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It’s Spring time, and down here in Savannah, Georgia, that means St. Patrick’s Day! I know St. Patrick’s Day is not a huge deal everywhere, but in my area, we get the day off and have a huge parade. Because it’s such a big deal here, I try to add Irish music lessons to my elementary music lessons this time of year. So here’s some of the best St. Patrick’s Day music lessons for elementary music.
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Tell Me Ma
This is one of my favorite Irish music lessons, and your kids will be obsessed with this folk song!
For this song, we learn the lyrics, focusing on vocabulary, because there’s some phrases that they may not know.
Then we use this song to learn about form.
There’s 2 different lessons that I like to do with this song:
First idea: Have the students choose actions to go along with the song. Pick one action for verse, one for chorus, one for the instrumental, etc. Then listen and do the actions.
Second idea: This includes drums! Have students walk in a circle to the beat. Freeze and sing when you get to the chorus. Then add drums to keep the beat– on the chorus, stop playing and sing instead. Then the teacher stands in the middle with a triangle. When you hit the triangle, they about face (turn) and walk the opposite way.
Shamrock composing
Want to be festive but need to practice reading music? I’ve got you. Use shamrocks for some St. Patrick’s Day themed composing! Students can create rhythms or melodies.
Cut out shamrocks from paper, get foam shamrocks, or print ready to go sets from my TPT shop, Becca’s Music Room!
When we need to practice a concept, I like to start with one of the Irish folk songs for a warm up, then use these for composing.
Bonus points? The kids don’t need to be quiet if they are working in groups. Perfect if they are a little stir crazy this time of year!
Molly Malone (Cockles and Mussels)
When you’re talking about Irish music, you’ll need to talk about Molly Malone. This is a classic Irish folk song, and perfect for teaching St. Patrick’s Day elementary music lessons. Teach students the chorus, talk about a fish monger, and then do one of the activities down below.
Here’s 3 options for Molly Malone elementary music lessons:
- Keep the beat with castanets: While singing, have a student pass out castanets (call them “mussels”). Students can keep the beat, or they can play the rhythm while they sing along.
- Draw pictures for the story: Molly Malone is a story! Make your homeroom teachers happy by talking about sequence of events with a drawing activity. Listen to the song, stopping after each verse. Talk about what happened (helps if you keep the lyrics on the screen), and then have students draw a picture of the verse. Pro tip: Preview the version you’re using and give students a paper with that many boxes, or have them fold their paper if you are feeling adventurous.
- Dotted notes: This song has a lot of dotted quarter- eighths and eighths-dotted quarters. Listen to the chorus. Give students the lyrics, and have them write on a piece of paper or white board which one it is.
Note: In this song, Molly dies at the end. Just be aware that if you have a student with a recent loss, this song may bring up some emotions.
Irish Instruments
Next up, let’s learn about Irish instruments! There are quite a few fun Irish instruments that your students may not have seen before.
I use my virtual field trip to Ireland to show the students video of instruments like:
- Bohran
- Concertina
- Fiddle
- Celtic harp
- Penny whistle
- Flute
- Bagpipes
There’s more, but these are the ones I typically cover.
Use the virtual field trip to check out all of them, or find a youtube video of each and listen to one per class.
Click here to purchase the Virtual Field Trip!
Danny Boy
Can we talk about Irish music without talking about Danny Boy? Danny Boy is a quintessential Irish song, and perfect for elementary music lessons!
For this song, I typically have students listen as a calm down activity. Sometimes I teach the chorus. It’s pretty and they will typically catch on pretty quickly.
I don’t have anything fancy to do, but it’s a great song, and you should definitely include it on your St. Patrick’s Day music lessons!
Shamrock Matching Games
Practice treble clef, instruments of the orchestra, piano, recorder fingerings or rhythm names with a shamrock these matching shamrocks! This is a simple and fun way to practice music. Use them during centers or at the end of class!
PS I like to walk around when we do activities like this so that I can see who is doing them correctly.
Rattlin’ Bog
By now you know what I’m going to say… I love this song! This is a cumulative song, meaning that you add more things in the bog each time.
We start by learning the chorus, and students keep the beat on their body during this part. We also look at some pictures of a bog so that we understand what that is. (A wetland area with spongy, non-draining peat rich soil.)
On the verses, we add actions to show each of the things in the bog. With the little kids, I’ve found this more success doing thie verses as a call and response (and in that bog, and in that bog, there was a tree, there was a tree…). We join in together on the chorus.
I typically play along on my ukulele (and yes, I tell them that it is not an Irish instrument!)
Then… the chorus. First, we keep the beat on our bodies. Then we change it up in one of two ways:
- Have students keep the beat on a hand drum during the chorus, and move along with the actions on the verse.
- Have students do-si-do on the chorus, and more along with the actions on the verse. Just have them hook arms and spin around. Make sure you practice having students stop at the end of the chorus, and face the front.
The second option is a lot more chaotic, but I’ve been trying to add more folk dancing elements to my classes, because my 3rd graders do a huge folk dance unit. I’m trying to get the younger students used to folk dancing, so send me your favorite K-3 folk dances on Instagram (@BeccasMusicRoom)
It’s also a great way to get the wiggles out and really wear them out– which will help them pay attention when it’s needed!
I’ve used this song with K-5, and everyone loves it.
Digital solfege game
And finally, let’s practice some solfege! This is another great way to add a fun, St. Patrick’s Day spin on practicing music.
For this digital game, the students will try to find the leprechaun hiding under a rock. Put the slides on the board, and have students click on the notes on the staff that match the solfa. They will instantly find out if they are correct (by finding the leprechaun!) or not.
Do this whole group, or have students do it on their own on their own devices.
This game comes in 5 sets: sol mi, la, do, re, and do re mi.
Click here to purchase or learn more!
Is that enough ideas to get you through St. Patrick’s Day? Hopefully it’s enough to take care of every grade level, whether you want to focus on Irish music lessons or on St. Patrick’s Day themed activities to practice music.
If you want to learn more about Irish music this St. Patrick’s Day, make sure that you check out the Ireland Virtual Field Trip! This is a best selling Google Slides lesson from my shop, and it includes segments for the songs listed above, as well as learning about the instruments of Ireland, and some Irish dancing!
Need more ideas? Here are some Spring music lessons!
Happy teaching! Becca
