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Looking for a singing game that your fourth and fifth grade music students will love? Love Somebody is a fun singing game that is perfect for practicing sixteenth notes, chords, and singing.
Although this is a great Valentine’s Day song, we use is all year long.
The song Love Somebody
Love somebody is great for working on sixteenth notes or talking about chord changes.
My students love it from 3-5 grade, and specifically they say that it is very catchy. The magic lies, though, in the singing game.
The singing game
In the original singing game, the students sit in a circle and sing the song. One student thinks of another student in the circle, and the students try to guess who it is.
Although I’m sure this is fun, I found it easier to play it slightly differently:
- One student goes to the front of the room and closes their eyes while we sing.
- Teacher gives a small object to someone in the room (mini erasers are great for this!)
- At the end of the song, everybody closes their eyes whether they have it or not.
- The student in the front gets three guesses to see if they can figure out who has it.
- If they guess correctly, they get to hand the object to a student. If not, the teacher does again.
- Whoever had it is the next person to guess.
It’s very simple, but so much fun! Plus, it keeps their attention, it’s a quiet game, and it is perfect if you need to go to the teachers’ classrooms for any reason.
Also read: Lessons and tips for teaching fifth graders
The sequence
To teach this song, I start by adding body percussion. We will snap on the eighth notes, clap on the quarter notes, and play on our legs for the sixteenth notes. We talk about the notes as well, as a quick review of what is what.
Then, I’ll add the song so they can hear it a few times.
After that, we play the game!
Typically in the next lesson, we will review the body percussion. Then we add instruments:
- Rhythm sticks for eighth notes
- Drums for quarter notes
- Shakers for sixteenth notes.
I add these incrementally– first the rhythm sticks, then the shakers, then the drums. Once everyone has an instrument, we’ll play through the song twice, then switch until they get to try everything.
Next up…. Do re mi patterns! On either boomwhackers or xylophones, we will practice making the drmm pattern of the song. I put up a visual so that students can see which parts have the drmm in them. We work in groups, then put it all together.
You can also add the second part. I find it helps if you learn the drmm on one day, the other part on another day, and then put it together on a third day. You can also have the drmm on one side of the room and the other on the other side of the room to help.
Chord changes? We talk about how the two sections are different, and how that is because the are different chords. I play some chords on the piano and talk about how they are different.
Then we play the chords a few ways:
- Boomwhackers: Have students play the root or all of the notes of the chords on boomwhackers.
- Pianos: Have students play the roots of the chords on the piano. Then you can add the rest of the chords. It’s easier if you put it into C for this.
- Ukuleles: Have students play just the C chord along with it. Then add alternating between the I and the V
Have you used this song before? What did you do with it? Let me know on Instagram @beccasmusicroom. I can’t wait to hear from you!
PS Don’t forget to grab the lesson pack that goes along with this song. It has all of the visuals that you need to teach the song, the lesson, review sixteenth notes, and play the game!
Happy teaching!
Becca
