A festive music quiz using Song Maker!
Back in October I shared a Halloween Chrome Music Lab Song Maker quiz activity and due to popular demand, here’s a fun holiday season-themed Chrome Music Lab Song Maker lesson that works in the same way.
It will suit upper-elementary, middle and high school students and it’s a simple, straightforward music tech lesson which can be done on iPads, Chromebooks, Macs or PCs.
Like the Halloween-themed quiz, this activity asks students to recreate well-known holiday-themed songs in Song Maker from a provided image, listen to what they’ve created and then fill out a corresponding worksheet where they can identify the mystery song and guess the year it was composed.
It doesn’t matter if your students don’t know the name or composer of the song – they can have a guess by identifying it from a list of six options.
Although they are simply copying the provided graphic notation to create the theme in this activity, they will be:
- using careful attention to detail
- following a melodic contour
- visualising rhythm
- employing listening skills
- learning how Song Maker works
- optionally composing a percussion part and/or harmony part to accompany the piece
There are 6 holiday songs to create in total and they don’t need to be done in order. In fact, it would be better if the students were randomly assigned one of the 6 songs so that they are all working on different ones simultaneously.
Songs 1-4 are simple ones and songs 5 and 6 are more challenging and detailed.
This lesson works well as a small group activity if you have limited devices, or students could work independently if you have access to a class set of devices.
Need to leave a lesson for a sub? This would be suitable for substitute teachers since all the instructions are given inside the student slides and the answers are provided in the teacher slides.
What’s included?
Your handout contains a special link to the TEACHER Google Slides resource file for this lesson. Inside that slideshow you’ll find:
- Activity instructions
- Your copy of the STUDENT presentation file (includes 6 mystery songs and corresponding worksheets)
- Answer key
- Links to the completed Chrome Music Lab Song Maker projects
- Playable audio-only versions of each Song Maker project (optional: in case you’d like your students to listen and compare their version to the correct version)
Holiday Season Quiz Version 2 with different songs!
If you are a Midnight Music Community (MMC) member, you have access to ANOTHER one of these holiday season quizzes which has a collection of different songs. Log into the MMC and you can download both this version AND the second version. If you’re not yet a member, come and you’d like to join us, head over here for more information. We’d love to have you!
Would you like a copy of this music tech lesson?
Download your copy of this lesson here.
Final Thoughts
We hope you have enjoyed this free Holiday Season Chrome Music Lab Song Maker Lesson!
Have you tried this lesson with your students?
What are some of your favorite holiday activities to do with your music students?
Leave a comment below!
Looking for More Resources for Music Teachers?
Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my businessMidnight Music.
I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – theMidnight Music Community– where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.
I like to focus oneasyways to incorporate technology intowhat you are already doing in your music curriculumthrough a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.
If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside theMidnight Music Community.