Summary

In this lesson, students will learn to sing and play Verse 2 of the song “Vacation” by Dirty Heads. The lesson consists of a short warm-up which will equip students with the necessary skills needed in the verse, a song practice session where students will learn to play and sing different instrumental and vocal parts in groups, a band practice with the whole class and a homework assignment.

The timing and pacing of the exercises in this lesson plan example are approximate and will differ depending on your students' skill level. If the pace of this lesson plan is too fast for you, divide it into several lessons and add additional activities (see 'Activities' section). If the pace of this lesson plan is too slow for you, explore the 'Beyond the lesson' chapter at the end of this lesson plan for additional activities.

⏰ Time: 50 min

🎓 Grades: 5-12

🎯 Objective(s): As a result of this lesson, students will be able to...

• Combine four simple chords
• Play a bass part consisting of four notes
• Clap or play a rhythm consisting of half, dotted quarter, eighth, dotted eighth and sixteenth notes
• Sing a melody with a range from G3 to A4
• Play together in a band
• Collaborate in groups and learn independently
• Understand the building blocks of the song

💡 Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:

• Basic chords
• Basic rhythm
• Basic notation

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Ukulele and guitar tuner on Solfeg.io mobile app
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Computers or tablets
• Ukuleles, guitars and/or pianos
• Percussion instruments

Song suggestions

Inspiration

🕐 5 min - Discover Verse 2

• Open the song “Vacation” on the screen.
• Listen to Verse 2 and discuss it with the class.

Are there any differences between Verse 2 you just heard and Verse 1 you learned previously?

Are there any new chords?

What are the lyrics about?

Warm-up

🕐 10 min - Get ready!

• Divide students in groups, the same as in the previous lesson. There should be 4 percussion groups, at least one group playing the chords (ukulele, guitar and/or piano), one group playing the bass and one singing (optionally, some of the students playing instruments could also sing).
• Distribute the instruments to the students. If you don't have enough percussion instruments, students can do body percussion, tap the rhythm on tables or other everyday objects.
• Show a short warm-up exercise for each group. Alternatively, all groups could do the singing and percussion exercises together (as well as the instrumental part, if there's enough instruments).

Vocal: speak these lyrics out loud:

Percussion: play this short excerpt from the 2nd rhythm line:

Piano: play these notes with your left hand:

Guitar, ukulele: strum open strings in this pattern:

Bass: play these notes like this:

• Mute all the tracks except the 4 rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume” .
• Loop the Post-Chorus 1 by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button and selecting it on the dropdown menu.
• Press “Play” and invite the first group to do their exercise for 8 bars. The next group continues for another 8 bars and so on until all groups have taken turns.
• You can also invite one student to conduct - show which group should play next.
• Do a couple of rounds until the class has warmed-up and is ready to play the song!

Practice

🕐 5 min - Recap Verse 1

• Click on the beginning of Verse 1 on the timeline of the song player and invite the class to play along to the part they did in the previous lesson and as homework.
• Hit the “Play” button and have fun!
• Shortly discuss how they were doing.

Did they practice at home?

Did they manage to learn their part by heart?

How did it sound compared to the previous lesson?

‍

🕐 15 min - Verse 2

- In this activity, students will work in groups to learn their assigned instrumental / vocal part of Verse 2.

- Each group should have one device - either a computer or a tablet.

- Each group should select the corresponding visuals under “Tools” - “Visuals”.

• To play the rhythm tracks, “Notation” should be selected.

- Show them how to loop Verse 2 on their devices (the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button) and where to slow the song down (the “﹣” button on the left side of the “Play” button.

- Explain the steps for learning Verse 2 to each group. First, give every group just the first task from the below mentioned lists. Only when students are ready to move on, explain the next step.

• Vocal:

First, listen to Verse 2 and read the lyrics.

Repeat Verse 2 and this time speak the lyrics out loud.

Sing the melody with syllables of choice, for example, “lah-lah”, “dah-dah” or just vowels - “ah”, “oh” or other.

Add the lyrics to the melody.

If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try singing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Try singing Verse 2 with the vocal track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.

• Ukulele, guitar:

Practice the strumming pattern you already did as warm-up. First, strum only open strings - don't press any chords with your left hand!

Time to add the chords! If there are at least 4 people in the group, take turns to play chords - each person chooses either C, Am, Em or G and plays only this chord when the corresponding symbol appears at the red line on the screen. Keep playing the same strumming pattern with your right hand!

Try to combine all four chords one after another

If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the chorus at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Try playing Verse 2 with the piano and synth tracks muted - you can mute them under “Controls” - “Volume”.

• Piano:

Play the same bass line with your left hand as you did in the warm-up.

Add the right hand chords - play the bass note on the first beat and then the chord with the right hand on the third beat.

If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Try playing Verse 2 with the piano and synth tracks muted - you can mute them under “Controls” - “Volume”.

• Rhythm:

Mute all the tracks except the rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume”. Listen to the rhythm section.

Split into the same 4 groups you did in the previous lesson and choose the same rhythm track.

Play Verse 2 again and try to play or clap along.

Take turns learning the rhythm - you can mute the other three tracks when learning your track.

If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

• Bass:

Play along to Verse 2 in the same rhythm you did in the warm-up.

If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Walk around the classroom and check how students are doing in different instrumental stations. Guide them by suggesting the next step from the above-mentioned step-by-step learning process when you see that students are ready.

Play together

🕐  5 min - Put it all together

• Invite students to play Verse 2 together.
• Find a suitable tempo for all, slow the song down if needed.
• Have “Notation” selected under “Tools” - “Visuals”. If the piano, guitar or ukulele players are not comfortable with playing just from chord symbols without the diagrams, repeat Verse 2 with the necessary visuals selected.
• Invite students to play a longer part - from the beginning of Verse 2 until the end of Post-Chorus 3.

Reflection

🕐  5 min - Discussion

• How did it go with the new strumming/rhythm patterns?
• What difference did it make to the overall sound of the band and the general mood of the song?
• Was Chorus 3 and Post-Chorus 3 any different from the choruses and post-choruses you played previously?

Beyond the lesson

• Assign homework:

Ask students to practice their part of Verse 2 at home.

Encourage them to learn their part by heart.