Today’s blog post is dedicated to all things pop music for music class. From singing it, to using it to teach music concepts, and even coding! Let’s dive in and see all the fun you can have with pop music in your classroom!
Why Use Pop Music in the Classroom?
Why use pop music in the classroom? Don’t kids already get enough exposure to this kind of music literally everywhere else?
I would argue that the case is STRONG for using pop music in the classroom. Here are just a couple of the reasons.
Students By In
You are going to have a lot more street cred with your students if you acknowledge the music they like. Build that bridge! If students think you are completely out of touch, it is going to be an uphill battle to convince them that the 1812 Overture is actually really cool. Meet kids where they are at and then help bring them along for a musical ride of diverse repertoire.
Helps Them Learn More About The Songs They Love
Use pop music as a teachable opportunity. Students know their music. But they might not be educated on it. Point out the use of song form. Or the hook at the beginning. Is there Latin clave rhythms hidden in it? Did they sample part of another artist’s song?
There are SO many different educational links you could find within a given song! Just find one and run with it!
They Are Fun!
Ok, let’s get real. Pop songs are popular for a reason. They tend to have easy melodies and danceable beats and are just, well, FUN! And we want fun classrooms.
Inject fun into your lesson plans with a pop song. I love using them for community building at the beginning of the year and for teaching form, geting moving, and lots more!
Where to Find Good Pop Songs for Music Class
Children’s Movies
Finding appropriate pop songs for the classroom can be a little bit of an uphill battle. So let me share with you where I tend to find most of my songs. Children’s movies. Check the songs playing during the ending credits. You are going to find some GOLD there. Let me list a couple favorites that come to mind as I type this:
- Friends are Family (Batman Movie)
- Try Everything (Zootopia)
- Happy (Despicable Me)
- Steal the Show (Elemental)
- Just Sing (Trolls)
Student Recommendations
I really love getting suggestions from my students. They feel like they have a say in their own learning. And it shows that I care about their opinions.
Granted, I would say about half the recommendations I get end up getting passed on because of inappropriate language or songs that are just off topic from the theme I am going for at the moment. But I have gotten some great suggestions of songs I hadn’t even been aware of.
Activities For Music Class Using Pop Music
Try Everything
I used this song for a beginning of the year community builder. We did it as a parachute activity. Later in the year, one of my grade levels performed the song, and they already knew it well from learning the parachute activity at the beginning of the year.
Unity
I love Unity by Fat Rat! I used this activity to get my students moving while reviewing rhythms from the previous year. This song has two main sections that just keep going back and forth. During the A section we dance, and during the B section I have them echo rhythms or read them off of rhythm flashcards.
Wake Me Up
Wake Me Up by Avicii is another great school-friendly song you can use in music class. This is another community building activity I did at the beginning of the year. It is great for teaching about form and just building some excitement for music class for the year.
Who Let the Dogs Out
I am not the only person who has created activities set to pop music. In Kidstix by Artie Almeida, she has a bucket drumming routine set to Who Let the Dogs Out by the Baha Men.
This activity is great for teaching form and rhythm reading. You could even use it in a performance if you wanted!
Best Day of My Life
Best Day of My Life has such a positive message and fun, singable melody. And even better, it has simple, repetitive chords that work perfectly for the ukulele. You will need to know C, F and Am to play along.
Here is a YouTube ukulele play along that I found very useful.
Pop Music for Graduation or Moving Up Ceremonies
The question always seems to come up – what song are you singing for moving up ceremonies? Here are a couple songs I have used before or considered using that are kid friendly:
- High Hopes by Panic at the Disco
- Best Day of My Life by American Authors
- I Lived by One Republic
- The Climb by Miley Cyrus
Pop Music and Technology
There is one more really cool site I need to share with you. My media specialist shared this with me and it fits perfectly for this blog post. Music Lab is part of Code.org and shows students how they can use (very basic) code to put together a song.
It samples music from pop songs and talks about how sound engineers mix together different tracks to create a record. It’s is honestly really cool. You can go check it out and play around with it here.
More Fun Movement Activities for Music Class
Who says only pop music is fun? Check out these other blog posts for more music movement and fun in your music class!
Music of Stars Wars: perfect for May 4th
Carnival of the Animals: fun ways to move to each movement of Carnival of the Animals
