Are you teaching music genres in your elementary music class? Including a variety of music genres in your teaching is essential to ensuring a rounded music curriculum. It also plays a role in your students developing their musical preferences. Did you know that children will start developing their likes and dislikes as early as 3 or 4 years old? That means that music teachers need to start incorporating a variety genres from day one.
When Should I Start Teaching Music Genres?
Since children start developing their preferences young, the earlier the better! I try to make sure I am diverse in my excerpts of music used with K-2 grades so that students become accustomed to hearing different sounds and styles. My principal complimented my inclusion of various musical styles in one of my observations! If students ever ask about an excerpt I play, I’ll share the name of the song and the genre of music.
I start to go further into depth once my students reach third grade. First, I’ll let them hear or perform the music. Next, I’ll teach a bit about the history, famous musicians and characteristics of the music. Finally, I’ll play some excerpts of the music. I am always careful not to give them too much. I want to leave them wanting MORE.
Sometimes I need to go over genres with my older students too. One time, one of my sixth graders asked, “What’s gospel music?” I stopped everything and taught them my lesson on gospel music in that exact moment!
Which Music Genres Should I Teach?
That’s entirely up to you! There are HUNDREDS of genres and subgenres that you can explore with your students. I like to start with the big genres such as rock, pop and jazz. From there, I will start to branch out into subgenres like alternative and new age. I definitely recommend playing a few examples of each genre for your students (be sure to check lyrics in advance!)
Genre Lesson Planning Ideas
My formula for teaching music genres is simple. I begin by teaching students a song from the genre we’re learning about. As we are learning the song, I will allow students to guess the mystery genre. After we learn the song, the mystery genre is revealed and we learn all about it! When the lesson is finished, I will ask the students a few questions such as…
- What was your favorite thing about this genre?
- What’s something interesting you learned about this genre?
- Do you like this genre? Why or why not?
Here is a sample lesson plan I made for teaching Reggae music…
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Would you be kind enough to share your favorite songs to play for each genre? I’m a new music teacher and spend hours vetting songs to find appropriate ones!
Sure! I use a lot of the songs from Music K-8
Pop – Hangin’ Out (Music K-8)
Blues – The Blues (Music K-8)
Latin – Hola De Nuevo (Music K-8)
Rock – We Rock! (Music K-8)
R&B – That’s Right! (Music K-8)
Disco – LOL! (Music K-8)
Reggae – Puff the Magic Dragon
Folk – My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Those are some of the ones I use! If I can’t find something in Music K-8, I usually pick a more popular song from the genre with clean lyrics! Hope this helps!