Reggae for Full Band: LESSON 2

This is lesson 2 in a scheme of work teaching students about reggae music - its history and its musical features - through learning 3 Little Birds as a whole class band. The unit also features a basic introduction to playing, and reading tab for, guitar, bass guitar and drums. The double-sided handout (with parts for all instruments) is included.

If you want the full scheme of work with all the lesson slides, the unit map, the double-sided handout and the assessment mark sheets, you can find that here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13416214

You’ll need keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, drums and ideally microphones, but the first lesson could be used as a standalone keyboard lesson, if you don’t have the equipment. Even for a 5-week term, I have often adapted this unit to be a keyboard-only unit (sometimes with added vocals), because it can easily take most students the 4 weeks before the assessment to master the keyboard part (especially if playing with 2 hands). But if you have the equipment, the whole-class band is a lot of fun, and totally doable if you have at least 6 weeks!

Lessons are as follows:

Lesson 1: Introduction to reggae’s musical features, Bob Marley and the musical theory of chords and chord inversions
Lesson 2: The history of reggae, and how to read guitar chord boxes for the chords of 3 Little Birds
Lesson 3: Learning how to read bass and drum tab for 3 Little Birds
Lesson 4: Learning the vocal part, assigning roles for the whole class band, and continuing to practise individual parts for the chorus, before playing this as a band
Lesson 5: Practising individual parts for the verse, and playing as a class for the chorus as well as the verse
Lesson 6: Final rehearsal and assessment

If you just want the handout and want to do your own thing with the lessons, you can find that here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13416262