Did you know that April is Jazz Music Appreciation Month? Even if it’s not April for you right now, it’s always a good time to introduce students to composers and musicians from various genres. And who better to introduce jazz than the great Louis Armstrong?
Here are 3 easy activities to introduce your elementary music students to Louis Armstrong and his world of jazz music.
Learn about Louis Armstrong
Teach your students a few facts about Louis Armstrong and jazz music. Kids love learning through stories, so it’s never a bad idea to add a story or a book about the musician to your lesson.
My lesson includes a short kids’ bio, a foldable booklet, and a true/false activity about Louis Armstrong.
Listen to ‘What a Wonderful World.’
Listen to the music together. Younger groups will enjoy drawing a picture as they listen to the music to express what they hear. You could also use a listening sheet to encourage kids to actively listen for musical elements (like the one included in my Louis Armstrong lesson here).
Ask students to write about what makes their world wonderful. Can they think of ways that they could make our world even more wonderful?
Learn about call & response
Listen to Louis Armstrong’s ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’.
Introduce the idea of call & response in jazz music. Listen to a recording of Armstrong’s ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ and ask your students to identify who is singing the ‘call’. Who is singing the response?
My favorite activity to help students understand call & response is to have them create their own.
There are lots of additional examples you could give, but one of my favorites is: (call) ‘Who you gonna call?’ (response) ‘Ghostbusters!’ Divide your students into partners or small groups and have them come up with their own call & response. Have each group ‘perform’ their call & response for the class.
All these activities & more are included in my Louis Armstrong lesson:
- Foldable booklet on Louis Armstrong
- Louis Armstrong biography page
- True or False
- When the Saints Go Marching In info sheet (to read & color)
- When the Saints Go Marching In listening response worksheet
- When the Saints Go Marching In – listen for call and response
- Call and response activity – Your turn!
- What a Wonderful World info sheet (to read & color)
- What a Wonderful World listening sheet
- What a Wonderful World written response & drawing
- Louis Armstrong Word search
- Optional listening links
