Ah – yes – chords. How do you teach these without it being dry and “chalk and talk” or just teaching the classic old I, IV, V pop songs?
I love starting by getting students making their own chords! Throw in chocolate and you have a hit of an activity.
This task will get students to:
- Create a chord – three or more notes
- Think about the mood of the chord – happy, sad, scary, joyful…
- Name a chord – think about the notes – what would you call it?
- Notate their chord – how do you take it from the keyboard to the musical staff?
They will create 3 different chords. It is important that they understand this is also about being creative. I never expect them to create standard chords like C or Am or G7. They may make these but you will also get some weird and wonderful chords as well – how fabulous!
Whilst I am lucky enough to have a keyboard lab to do this, you could very easily use xylophones or even the keyboard on GarageBand.
You will need snack packs of smarties. If you can’t get smarties, you could use m&ms or skittles.
The task requires students to use their devices to take a photo of each chord to submit. You can submit using whatever program you use. I love Showbie for submitting work, but they could post on Seesaw, Teams, Google Classroom, print or airdrop.
IMPORTANT NOTE – No eating the lollies until the end of the task!
**As always, check for allergies within your class before doing this task. You could use counters if lollies can’t be used in your school.
Print or digitally send the instructions and have students work in pairs.
Happy chord making!
Danielle x
PS – if you are looking for a great video to show to your students about chords, check out Axis of Awesome – 4 Chords! Make sure you use the CLEAN version! Enjoy. D x
The Music Spark 