St. Patrick's Day in the Music Room

Since St. Patrick's Day is around the corner, today I'm blogging about some fun activities you can do in your classroom this time of year, to celebrate the holiday as well as Irish culture!

Irish folk songs

This time of a year is a great time to sing Irish folk songs with your students! Here are some great sites for finding Irish folk songs:

American Folk Song Collection at Holy Names:

(to find Irish and/or Irish-American music, go to "origin")

Beth's Music Notes

MamaLisa

Irish dances

One of my favorite folk dances is "Brian Boru," an Irish dance in  "Teaching Movement and Dance." Another Irish folk dance called "The Bridge of Athlone" can be found in "Listen to the Mockingbird" by the New England Dancing Masters. Both of these resources are GREAT for any time of the year, though, as they contain tons of easy-to-teach dances for your music classroom!

Listening and responding to pieces and dances

Whether students are listening to Celtic music or watching Irish dancing, students can respond with what they notice, what they wonder, what they like, etc. Perhaps you could use a recording already in your collection, or watch a video like this:

You can ask students what they notice, which instruments they hear, what the mood sounds like, etc.

St. Patrick's Day games

There are tons of interactive games on TpT for rhythmic and melodic concepts! I just discovered this fun set by Amy Abbott, which has students read melodic patterns...but watch out, the leprechaun might pull a prank!

I created a game called "Help the Leprechaun," which has students identifying rhythmic patterns (this works great as an assessment!)

And my Pot o' Gold games are great for identifying lines and/or spaces on the treble clef staff!

Movement

To put movement into any St. Patrick's Day lesson, you could simply play freeze dance to any Irish music! When the music starts, students dance, but when the music stops, students have to freeze like a statue, or they are out!
If you want visuals for freeze dance, check out these sets:

Lindsay Jervis' Freeze Dance

Tracy King's Freeze Dance and Creative Movement  

My "Songs and Activities for St. Patrick's Day," which includes a movement activity with shamrocks...when students freeze, they have to find another shamrock and move like the shamrock tells them!

Looking for more St. Patrick's Day ideas? Check out this new St. Patrick's Day in the Music Room Pinterest board I created!


What are your favorite St. Patrick's day activities for the music room? Feel free to comment below, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!