Holiday songs have been chosen; winter break is on the horizon...are your students feeling the excitement of the holiday season?
Why not harness that holiday excitement to work on building important musicianship skills, too? Today I am sharing 5 musicianship skills that you can incorporate into your lessons this holiday season, with FREEBIES that will make your job easier!
Keep reading to see the activities...
Why not harness that holiday excitement to work on building important musicianship skills, too? Today I am sharing 5 musicianship skills that you can incorporate into your lessons this holiday season, with FREEBIES that will make your job easier!
Keep reading to see the activities...
Activity #1: Ear Training
Your students have probably heard classic Christmas carols like "Deck the Halls" or "Jingle Bells" hundreds of times. Let's put their aural memory to the test with some ear training!
The worksheets below will give your students practice sounding out familiar holiday tunes, putting notes in the correct order and writing them on the staff, and even doing some rhythmic dictation using the rhythms from well-known Christmas songs.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF copies of these worksheets.
Your students have probably heard classic Christmas carols like "Deck the Halls" or "Jingle Bells" hundreds of times. Let's put their aural memory to the test with some ear training!
The worksheets below will give your students practice sounding out familiar holiday tunes, putting notes in the correct order and writing them on the staff, and even doing some rhythmic dictation using the rhythms from well-known Christmas songs.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF copies of these worksheets.
 Students will play the first line of these familiar Christmas tunes by ear and write them on the staff. |  Students will unscramble the measures of these holiday songs and write them in the correct order on the staff. |  Students will notate the rhythm that the teacher taps. Each rhythm will be from a well-known holiday song. |
Activity #2: Transposing
Transposing is an excellent way to work on reading by interval and pattern! It also gives students the opportunity to play pieces in more difficult keys than they may currently be reading in their repertoire.
Help your students practice transposing these familiar holiday tunes into all 12 major keys! Click on the images to download your free PDF copies.
Transposing is an excellent way to work on reading by interval and pattern! It also gives students the opportunity to play pieces in more difficult keys than they may currently be reading in their repertoire.
Help your students practice transposing these familiar holiday tunes into all 12 major keys! Click on the images to download your free PDF copies.
 Jingle Bells |  Ode to Joy |  Deck the Halls |
Activity #3: Sight-Reading
I am always looking for sneaky ways to incorporate sight-reading into my lessons. My Christmas "name that tune" worksheets are a fun sight-reading challenge! This PDF includes the answer key that is shown, plus 3 levels of tunes to name. Click on the image to download your copy.
Looking for more sight-reading options? Check out the Christmas arrangements on my "Free Stuff" page HERE (scroll to the bottom to find the free sheet music and look under "Christmas").
I am always looking for sneaky ways to incorporate sight-reading into my lessons. My Christmas "name that tune" worksheets are a fun sight-reading challenge! This PDF includes the answer key that is shown, plus 3 levels of tunes to name. Click on the image to download your copy.
Looking for more sight-reading options? Check out the Christmas arrangements on my "Free Stuff" page HERE (scroll to the bottom to find the free sheet music and look under "Christmas").
Activity #4: Improvising
Encourage creativity with a holiday-themed improv activity! The worksheets below will give students the opportunity to improvise their own winter-themed piece, or to create a unique arrangement of a well-known Christmas tune.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF copies of these worksheets.
Encourage creativity with a holiday-themed improv activity! The worksheets below will give students the opportunity to improvise their own winter-themed piece, or to create a unique arrangement of a well-known Christmas tune.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF copies of these worksheets.
 Students will improvise an original melody to fit the lyrics. Includes a staff page for students who want to notate their composition. |  Students will improvise their own version of the song "Carol of the Bells." |  Guides students through the process of improvising "Jingle Bells" in 4 different styles. |
Activity #5: Playing from lead sheets
Do you want to help your students work on their improv and music theory skills, while building their holiday repertoire at the same time? Lead sheets are the answer!
Best of all, lead sheets are easy to scale up or down in difficulty by using blocked or broken chords, using chords in inversion, adding the damper pedal, or adding fills to the melody line.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF of these lead sheets.
Do you want to help your students work on their improv and music theory skills, while building their holiday repertoire at the same time? Lead sheets are the answer!
Best of all, lead sheets are easy to scale up or down in difficulty by using blocked or broken chords, using chords in inversion, adding the damper pedal, or adding fills to the melody line.
Click on the images below to get your free PDF of these lead sheets.
 We Three Kings |  Away in a Manger |  The First Noel |
 What Child is This - verse only |  What Child is This - verse and chorus |  Canon in D |
What do you think? Do you have a favorite musicianship activity that you like to include during the holiday season? Let us know in the comments!
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