Let me start this post by saying this: if you’re here because you’re looking for free music activities for your general music class, I understand, and I want to help you. I know what it’s like to have to stretch a small budget for hundreds (or even thousands) of general music students. Maybe you’re not in a position to make out-of-pocket purchases for your classroom right now, and if that’s the case, no judgment!
Some of my earliest resources for Magic of Music Ed were made when I was a new music teacher working on a nonexistent school budget. Back in those days, I was balancing three part-time teaching jobs and making student loan payments. I simply couldn’t afford to dip into my pocket to buy additional resources for my classroom. And yes, I was very tired and stressed!
There weren’t many music activity ideas online to help back then, so I wound up creating many of the activities myself. One of those resources went on to be my best-selling recorder karate program on TPT!
And, while you can always scoop up engaging paid music activities from my TPT or Boom Learning stores, I wanted to create a separate post specifically for the free music activities that I’ve created for general music teachers. So if that’s what you’re looking for, read on!
There are too many options for me to list everything here, but I’ve selected my favorites, specifically for this post. All of the free music activities can be found in either the freebies section of my TPT store, or exclusively in my Chamber of Freebies—a growing library of free teaching resources for music teachers. You can sign up to access the Chamber of Freebies here.
1. Free Music Activities: Interactive Listening Orchestra Maps
If you missed these secret freebies in my orchestra seating blog post, you’ll want to snag this free music activity from The Chamber of Freebies!
These interactive orchestra listening maps are an easy resource to incorporate into your elementary orchestra unit. There are currently two different Google Slides versions inside the Chamber of Freebies. One version has each section of the orchestra clearly labeled for students. In the free music activity, you can click around the interactive map to hear each orchestral instrument. In the click-to-reveal version, the instrument labels are concealed, allowing you to check for aural recognition with your students.
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: 2–5
Want these free music activities for your classroom? Get it now by signing up for The Chamber of Freebies!
2. Free Active Listening Activity: Four Seasons – Vivaldi
Another free music activity exclusive to Chamber of Freebies members is the Vivaldi active listening activity. This is a simple packet that can easily be printed and used as a multi-week listening lesson or even as a sub plan! The packet encourages students to draw and create abstract images based on each movement and section of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
- Format: Printable PDF
- Suggested Grade Levels: 3–6
Pro-Tip: I really like to pair this free music activity with this website because you can read the poems before playing each section of the piece. I find it really helps students home in on what to listen for! 🙂
3. Free Google Slides Lesson for General Music: Ada’s Violin
If you have the book Ada’s Violin in your general music library, then you’ll want to grab these free lesson slides right away!
While I usually prefer to save these lesson slides for Earth Day week, I promise this Google Slides presentation is the perfect companion to the book whenever you decide to read it to your students! It works well because it helps introduce the story and characters to students while teaching them creative problem-solving. And it helps you turn the story into a complete lesson for your general music students!
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: 2–5
Want this free music activity? You can get it from my TPT store now!
4. Free Music Lesson Slides: Long or Short Sounds?
These free lesson slides are the perfect way to teach long and short sounds! It’s a super quick presentation that will help your K–1 students make connections to long and short sounds quickly, through engaging visuals, active listening excerpts, and movement activities!
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: K–1
You can get this Google Slides presentation for FREE in the Chamber of Freebies! Sign up to access below!
5. Free General Music Lesson: Country Music for Google Slides
These free Google Slides are included in my music genres bundle on TPT! I typically use my genre presentations to introduce musical genres to third grade. Each lesson presentation provides a brief overview and history of the genre, along with popular artists, musical characteristics, and listening excerpts!
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: 2–4
You can download Country Music Lesson slides for FREE in my TPT store:
You can purchase the whole bundle if you love it, which offers 25+ music genre lessons for Google Slides!
6. Free General Music Lesson: R&B Music for Google Slides
Speaking of free music lessons, I also have a free genre lesson about R&B music available for download from my TPT store. Similar to the country music lesson, this brief presentation also provides an overview and history of R&B music, along with popular R&B artists, characteristics of the genre, and short listening excerpts.
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: 2–4
You can download R&B Music Lesson slides for FREE in my TPT store:
Want more lessons like this? The Music Genres Bundle offers a growing collection of music genre lessons for Google Slides!
7. Free Music Activities: Steady Beat Grids
When it comes to free music activities, you really can’t beat these steady beat grids, available in the Chamber of Freebies. A perfect way to practice and reinforce this basic music concept with your students, this resource offers the option to either print the grids and split your class into rotating practice stations or present the grids on a projector as a whole-class general music activity.
- Format: Printable PDF
- Suggested Grade Levels: 1–3
Want these Steady Beat Grids? Sign up for the Chamber of Freebies now to access the resource!
8. Free Music Lesson Slides – Franz Joseph Haydn
Are you teaching lessons about composers to your general music class? If so, you’re in luck! You can grab this Google Slides presentation on Franz Joseph Hayden right from my TPT store! This short presentation teaches your students about the life and musical contributions of Haydn. It even includes a few quick listening excerpts to play for students in class!
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: 3–5
Download these lesson slides for FREE from my TPT store:
Want to follow up this free music lesson with an engaging play-along activity? Check out the Surprise Symphony play-along lesson on TPT! It’s a great way to teach dynamics to your general music class.
9. Free Printable Orchestra Flashcards with QR Codes!
This next resource is one of my favorite free music activities in my TPT store! Ideal for centers or rotating stations, these orchestra instrument flash cards can be printed double-sided, in color, or in black and white! I strongly recommend printing this resource top-to-head at a print shop like Staples or Kinkos to ensure correct double-sided alignment. I would also suggest laminating the cards so you can reuse the flashcards with different groups of students.
There are 21 different orchestral instruments featured on the flash cards, along with scannable QR codes that will play a short excerpt of each instrument and help your students with aural identification!
- Format: Printable PDF
- Suggested Grade Levels: Not Grade Specific
Download the Orchestra QR Code Flashcards from my TPT store now!
10. Free Music Activities: Virtual Music Museum!
While there are still many more, unmentioned, free music activities within my TPT store and Chamber of Freebies, I couldn’t end this post without mentioning one of my favorite free music activities: the Virtual Music Museum! This is a free resource that I created during the pandemic. It’s loaded with interactive, digital music activities that are hidden inside! It works great for asynchronous learning, or as a sub-activity in Google Classroom!
- Format: Digital – Use in Google Slides
- Suggested Grade Levels: Not Grade Specific
Here’s How To Use It!
Project the digital map using Google Slides, or assign a copy of this presentation to each student in Google Classroom. Use the resource in presentation mode and explore the 7 different digital music exhibits with your students!
This free music activity is exclusive to Chamber of Freebies members! Join and access free music activities below!
Final Thoughts
So, what do you think? Which of these free music activities will you try first? Don’t forget you can access all my free general music resources by visiting the freebies page in my TPT store, and by joining The Chamber of Freebies! For more ideas for general music class, try this page next!
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