Musicianship Monthly for November

A new month means a new opportunity to incorporate a fun musicianship skill into your lessons! (Want to learn more about Musicianship Monthly and see past activities? Click HERE!)

This month, we will be exploring chord symbols and lead sheet playing using a song that is perfect for Thanksgiving: "Simple Gifts." Keep reading for two free lead sheets (easy and intermediate level) that you can use with your students this month!

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"Simple Gifts" is a lovely Shaker song that became well known when it was used by Aaron Copland as part of his work Appalachian Spring. Below you will find two lead sheets that contain the first section of this familiar song. Click on the images below to download your free PDF:

This easy lead sheet can be played with just root position chords.

This intermediate lead sheet introduces "slash" chords (inversions), sus chords, and seventh chords.

Have your students build each chord in the song using the chart at the bottom of the page, then play the song with both hands. You can also increase the difficulty level by having students use broken chords in the left hand.

Want to do more chord-building practice with your students this month? Check out my other free chord resources:

• Chord Group Chart: the 12 major chords, grouped by shape
• 2 Minute Teaching Tip video: how to help students quickly identify the inversion and root of any triad
• Chords and Inversions worksheet: practice identifying the name and inversion of each chord

Looking for more lead sheet practice for your students? Check out this blog post to see more easy holiday lead sheets, as well as a few of my favorite sites for free lead sheets.

When do you introduce chord symbols and lead sheet playing to your students? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!