JANUARY MUSIC LESSON RESOURCES PART 2 for 2025

classroom ideas free resources resources

This is the second part of a two-part post on January music lesson resources.

'JANUARY MUSIC LESSON TEACHING RESOURCES PART 1 for 2025' is here.

16 JANUARY is Lin-Manuel Miranda's birthday

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an actor, writer, and composer born on 16 January 1980 in New York.

His parents moved to New York City from Puerto Rico, and he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood in northern Manhattan.

Many younger students may have seen the Disney movie 'Moana'.

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote songs for this movie, including 'How Far I'll Go'.

Watch the video and have the students complete the listening section of the Lin-Manuel Miranda Listening and Research Foldables.

Learning about this talented musician and composer is a must for young musicians.

There are also resources with various activities for older students. See them all by clicking the thumbnails below.

19 JANUARY is Dolly Parton's birthday

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in Pittman Center, Tennessee.

Dolly is a Grammy Award-winning country music singer/songwriter, composer, author, and actress.

Throughout her career, Dolly has had number-one singles, a record for a female country artist, and 41 top-10 country albums: a record for any country artist.

Dolly Parton is one of the most successful female country artists in history.

MTR's Dolly Parton resources include the following:

20 JANUARY (2025) is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on 15 January 1929. He led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

King used nonviolent, or peaceful, protests to get equal rights for African Americans. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

MLK Day provides the opportunity to create a listening lesson based on songs about peace and freedom.

This ready-to-go resource provides question sheets (with answers provided) for SIX songs appropriate for a theme of peace and freedom.

There are also MLK RHYTHM and PITCH RESOURCES! They are available in three versions - PRINT, TpT EASEL DIGITAL and GOOGLE SLIDES - giving you flexibility and choice!

MTR has soooo many activities covering several music concepts to fit this theme! You can check them all out below.

23 JANUARY is National Pie Day

This day provides another perfect opportunity to review rhythm using RHYTHM PIE CHARTS.

I created a set of Rhythm Pie Charts that you might find helpful. One set uses North American note names, and another uses British note names.

RHYTHM of PIES ACTIVITY:

Ask students to name their favorite pie and write each on the board for a fun activity.

Next, ask students to say the name of each pie while clapping the rhythm of the syllables.

Students must then create the matching rhythm using rhythmic notation.

The Rhythm of Pies can be used as an individual or small group activity.

Finally, have selected individuals notate their rhythm next to a given pie name.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY:

Using the pie names and rhythms, students create a 'Favorite Pie' Rap or Round

You can download the RHYTHM PIE CHARTS HERE.

Check out our Teaching Rhythm in Music blog post for more ideas!

25 JANUARY is Etta James' birthday

Etta James was an American singer. She was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1938.

This extraordinary singer was a gospel prodigy. Her career began to soar in 1960, due in no small part to songs like 'I'd Rather Go Blind' and 'At Last.'

Her other styles included jazz, blues, soul and R&B. She received many awards during her career.

A compare and contrast listening activity of Etta's versions of 'At Last' and Christine Aguilera's would be a good way of introducing Etta to your students. (See videos below)

Here is a handy sheet you can download to use with this listening activity. Worry not because this is a FREE Download.

Other Etta James activities, including more listing activities, are available. Just click the thumbnails below.

27 JANUARY is Mozart's birthday

Celebrate Mozart's birthday by making him your 'Composer of the Month'.

MTR also has numerous resources perfect for introducing your students to Mozart.

There are activities to suit elementary through to high school students! Click the images below to see them all!

29 JANUARY is National PUZZLE Day

National Puzzle Day is the perfect occasion to use music games such as word searches, crossword puzzles, music maze puzzles, color-by-music codes etc. Review concepts you've taught or use games for formative assessment while the students have a little fun! It's a win, win situation!

If you'd like to create interactive games, try Educaplay. You can create a range of different types of games. You can link to your game or embed it into your classroom webpage or Google Classroom.

The Crack the Music Code Puzzles are an absolute favorite

There are also many ready-made games in the MTR Store. Click the images below to check them out!

29 JANUARY (2025) is the Chinese/Lunar New Year

2025 is the Year of the Snake.

Chinese New Year, known in China as the Spring Festival and the Lunar New Year in Singapore, is a holiday on and around the new moon on the first day in the traditional Chinese Calendar.

This Calendar is based on the changes in the moon, which means it moves around between January 21 and February 20.

See all the available MTR Chinese New Year Resources.

$Chinese New Year Music Lessons: Chinese New Year Music Maths$

31 JANUARY is Franz Schubert's birthday

Introduce your students to Franz Schubert and his music. The YouTube video below is a short introduction to this composer.

Prepared educational and engaging resources to help introduce Franz Schubert to your students are available below.

31 JANUARY is Justin Timberlake's birthday

Justin Randall Timberlake is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records.

Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, the Contemporary Icon Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

According to Billboard, he is the best-performing male soloist in the history of the Mainstream Top 40.

Check out these music-listening foldables from MTR to introduce Justin to your music students.