Hello! Thank you for visiting. Please feel free to use these activities – they are yours to download, edit, adapt, and use in any way you would like. I hope they are useful for you and your students.
Name That Holiday Tune
This activity is written with 2nd and 3rd-year players in mind. Some of the melodies and rhythms have been simplified to make them more accessible and playable by less-advanced students.
I let kids work with their stand partner (or a buddy/neighbor). They play through on their own; part of the point is that they have to read through it, hear it, etc. I don’t play the music for them, and don’t give any clues. For my younger groups, the goal is to see who can figure out the most. For my older groups, the goal is to see who can figure them all out the fastest!
Name That Holiday Tune Round 1
Name that Holiday Tune Round 2
Holiday Greeting Card
This activity can be adapted to any age group or instrument. This assignment was written for use with Keynote on an iPad or iPhone. I cannot promise it will work on laptops, or with PowerPoint or other PC applications/devices.
Students create their own video holiday card that can be easily emailed to family and friends! There are 8 background options, representing various winter scenes (religious and secular). I’ve included simple melodies for younger players, but feel free to use your own! See the instructions page, and my demo video! The demo video may be shared with your students as well, or create your own.
Slide Options
Music
Orchestra Olympics
This has become a yearly favorite with my beginners! Students can work in a group of two or three to complete the activities on this board. Some are performed for me (or an adjunct teacher), some are completed on the back of the page, some are submitted via Canvas. The students have 3 class days to work – it is chaos, but oh so fun! At the end, I collect the pages and add up the points earned. I give prizes (candy) and fake medals to the winning groups – gold, silver, and bronze.
Essential Elements Practice-Along Videos
During the 2020-2021 shutdowns, my colleague Andy Wirtz and I wanted a way for students to have more guidance as they practiced. We developed “Practice-Along” videos for nearly all of Essential Elements Book 1. In each, we walk through a page of the book, describing some of the elements of each of music and playing through them.
There are also some extra beginning videos on posture, bow holds, early songs, and more.
These are available on YouTube:
From Mrs. Kitchell: Full Playlist
From Mr. Wirtz: Full Channel (scroll through to find)
Handy Guides and Graphics
These are guides and infographics I’ve put together over the years. Happy to share!