Spooky Halloween Songs: Thrilling Rewards for your Music Classroom

Spooky Halloween Songs: Get ready to infuse your music classroom with chills and thrills this Halloween season using two instrumental pieces from the Romantic era and Rock genre that excite students and teach essential musical concepts! 

As music teachers, we know how powerful it is to engage students with captivating music. What could be better than introducing them to two spooky Halloween songs that will grab their attention and keep them eager for more? Let’s dive into the haunting worlds of Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre and rock legend Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein. These eerie pieces will introduce your students to different musical eras and styles, and open the door to new musical techniques while growing their musical knowledge.

Spooky Music Classical Danse Macabre: Romantic Era Ghosts Dance to Life

Danse Macabre composer Camille Saint-Saëns, a child prodigy of the Romantic era, paints a vivid picture of Henri Cazalis’ poem, where skeletons rise from their graves at midnight to dance until dawn. These spooky Halloween songs are perfect for introducing students to:

• The Romantic Era: Explore the storytelling and emotion behind the music.
• Tone Poems: Learn how music can tell a story without words.
• Dies Irae: A medieval melody to evoke death, despair, and doom. 
• Tritones: Dive into spooky musical techniques that create tension and fear.

See 5 Great Ways to teach Danse Macabre for Halloween – Music Escape Room Click Here.

This piece gives your students a deeper understanding of the Romantic period where instrumental music is inspired by nature, literature, poetry, and fine arts while keeping them captivated by the creepy, skeletal rhythms and haunting violin melodies. They’ll be amazed to discover how Saint-Saëns uses these musical tools to create the spooky atmosphere of a haunted dance. The reward? They get excited about the expressive possibilities of classical music.

Spooky Rock Music Frankenstein: A Modern Monster of Rock and Synths

On the flip side, students will love the thrilling contrast of Edgar Winter’s rock instrumental Frankenstein. As another musical prodigy, Winter masterfully combines classic rock with early synthesizer sounds, creating a monstrous riff-driven hit that’s just as much fun as it is educational. With Frankenstein, students get to explore:

• The Synthesizer: Learn about one of rock’s most iconic early uses of electronic music.
• Progressive Rock: A genre of music that features unusual sounds made with a synthesizer and typical rock instruments. 
• Riffs and Improvisation: Break down the building blocks of rock music and see how improvisation brings a song to life.
• Call and Response & Coda: Explore the structure and form of this rock gem.

Frankenstein introduces students to the electrifying world of rock while teaching them foundational concepts in form and improvisation. As they get absorbed in Winter’s groundbreaking sounds, they’ll develop a newfound appreciation for how modern instruments can bring new life to music.

5 Thrilling Ways Edgar Winter Hit Monster Makes an Impact in the Music Classroom click here.

A bonus reward is learning about the 1970s music editing process of cutting the master tape into pieces, rearranging the order, and splicing the tape back together. This process is how the rock instrumental song got its name. It draws the connection between the music editing process and the 1818 Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein. 

Spooky Music Instrumental Escape Room Activities: Interactive Fun

To take these spooky Halloween songs to the next level, turn these music lessons into captivating music escape rooms. After learning about these spooky Halloween songs, composers, and vocabulary, students will use listening maps, follow-up worksheets, and interactive challenges to cement their learning. Escape rooms engage students in learning and help deepen their understanding of musical concepts and composers while making learning a thrilling adventure!

Through these escape room activities, students will:

• Piece together clues about the composer’s life.
• Analyze the music to uncover key elements like tone poems, riffs, and call-and-response forms.
• Solve puzzles that reinforce their knowledge, and ensure understanding and retention. 

These activities will transform your classroom into an exciting, interactive environment that rewards students for listening carefully and thinking critically.

Treat Your Students to These Spooky Halloween Songs

Incorporating these spooky Halloween songs into your classroom will leave your students energized, inspired, and excited to learn more about music. Whether it’s through the eerie waltz of Danse Macabre or the high-energy improvisation of Frankenstein, these songs will captivate and challenge them in ways they never expected. 

Use these ideas to create a music escape room activity today, you can offer them a rewarding, hands-on experience that keeps them engaged long after Halloween.

Or save time and bring these spine-chilling masterpieces to your classroom, Get your students hooked on these spooky sounds and see how these thrilling songs become a reward for their musical curiosity click here to see all my fall ideas!