MAY MUSIC LESSON TEACHING RESOURCES PART 1 for 2025

Using the best music lesson teaching resources is more crucial than ever as students shift to distance learning. However, choosing the best ones is not easy as there are millions of options. How can music teachers ensure they pick the best teaching resources for their students?

Music is easier to understand when the resources are linked to real-life events, music, and people. This creates a fun and engaging learning environment.

MTR provides many resources to help music teachers instil fun and engagement in the class. These resources are great both for on-campus and distance learning. This article lists the best teaching opportunities for music teachers in May.

1 MAY is Tim McGraw's Birthday

Tim McGraw is an American country singer and actor. McGraw's ability to stir up a range of emotions with everything from jumping dance tunes to heartfelt ballads made him one of the most popular country music singers in the 1990s and the early 21st century.

Learn more about McGraw and his music with these MTR resources:
           

2 MAY is Peter and the Wolf's First Premiere

Peter and the Wolf was first performed on this day in 1936. Composed by Sergei Prokofiev, it was designed to introduce children to the different musical instruments in the orchestra. For this reason, each character in the story has a particular instrument.

Use Peter and the Wolf to introduce the concept of a melodic idea or subject present in a piece of music. In the case of Peter and the Wolf, each theme represents a character.

Peter and the Wolf has become one of the most popular pieces of children's music ever written.

Take a look at several Peter and the Wolf related resources in the MTR Store.
        

Have a look at this video of Disney's Peter and the Wolf.

2 MAY (2025) is National Space Day

Students are often curious about what outer space looks like. These MTR resources take students on an exciting trip to space while educating them about music.
          

 

4 MAY is Marianna Martines' Birthday

Marianna Martines was an Austrian singer, pianist and composer of the Classical era. Marianna took music lessons from many well-known musicians, including Joseph Haydn. 

Marianna was just twelve years old when she composed her first piece of music.

MTR has a Marianna Martines resource that is very new to the store. Click the image below to check it out!

5 MAY is Adele's Birthday

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English pop singer and songwriter. She began making waves in the industry when a friend posted songs Adele had written and recorded onto the social networking platform MySpace.

Adele is famous for her soulful, expressive voice and traditionally crafted voice. One of her best-selling albums, entitled 21, was credited with helping to revive the recording industry. Adele has received numerous Grammy Awards for her work.

There's a lot to learn about Adele and her music. These MTR resources will help you with that:
     

Adele Freebie

I created this Adele Music Bracket just for fun with students. Click the image below to download it for FREE!

The bracket is perfect for March Madness, or anytime your class needs a fun break.

Use it as a bell ringer to give you time to take attendance, pass out materials or briefly catch up with absent students.

Use it in the last 5-6 minutes of class to motivate students to complete all set work.

To save time, I play only a section of each song, not the entire song.

PLEASE NOTE: This resource contains links to YouTube videos. If you don't have access to YouTube at your school or prefer not to use the videos, you can play the audio-only, use a lyric video instead, or create a Spotify list.

 
5 MAY is Cinco de Mayo

Celebrate Mexican heritage with MTR's Cinco de Mayo-themed resources!
            

7 MAY is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Birthday

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is widely regarded as the most famous Russian composer in history. Tchaikovsky sought refuge in music from his tough early life. He began taking piano lessons at five, showing remarkable gifts.

Moreover, Tchaikovsky is most celebrated for his ballets, specifically Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

MTR offers numerous resources to help students learn about Tchaikovsky in a fun, engaging way:
         

8 MAY is Enrique Iglesias' Birthday

Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop singer-songwriter. He is known as the King of Latin Pop. Iglesias has sold over 100 million records worldwide and holds the number-one spot on the Greatest of All-Latin Artists charts.

This MTR resource will deepen students' knowledge of Iglesias and his music:
 

8 MAY is Mary Lou Williams' Birthday

Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist who performed, composed, and arranged for many great jazz artists of the 1940s and '50s.

Mary Lou wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records.

Williams began her climb to fame at 10, known as the "Little Piano Girl".

Learn more about Williams and her music with this MTR resource:

9 MAY is Nokie Edwards' Birthday

Nole Floyd "Nokie" Edwards was an American musician and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was primarily a guitarist, best known for his work with The Ventures, and was known in Japan as the 'King of Guitars'. Edwards was also an actor who appeared briefly on Deadwood, an American Western drama television series.

Get to know more about his life and music using this word search with research activity to deepen students' understanding.

11 MAY is Prince Royce's Birthday

Prince Royce is a Dominican-American bachata singer. His eponymous debut album in 2010 became a success, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart.

You surely don't want to pass up this MTR teaching resource for Prince Royce:

13 MAY is Stevie Wonder's Birthday

Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter and musician who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that includes rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz.

A virtual one-person band, his use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. He also helped drive the genre into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive, consistent, socially conscious statements with complex compositions.

This MTR music resource will help deepen students' understanding of his life and music.
    

14 MAY is Tania Leon's Birthday

Tania León is a Cuban-born composer of both large-scale and chamber works. She is also renowned as a conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations.

Learn more about her life and music using these listening foldables - a perfect addition to your female composer music resources.

  

Download the 'MAY Teaching Ideas and Resources' as a PDF to keep in your files for quick access.

DOWNLOAD your copy here.

See PART 2 of this blog post. 

If you would like access to a growing library of resources that will save you time and help you create memorable musical experiences for your students, subscribe to the MTR 12-Month Membership for Music Teachers. You'll find more information HERE.