Academy for Pirates

The Shiver-Me-Timbers-Me-Hearty-Swashbuckler-Academy-for-Pirates (Yo Ho)! This is the second year I have walked my music students through the "Academy for Pirates," a school for musical "pirates" to swashbuckle and sing their chanties as they learn about rhythm, meter, ostinato and instrumental techniques. The students LOVE what has become known as Pirate Week: for the week, I'll dress up as "Captain Finnegan," a musical pirate captain, and remain in character throughout each school day. Activities include learning the song, "Gonna Be a Pirate" (one of mine), and dissecting the notation of the song on-screen, then playing drums (cannons), triangles (crow's nest bells) and Orff xylophones (rowing their oars) with the song. I plan on making all of the songs, materials and lesson ideas available on TeachersPayTeachers soon. In the meantime, another great year of the Academy for Pirates is now complete!