7 Holiday Hacks to Use in Your Lessons this Season!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have noticed my "Holiday Hacks" series of teaching tips over the past few weeks. (And if you don't follow me there...what are you waiting for? I share teaching tips, information about new releases, freebies, and more, 5 days a week over on those platforms!)

My "holiday hacks" give you easy ideas for fun ways to use holiday songs to work on ear training, music theory, improvisation, and much more during this busy time of year.

​Today, I am sharing all 7 holiday hacks here in one handy blog post, along with free printables that you can use with your students as you wrap up the year!

Keep reading to see more...

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Holiday Hack #1: Ask students to play the first line of a well-known holiday song by ear, then notate it on the staff!

This hack is a great way to sneak both ear training and notation into your lessons this season.

​Use the first line of any traditional holiday song, or feel free to use my Christmas "Play By Ear Challenge" freebie pictured here!

Click on the image to get your free copy.

Holiday Hack #2: Ask students to transpose the first line of a holiday song into 3 different keys.

Transposing is an excellent way to work on not only ear training, but intervallic reading as well. As a bonus, students get a chance to play in a variety of keys that they might not yet have encountered in their repertoire.

Challenge your students to transpose one of the 3 well-known holiday tunes shown below! Click on the images to get your free copies.
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Holiday Hack #3: Ask students to create an original intro and/or coda for one of their holiday pieces.

This holiday hack helps students explore improvising by creating a short opening or closing section for one of their holiday repertoire pieces.

Experimenting with a short melodic motive, broken chords, or repeated notes in different octaves are all great ways to jump-start this activity! Help students create 2 or 4 measures of material, using the time signature to determine the correct number of beats. When in doubt, using notes from the V chord for the intro, and notes from the I chord for the coda, is a safe bet!

Holiday Hack #4: Clap two measures of rhythm from one of your student's holiday songs, then ask your student to write out the rhythm and find it in the music.

This activity is a fun way to work on rhythmic dictation and can be worked into any lesson quickly. Clap two measures of rhythm at random from one of your student's current holiday repertoire pieces, then have them notate the measures on a blank piece of paper and find them in the music.

For another option, use one the of the Christmas rhythmic dictation activity printables shown below! These rhythmic dictation worksheets provide 4 levels of familiar holiday rhythms in a variety of time signatures. Level 1 is pictured; the printable also includes Levels 2, 3, and 4 with more complicated rhythms.

Click on the image to get your free copies.
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Holiday Hack #5: Help students create a mash-up using two (or more) of their favorite holiday songs.

I don't know about you, but my students love mash-ups! Help your students create their own for the holidays using the steps below:

1. Have students choose 2 holiday songs with a similar mood and tempo. (It also helps to make a smoother mash-up if the songs use the same time signature.)
2. If the songs aren't in the same key, students will need to either transpose one song to match the other, or modulate to the new key in their transition section. Using the V7 chord of the new key to end your transition is an easy way to do this.
3. Find a good spot in the first song to start your transition. The end of a verse or chorus usually works well.
4. Create the transition section. This section can be as simple as just playing the V7 chord of your key using the correct number of beats to create 1 or 2 new measures. Or, your student can create something more elaborate using a chord progression or melodic pattern from the first song to create a longer transition. Just be sure to help students end on a chord that makes sense leading into the next song.
5. Start the verse (or chorus) of the second holiday song to complete your mash-up.

Want to hear some examples of easy holiday mash-ups? Check out my "Medley Magic" book HERE!

Holiday Hack #6: Help students create a new left hand accompaniment for one of their holiday songs.

It is fun to see how much you can change up a holiday song just by changing the left hand!

Start by doing a harmonic analysis of one of your student's holiday songs together. Then, challenge your student to try a different broken chord pattern, or to experiment with changing the chords altogether using chord substitution (swapping out one chord for another that still contains the melody note) or added notes (such as sixths or sevenths for a jazzier sound).

To make this process even easier, use my "Jingle Bells Remix Challenge" worksheet to walk students through this process and create their own unique version of "Jingle Bells!"

​Click on the image to get your free copy.

Holiday Hack #7: Ask your students to improvise a new melody to fit the words (and rhythm) of one of their holiday songs.

Finally, jumpstart a holiday composition activity by having your students use the words and rhythm from a traditional holiday song and create a new, original melody to fit.

To do this activity, your student can improvise this new melody over the existing harmony, or create something even more original by writing the melody and choosing a completely new harmony to accompany it. For a bonus challenge, ask your student to notate their new version of the song on the staff.

Who knows? Your student just might write something even catchier than "Jingle Bells"!

What do you think? Do you have any holiday hacks you are using in your studio to keep your students learning (and having fun) during this busy season? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!