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March is such a fun month! With MIOSM, Spring, and St. Patrick’s Day, there are so many ways to keep my students actively engaged. I love to use movement activities and folk dances. So I’m sharing March themed folk songs to explore and experience in music class to help you connect MIOSM and St. Patrick’s Day multicultural activities.
One thing that music education offers above and beyond any other subject is that it connects CULTURE, MUSIC, LITERACY, SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES, MATH and all ARTS. And that’s why MUSIC EDUCATION is so critical to every child’s educational experience. By the time you finish reading this post, you’ll have several lessons on Irish Music and Culture and FREE activities and materials ready for your March Music Class lessons with a focus on:
Who doesn’t LOVE pictures? Start off you lesson with some STUNNING visuals of Irish life. (let’s get the kids in the mood!) “Strap on your seat belts and put your tray tables up! We’re heading to Ireland to see some “green”!
IRISH LIFE AND CULTURE– Fantastic Video of Ireland with simple folk music playing in the background.
I don’t always go to wikipedia-but this page has TONS of GREAT STUFF! TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC
Integrating folk dancing with instrument lessons is a great way to add in some variety to your lessons. Some of your students will love learning about the instruments and other will love to do the folk dances. And If you want to know a bit of history about Irish Music in America, the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS has a wonderful site with some great information and links. LINK
Oh Yeah! I created a playlist of the links in this blog post so you can use it as our lesson plan. Want a copy of my FREE PLAYLIST?
All you need to do is to SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER AND RESOURCE LIBRARY and you can access the FREE PLAYLIST and ST PATRICK WAS A GENTLEMAN lesson and dance directions.
I like to show my kids “Riverdance” first to give them an idea of the best of the best and to inspire them to do their best.
I love to dance and so I’ll share some YouTube videos to my students to give them a “picture” of what the dances and steps should look like. After my students watch a video they always perform better. I believe that this happens because they can “model” the performers versus just following my directions.
You’ll want to check out this FREE LESSON on the Sing Play Create Youtube channel:
I love the way this teacher is showing and telling her students the difference between skipping and the Irish step in the dance.
IRISH FOLK DANCING WITH Mrs. Finnerty’s Class Patterns! These students are dancing in a nice ABABCA pattern.
IRISH FOLK DANCING – great example of an easy ABABCA PATTERN and the 3 step
I grew up listening to “The Clancy Brothers” and love these old videos.
AND “What Can You Do with a Drunken Sailor?”
Two traditional folk songs:
DOWN BY THE SALLY GARDENS-music and scenery pics
RED IS THE ROSE music and scenery pics
One year I had a harpist come in to the music classroom to play songs for the students. They were enthralled! Do you have some artists that you know who would come in and share their talents? HERE’S some GREAT information about the basic instruments used in Irish music HERE.
I chose the following selections because the represent the main instruments of Ireland- or, the most popular ones and the videos are excellent examples of the Bodhran, Flute, Harp, Bagpipes and simple Irish music.
TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC by the GILLIES– excellent representation of Irish Music
BAGPIPES- DANNY BOY– Just the bagpipes in full costume
ANCIENT IRISH INSTRUMENTS– detailed explanation- best for the teacher and selected sections for students.
IRISH BODHRAN– just the flute and bodhran
For more fun multi-cultural music ideas, follow this link to some great articles on Connecting Cultures through Music Blog Linky.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY GAME SONG “WHO WILL CATCH THE LEPRECHAUN?”
Please share these March music class Irish Lesson Ideas!
Hi there! I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create. My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.
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