Well folks, here it is two weeks after that last post (but it feels like six). Yes, it's "that time of year" and, well...I just didn't get to it last week. So sue me.
I felt it appropriate to follow up on that last post since it seemed to strike a chord with many. So here goes...
The first week back at work was rough. Believe me, if you're told "you should take two weeks" don't play superhero if you can avoid it. I consider myself a "trooper" but I was quite floored that first week back - even though there were two days that I only taught half a day. That being said, I survived it. AND...after much fret from my hospital bed about how my Music Memory team would perform at our final meet on Saturday, Dec. 9, I am proud to say they pulled through. Not only did they pull through, but in a big way! My fifth grade team took first place, and one of those students placed first as an individual. The other team members all placed. My one and only third grader not only took first place, but the judges were in shock - he had an absolutely PERFECT paper! (there's that word again)
I only called one "extra" rehearsal (to make up for the one I missed while in the hospital the previous week) to prepare my students for their winter musical. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, who knows) my principal decided that we should NOT have any in-school performances due to the number of disruptions already existing in the daily schedule. I didn't argue. I usually like to have in-school performances on the day of the show because it gives us a great dress rehearsal complete with an audience. At one point during a rehearsal less than one week from the production date and after yet another lead speaking part dropped out, one of my assisting coworkers said to me, "You must be heavily medicated." I asked why and she said, "If that was me running that rehearsal, I would have been a screaming lunatic - you have tremendous restraint!" I explained to her that me ranting and throwing a tantrum would have accomplished one thing: to make ME more upset. It wouldn't have made things any better, and it certainly wouldn't have helped the kids. I had totally resigned myself to just getting through this performance. I had made up my mind that it would be one of the absolute WORST performances I would ever lead in my entire career. But...I was just going to have to deal with it and hope the audience wouldn't be the wiser.
I'm here to report that I was absolutely, 100% WRONG about that! The evening of the performance arrived. I had the usual amount of absentees (I'm used to that) and one lead part that had decided not to come to school that day was among them. The students were in a panic. I told them not to be concerned with anyone else and just perform their own parts to the best of their ability. I read his part from my director's seat in front of the stage - and no one knew it was anything that wasn't supposed to be there. My students sang brilliantly - on pitch, with enthusiasm. They smiled. I smiled. They delivered their lines with feeling and strength. The flow from one scene to the next (props, movement, and all) was as if it had been rehearsed since August. It was, frankly, one of THE best performances I have ever led in my life - EVER! Parents congratulated me and I even got a call from my principal asking me what exactly did I think the problem was (we had had discussions in the weeks leading up to it) - she thought it was fantastic. I told her how wrong I was.
I should also note that to heap on a little more stress, our annual "Winter Festival" is always held the same night as the performance. Each grade level is in charge of one food item and one game. I am the grade level chair for my group ("special populations") and I had to attend meetings, purchase items needed to pull it off, and deal with a last-minute possible failure of the hay ride that we were to provide. It all went beautifully, the parents had a great time, and the school made money.
To further test my limits, I have been waiting for a year for a probate court date. A close friend passed away last year and since the family is scattered to the four winds, they asked ME to administrate his estate. Wouldn't you know after waiting all this time, I got word of the court date while lying in a hospital bed? I made it to court and was able to get the initial efforts started for sewing up the estate of my deceased friend.
The point I'm trying to make here is...I could have spazzed. I could have yelled. I could have screamed and yes, I could have just given up..."Sorry, I'm recuperating from surgery and have personal matters to attend to." But I didn't. I approached it with resolve and continued to reaffirm quietly to myself, "Just do your best, just do your best." And wouldn't you know it? My best turned out to be just enough to pull it all off.
So when you are in the midst of the frantic month of December as a music teacher, relax...go with the flow...it will be what it will be...and if anyone has anything to say about it, they'll need to take a few steps in your sensible teacher shoes.
There may be a couple weeks lag in my posting as I am going to enjoy my holiday hiatus from the classroom. If I get inspired, I may write a post over the holiday break, but if not, I will be back after the new year.
Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and wonderful holiday season. The tragedy in Connecticut is weighing heavily on our minds this weekend. Do not fret. Keep those souls in your prayers, keep your heads up, and move forward with resolve to make a difference in your students' lives. Turn off the news. Turn away from the media frenzy and take a moment to reflect on how your light will be one of the many that will help make this world a brighter place. Focus on the light and love, not the darkness and fear.
Until next time...
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Perfect!
It's December 1 as I sit down to write this week's post. This is the time of year for almost all of the past 27 years that I would go into full-on PANIC mode. It's "that time" for music teachers across the country, time for (insert evil music here) The Christmas Program.
As my years in this profession have been increasing almost exponentially lately, I have been trying to make the conscious decision to do one simple thing every day in my lessons and in my rehearsals, meetings, etc. - RELAX! Well, I have been having only mild success with this concept...until this past week. Here we are, the first full week back after Thanksgiving break...and on Sunday evening before going back to work, I was rushed to the Emergency Room at one of our local hospitals with acute appendicitis and had an emergency appendectomy early Monday morning on what turned out to be a ruptured appendix.
Instead of thinking about the fact that A) Had we not gone to the hospital when we did, I could easily not be sitting here writing this and B) I needed to focus on gradually increasing my strength and stamina and rest to get a full recovery, I was thinking about (insert evil music again) the Christmas program! I was also thinking about the UIL meet my Music Memory team will face next Saturday and how, oh how was I to get everything done when I'd already lost a week and the doctors were threatening me with having to miss yet another week to recuperate at home? What would happen? How could I get everyone ready?
