Introducing Music Bingo!
Music Bingo changed EVERYTHING for my music students.
See, music class can be full of engaging musical concepts and in-depth explorations of different exciting things, but sometimes, no matter how you swing it, students just need to memorize things.
Good old-fashioned memorization. It can either make or break your students.
Back in college, I learned my Circle of Fifths and mode sequences with flashcards (I was that crazy person running into people because I was busy flashcarding in-between classes).
Flashcards aren’t fun. You know what is fun? Games! Your students would much rather play a few games of Music Bingo to memorize concepts than be forced to cycle through flashcards endlessly- I PROMISE you.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through several sets of Music Bingo cards that I’ve got up in my TpT Shop right now that will make your life a ZILLION times easier and make memorization for your students a little more tolerable 🙂
What Types of Concepts Can I Teach with Music Bingo?
Ask anyone down at ‘ye old Bingo Parlor what can be turned into Bingo – and the answer would be – literally anything!
Think about basic concepts like:
- Letter Names of the Staff
- Music Symbol Names
- Audiation & Aural Recall Skills
- Names of Instruments
- Important Dates
- Composer Names or Names of Famous Pieces
- Classroom Procedures
- Memorization of choral lyrics for the piece you’re working on
- Conducting Movements and what they mean
- etc
- on and on
- the ideas are OUT THERE Y’ALL!
3 Things Music Teachers Want & Need
1. Games for GIANT Class Sizes
First off, as a music teacher, I always try to consider the needs of music teachers and how their goals and needs are usually different from standard classroom teachers. For one thing, our classes/events are sometimes HUGE! When I was teaching, there were times when I needed a fun game that I could whip out at a moment’s notice, but sometimes for classes of 100+ kids (I’m looking at you Marching Band Directors & All-State Coordinators– those people need all the help they can handle, amiright?) it makes it a little more challenging.
All of my Music Bingo games include 600 (!!) cards + unlimited digital cards. I hate games that limit you on the number of players. They just aren’t feasible for us. Hopefully, this is!
2. Reusable or Digital Games (#savethetrees)
Moving on from that, music teachers need games that are DIGITAL or REUSABLE (we do not have an unlimited copy budget after all) and all of my Music Bingo sets can be either reused (just laminate to your heart’s content) or assigned digitally (because your students LOVE using their phones/iPads/Chromebooks, especially for games!).
3. Tiered Levels for Different Ages/Grades
Finally, music teachers don’t teach just one age level, we teach all kinds of ages/abilities/groupings throughout our day. I wanted to make sure that my music bingo games not only cover different content, but different levels as well! Firstly,
How Do the Digital Music Bingo Cards Work?
When you purchase a paid bingo set from my TpT Store, you’ll be given information about viewing unlimited interactive music bingo cards from my hosting website, Bingo Baker.
Here’s an example of a digital Music Bingo card:
Digital Cards work on:
- iPads
- Chromebooks
- Macs
- PCs
- Mobile Devices
Fancy a Freebie?
Music Bingo Games from She The Teacher (Click the Pics)
Treble Clef Bingo
In TREBLE CLEF BINGO, students will have exposure to the following notes in Treble Clef:
- Middle C (C4) – A5 (above the staff)
Bass Clef Bingo
In BASS CLEF BINGO, students will have exposure to the following notes in Bass Clef:
- E2 (below the staff) – C4 (middle C)
Rhythm Bingo Set"A"/Level 1
In this set (Set A), students will have exposure to rhythms using:
- Quarter Notes (Crochets)
- Beamed Eighth Notes (Quavers)
- Half Notes (Minims)
- & Quarter Rests (Crochet Rests)
Rhythm Bingo Set"B"/Level 2
In this set (Set B), students will have exposure to rhythms using:
- Quarter Notes (Crochets)
- 2-Beamed Eighth Notes (Quavers)
- 4-Beamed Sixteenth Notes (Semiquavers)
- Half Notes (Minims)
- Whole Notes (Semibreve)
- Quarter Rests (Crochet Rests)
- Half Rest (Minim Rest)
- Whole Rest (Semibreve Rest)
Rhythm Bingo Set"C"/Level 3
In this set (Set C/Level 3), students will have exposure to rhythms in 4/4 using:
- Quarter Notes (Crochets)
- 2-Beamed Eighth Notes (Quavers)
- 4-Beamed Sixteenth Notes (Semiquavers)
- 1 Eighth/2 Sixteenth & 2 Sixteenth/1 Eighth Groupings (Quavers & Semiquavers)
- Half Notes (Minims)
- Whole Notes (Semibreve)
- Quarter Rests (Crochet Rests)
- Half Rest (Minim Rest)
- Whole Rest (Semibreve Rest)
Final Thoughts
Above all, as music teachers, we want to see our students learning while having fun!
Finally, what Music Bingo game would you like to see next? What questions do you have about these games?
Drop a comment below!
