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Did someone say free Jazz lesson? I’m listening! This free elementary music lesson is the perfect way to introduce jazz to your students, by letting them hear many different jazz musicians. They will fall in love with jazz music and jazz musicians. Use this with your upper grades to keep them engaged– even during jazz month (did you know that April is jazz month?) at the end of the school year.
This is a Google Slides lesson and you can get it free here!
How to use this free jazz lesson
This jazz bracket is a free music lesson that you can grab below. It is housed on Google Slides. It includes 16 different jazz musicians. Students listen to two and vote for which of the two jazz musicians they prefer. That person moves to the next round. Keep going until you get down to one person left– the winner!
I love using this free music lesson as an introduction to jazz music, because the students get to hear a lot of different jazz standards at once.
Pro tip: I like to do half on one day, and half on another day.
You can have the students vote by showing a 1 or a 2 on their hands to indicate which person they preferred, raising their hand when you call them out, or writing their answers down (there’s an included printable bracket).
Instead of doing this whole group, students could also write down their picks on a recording sheet (included!). Or if you have 1:1 devices, students could do this on their own after you send via Google Classroom.
What grades does this jazz lesson work for?
This is super fun, and I’ve used it with 2 grade through 5 grade. I typically use it for upper grades, but last year my 2nd graders were doing a jazz unit and they were SUPER into this.
And they completely fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald. I mean, they LOVE her.
What this jazz music lesson is good for
Use this free jazz music lesson for:
- Testing season (it’s quiet!)
- Being in the teachers’ classrooms
- Distance learning (are we still doing that?)
- Calm music days
- Introducing jazz
- Leave it for a non music substitute
Your students will love this one- and they will love learning about all of the jazz musicians.
You can get your bracket here!
