5 New Years Music Activities for the 1st Week of January

New Years Music Activities

I know that dreaded day – the first day back in January after holiday break. It can be tough, so I wanted to share 5 simple new years music activities that I suggest having on hand ready to go for January. These songs and activities could also work just fine for a substitute. 

I added these songs into a Slides collection for New Years, and I placed the sheet music in my song binder. Be ready to celebrate a happy and stress-free new year in the music room.

Celebrate

First, let’s look at a wonderful YouTube video by Rhythm Recess with the song “Celebrate.” I just love this video in particular, because it shows the rhythm and the body percussion for students to follow along.

Auld Lang Syne

Secondly, I would like to suggest another rhythmic play-along video with the song “Auld Lang Syne.” This is wonderfully created by Ready GO Music, who includes 4 different rhythmic levels of this song – including iconic up to sixteenth notes. So it can work well with lots of grade levels.

New Year Rap

The next new years music activity that my students really enjoy is another video called New Year Rap by Mr. Henry’s Music World. It is a very engaging activity with rapping, body percussion, rhythmic reading, and rhythmic aural exercises. 

Happy New Year

The last two new years songs are great for adding instruments. Each year, I use this New Years song bundle with my students. They just love adding instruments to accompany the songs, “Happy New Year” and “Auld Lang Syne.”

You can find more about them by clicking here.

New Year Instrument Activities

Playing into the New Year

Finally, with younger students ready to play instruments and make music for New Years, be sure to grab this freebie, “Playing Into the New Year.” It has six different classroom percussion parts with rhythms and matching new year phrases to help younger students.

My students love trying this each January, and it really helps them to review rhythms after break. 

New Year Instrument Activities

I hope you are able to use some of these five new years music activities and simplify your lesson planning in January! I’d love to hear how it went! You can email me at beth@bethsmusicclassroom.com or find me on IG or FB @bethsmusicclassroom.

Looking for some winter music activities? Check out this post!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday break, Christmas, and happy New Years!

New Years Music Activities