruments-improvisation and simple ostinati
Boomwhackers (opt)-create a new melody using poem rhythm
Rhythm Assessment

January Beats Orff Resource Lesson Plans

Student & Teacher Benefits

January Music Engagement

use speech, body percussion, and movement to help learn the instrumental parts
create and improvise
guided through the learning process with a sequenced resource
learn with a presentation that uses differentiation through color-coding and varying text styles

guided through the process of improvising in la-based C pentatonic

Instrumentation

barred instruments (any combination will work)
claves
ukulele (opt) chord C or C6
spoken voices

Speaking of Sixteenth Notes

Here are more resources featuring prominent 16th notes!

More Great Learning in January

Martin Luther King Day happens so quickly once we return from winter break. Here are some great resources!

Learning About MLK Through Music
We Shall Not Be Moved (how to use in the classroom)

How to Use “We Shall Not Be Moved” In the Classroom

“We Shall Not Be Moved” transforms itself into a song to remember Black History, Civil Rights, freedom rights around the world, and the power of music with its simplistic style perfect for learning in the music classroom. Perfect for exploring in class or performances, and easily integrated into-

Black History Month,
Women’s History Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Juneteenth
Civil Rights Lessons
World History

Table of Contents

Whether the Weather | 6/8 Meter Rhyme for Barred Instruments With Orff Arrangement

If you are looking for an accessible instrumental piece in 6/8 meter for barred instruments with an Orff arrangement, this is it! Taught step-by-step, this classic tongue twister rhyme is perfect for winter, spring, or really any time of the year there is weather 🤣.

An added plus is the language arts lesson on synonyms. Put that on your end-of-year evaluation!

For grades 3-6, this over 50-slide resource is in both PowerPoint and Google Slide versions.
Listen to the music on TPT!

Multi-Lesson Resource

Introduce the Rhyme

Beat & Rhythm

Teaching the Melody & Ostinati

Give Thanks | Echo Song for Orff, Movement, Ukulele, Scarves

Pull out this versatile echo song for primary students that’s about appreciation, thanksgiving, and thankfulness in November or for other celebrations throughout the year. A simple Orff arrangement, one-chord C ukulele part, scarf activities, and movement will make this a great concert piece or SEL activity in the classroom.

Give Thanks is available as a single resource or part of this Thanksgiving Bundle!

The Mitten

Many of us are familiar with the Jan Brett book, but this 
Ukrainian folk tale has a very interesting history! Here are songs, lesson plans, and resources for the beautiful story.

Valentine Themed Music Resources

Find fun and engaging Valentine’s Day songs, games, dances, and activities to make a week of LOVE in the music room. Some “love” songs can be used any time of the year!

Who Has Seen the Wind? Song & Lesson Rhythmic REMIX

The classic song, “Who Has Seen the Wind?” has been REMIXED and is ready for winter, spring, summer, and fall windy weather!

“One Piece of Pie” Round with Six Integrated Lessons

Take a look at this unique resource with EIGHT unique sound files to support student learning!

melody lines
accompaniments
Orff parts
beat keeping for rhythmic practice
vocal lines for solfege highlighting low so
- sms
- sls
listen in “round” form

Sound file for song

Cephalopod Squid Game

What’s here!

The parts are a just a framework. Let the kids explore how to create the sounds in measures 4-6.
The second note “A” in the melody sounds bent to me so not quite A and not quite Ab.
I used the games they play in the show, but wouldn’t it be fun to let your classes create their own B section with their favorite games.
This is not the original key so you could play around with other tonalities.
The vocal part can easily be played on the recorder. Mmm…
The melody is really popular on TikTok right now but might not work at some schools. Discretion advised.

If you are subscribed to my blog you can receive a PDF copy of Cephalopod Games! Just drop me a comment below and let me know if you’d like one.

Pass the Pumpkin

Get your students playing barred instruments with this Orff arrangement (and other ideas) for the Halloween song, Pass the Pumpkin. Halloween is the perfect backdrop for engaging learning activities in music class.

This is a great beat-passing game! Whoever has the pumpkin on the last beat of the song is OUT! Continue playing until there is a final winner. As students get out, they can go get sticks and play to the beat as the game progresses.

Learn more about how to teach beat passing games.