Teaching Ocean Songs and Caribbean Music!

As elementary music teachers, I think we can all agree on this sentiment: Students are not the same after spring break. Something happens as the weather gets warm. Kids get antsy. They start to daydream about summer, and suddenly that awesome lesson you’d planned about rondo form is just not clicking the way you thought it would—what a bummer!

Even though we’re all counting down the days, I love to re-engage my students by inviting them into the carefree and playful vibe of Caribbean music. It’s honestly the perfect time of year to pull out some classic reggae songs, explore salsa rhythm, and sing some awesome songs about the ocean. If this sounds like something your students would enjoy, keep reading to learn about my favorite ocean songs, music activities, and music lessons for teaching Caribbean music. Let’s dive in!

Bringing the Sounds of Caribbean Music to Your Music Classroom

Before you start teaching your students about Caribbean music, you may want to do an quick inventory of your classroom instruments to see if you have access to any of the following instruments:

And if you’re blessed with amazing music resources? Steel drums. I am not that lucky, but maybe you are!

Of course, it’s not a dealbreaker if you don’t have access to these instruments, but many of these simple instruments lend themselves well to a music lesson about Caribbean music. You can teach a lot of Afro-Cuban rhythms just with a class set of Claves!

Start the Caribbean Music Lesson with a Story!

If I’m teaching this lesson to younger K-2 grade levels, I love starting off the lesson with this story book from Barefoot Sing Alongs. The accompanying Calypso-themed music provides the perfect background for different insects and creepy crawlies to introduce various musical instruments such as steel drums, accordions, trombones, flutes, and more.

*Of note: The sing-along aspect was a bit challenging for my students. As a result, they generally just enjoyed listening to the music, looking at the pictures, and talking about the different instruments at the end of the story, which is a relatively short one!

Or Try A Caribbean Music Listening Activity with Older Grades!

When I’m teaching older grade levels about Caribbean music, I always like to start with a listening activity in which students discuss and describe the sounds of Caribbean music.

These are some Caribbean songs that I’ve used as anticipatory sets in past music lessons:

Hot Hot Hot – Buster Poindexter
Let’s Dance – Judy Mowatt
One Love – Bob Marley
Mary Ann Calypso – Frederico’s Calypso Band

While actively listening, your students may consider these listening questions, which you’ve written on the board.

What do you notice? Do you hear any unique sounds?
Do you recognize any instruments? What are they?
Does anything about this music remind you of the ocean, beach, or summer? Explain your answer.
This song is an example of Caribbean music. What feelings or vibe do you get while listening to it? Explain your answer.

This listening activity will only take about 4-5 minutes of class time, and will get your students actively thinking about and discussing music again. The exercise will likely spark some interesting discussions and encourage students to actively take in the sounds of the culture—the perfect way to kick off the lesson!

Singing Ocean Songs from the Caribbean

Depending on the length of your lesson, you may choose next to transition into a song. I like to use Ocean Songs at this time of year and really let my students enjoy summer-mode, since their minds are already on summer anyway. Here are some of my favorite ocean songs to sing from the Caribbean!

1. Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)

You really can’t go wrong with this classic mento folk song. Students seem to get hooked on it fairly quickly, and you can even incorporate some easy movements such as swaying, and call-and-response body percussion. There is a minor issue with the lyric mentioning drinking rum. It depends on your school climate whether you want to include that lyric. In certain schools, I have modified that lyric from “Work all night on a drink of rum” to “Work all night and play me drums” and it’s worked just fine.

2. Under the Sea (from The Little Mermaid)

This one is also a winner because most students recognize and love the tune right away. It’s a great song to pull out if you know your students need something familiar to hook onto before you start talking about genres of music that they’re less familiar with. Start by teaching the song (which they likely already know), and then use that to start talking about Calypso music and the island life of Trinidad and Tobago that inspired the song!

Other Awesome Caribbean Songs for Music Class

1. El Coquí – Puerto Rican Folk Song

This charming folk song from Puerto Rico incorporates some Spanish into the lyrics, which is a great way to re-engage your ESL students at this time of year. I do not always have perfect Spanish pronunciation, but my Spanish-speaking students are always really excited and proud to help their classmates master the pronunciation. It’s a great opportunity for them to jump in and get involved with the lesson.

The choral arrangement for El Coquí has some beautiful harmonies in it—you may want to organize this one for a performance!

2. Tingalayo – Caribbean Folk Song

I love, love, love the arrangement of this song from Music K-8 because there’s also an optional Boomwhacker part that gets students really excited! The song is about a silly little donkey named Tingalayo. It is absolutely perfect for students in grades 2-4!

Mark Weston has also created a two-part choral arrangement with unison line, simple harmonies, and optional clave and shaker parts; the arrangement would work well for a late elementary spring concert or choral performance.

3. Shake the Papaya Down – Jamaican Folk Song

This adorable folk song tells the story of children doing chores for their mother, including climbing a tree and shaking down Papayas! This song is traditionally a partner song, so it could easily work as a chorus song too. I highly recommend the arrangement by Greg Gilpin if you’re going to use it with a chorus; it’s perfect for teaching to elementary chorus!

Sheet Music (Partner Song Arrangement)
Choral Arrangement

4. Three Little Birds – Bob Marley

I love teaching this reggae song by Bob Marley for the simple, uplifting message within the lyrics. Sometimes I think it’s soothing, healing and powerful for students to hear the words “Every little thing gonna be alright,” especially when life gets overwhelming. This song is a perfect tie-in for teaching the genre of Reggae and Caribbean music!

Teaching Caribbean Rhythms in Music Class

Singing ocean songs is one thing, but Caribbean music has rhythm that needs to be felt and experienced kinesthetically.

Reggae Rhythm

Reggae has a pretty straightforward and easy rhythm to start with. The rhythm traditionally is silent on beat one with a strong emphasis on beat three. Try having students pat the rhythm with the song Three Little Birds if you sing the song in class! This emphasis on beat three is an example of one-drop rhythm, the heart of reggae music!

Salsa Rhythm

Salsa rhythm is layered and complex. It can be characterized by multiple rhythm patterns played simultaneously through different instruments like the congas, bongos, and claves. The video above is a great example for students because it shows the layering process in action. I like to teach my students the basic 2-3 or 3-2 clave rhythm as follows:

Tresillo Rhythm

Your students will love learning about this Cuban rhythm that forms the beat for some beloved pop songs, such as Sorry, by Justin Bieber, Shape of You, by Ed Sheeran, and Luis Fonsi’s Despacito! The video I’ve included above is excellent, but you can also have your students explore the rhythm by tapping it out on classroom percussion instruments like claves, guiros, and cowbells. It’s great fun!

Try this Caribbean Music Google Slides Lesson for Grades 6-8!

Still looking for more teaching ideas about Caribbean music? I created this really awesome Google Slides music lesson for grades 6-8, and it is a deep dive into Caribbean sounds. It covers musical icons like Bob Marley, while exploring different island genres such as Reggae, Salsa, and Calypso.

The lesson includes other subgenres and musical roots, such as Mento, Rocksteady, Ska, Compas, and many more. Students will also learn about Caribbean islands, culture, and musical instruments!

A Quick Glance At This Resource:

Ideal for Grades 6-8
Includes Active Listening Activities
Introduces Various Genres of Caribbean Music
Teaches Students About Various Caribbean Islands and Cultures
Introduces Dances Like Merengue, Salsa, and Bachata
Perfect for Introducing Music from Other Cultures!

Caribbean Music and Ocean Songs Signal Summer Fun

Lastly, let me close by saying that exploring island sounds and Caribbean music is the perfect way to pull students back into the final weeks while reminding them that summer is on its way! The salsa, calypso, and reggae rhythms match the sunny weather outside, helping students channel their pre-summer excitement back into learning during the final weeks.

If you’re looking for more low or no-prep materials to keep your music classroom running smoothly, be sure to check out the Chamber of Freebies. It’s full of helpful printables, lesson starters, and time-saving tools designed to support you during the busiest times of year. And if you’re on the hunt for more World Music lessons and ideas, you’ll find even more inspiration in my TPT store!

✨ Just a heads up: This post contains some affiliate links. That means if you choose to make a purchase through one of them, I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It’s a simple way to support the music classroom content I create for teachers like you. 💜 For more details, feel free to check out my full disclosure statement.

🎨 Clip Art Credit: Clip art used in the “Reggae Rhythm” activity graphic was created by SillyODesign and is used with permission. You can explore more of their work at SillyODesign Clipart.

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