Then it hit me, "You said you needed to learn to relax. You weren't doing it. Well, here's your chance." The bottom line for elementary music teachers is this, folks: I have had holiday programs when I prepared, and prepared, and fretted, and fussed, and lost sleep, and got cold sores, and had near-nervous breakdowns...and they were fine. I've also had others with less stress and fretting (but still some) and guess what? Those were fine too. The bottom line is: you can worry all you want, but it's not going to change the outcome. If you are prepared and organized, your students are going to do as well as they can - and even if "as well as they can" is not up to your Carnegie Hall standards, the parents' camcorders and phones will be running, they will be smiling, and absolutely thrilled that their child is on the stage.
We cannot blame ourselves. It is the nature of our chosen profession. What is "good" music? Well, it certainly isn't music with mistakes all over the place, forgotten lyrics, flat pitches, and off-rhythms. Take a look at this YouTube video in case you haven't seen it...it addresses the necessity of perfection in music to a tee:
We strive for that perfection with every piece we attempt with our students. We know in our mind's ear exactly what we want our groups to sound like. We fight for rehearsal times and work around family illnesses, families going out of town, assemblies, school holidays, testing, and the occasional bad attitude or bad behavior and strive to get that "perfect" sound. When it doesn't happen, we get frustrated, our anxiety rises, and sometimes we even make ourselves sick. How does that help the students' performance? It doesn't.
One of my most favorite books ever is "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It jumped off the bookshelf right into my hands one day many years ago when I was looking for some inspiration. Little did I know after I selected it how many of my friends had read it (gee, thanks for letting ME in on it, guys!). The fourth agreement is one of the simplest - Always Do Your Best. The book goes on to explain that some days your "best" might not be the same as others - and that's okay. You may be tired, you may have many responsibilities, you may be sick, you may be well-rested...all of these things will change what your "best" actually is. He writes:
I have been given all sorts of advice (mostly unsolicited) regarding how to handle my upcoming events in December with my convalescing period in the middle of it - cancel classes, cut numbers, postpone performances, etc. No. That's not going to happen. First of all, it's Christmastime and parents don't want to see performances for the holidays in January. Secondly, regardless of my new-found laissez faire attitude, there will be a small level of anxiety directly related to "the show." Do I really want to destroy my own holiday season by dragging that on? Absolutely not - my sanity is more important. So, we will press on, we will do our best, and the snowflakes will fall where they may (even though we don't have snowflakes in South Texas).
So, if you're reading this and have "that December music teacher feeling" do not despair. First, you are not alone, but more importantly - stop stressing about "the program." Continue to do your best and all will be well.
Until next week...
As my years in this profession have been increasing almost exponentially lately, I have been trying to make the conscious decision to do one simple thing every day in my lessons and in my rehearsals, meetings, etc. - RELAX! Well, I have been having only mild success with this concept...until this past week. Here we are, the first full week back after Thanksgiving break...and on Sunday evening before going back to work, I was rushed to the Emergency Room at one of our local hospitals with acute appendicitis and had an emergency appendectomy early Monday morning on what turned out to be a ruptured appendix.
Instead of thinking about the fact that A) Had we not gone to the hospital when we did, I could easily not be sitting here writing this and B) I needed to focus on gradually increasing my strength and stamina and rest to get a full recovery, I was thinking about (insert evil music again)
Then it hit me, "You said you needed to learn to relax. You weren't doing it. Well, here's your chance." The bottom line for elementary music teachers is this, folks: I have had holiday programs when I prepared, and prepared, and fretted, and fussed, and lost sleep, and got cold sores, and had near-nervous breakdowns...and they were fine. I've also had others with less stress and fretting (but still some) and guess what? Those were fine too. The bottom line is: you can worry all you want, but it's not going to change the outcome. If you are prepared and organized, your students are going to do as well as they can - and even if "as well as they can" is not up to your Carnegie Hall standards, the parents' camcorders and phones will be running, they will be smiling, and absolutely thrilled that their child is on the stage.
We cannot blame ourselves. It is the nature of our chosen profession. What is "good" music? Well, it certainly isn't music with mistakes all over the place, forgotten lyrics, flat pitches, and off-rhythms. Take a look at this YouTube video in case you haven't seen it...it addresses the necessity of perfection in music to a tee:
We strive for that perfection with every piece we attempt with our students. We know in our mind's ear exactly what we want our groups to sound like. We fight for rehearsal times and work around family illnesses, families going out of town, assemblies, school holidays, testing, and the occasional bad attitude or bad behavior and strive to get that "perfect" sound. When it doesn't happen, we get frustrated, our anxiety rises, and sometimes we even make ourselves sick. How does that help the students' performance? It doesn't.
One of my most favorite books ever is "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It jumped off the bookshelf right into my hands one day many years ago when I was looking for some inspiration. Little did I know after I selected it how many of my friends had read it (gee, thanks for letting ME in on it, guys!). The fourth agreement is one of the simplest - Always Do Your Best. The book goes on to explain that some days your "best" might not be the same as others - and that's okay. You may be tired, you may have many responsibilities, you may be sick, you may be well-rested...all of these things will change what your "best" actually is. He writes:
Regardless of the quality, keep doing your best...if you try too hard to do more than your best, you will spend more energy than is needed and in the end your best will not be enough...if you always do your best, there is no way you can judge yourself...
I have been given all sorts of advice (mostly unsolicited) regarding how to handle my upcoming events in December with my convalescing period in the middle of it - cancel classes, cut numbers, postpone performances, etc. No. That's not going to happen. First of all, it's Christmastime and parents don't want to see performances for the holidays in January. Secondly, regardless of my new-found laissez faire attitude, there will be a small level of anxiety directly related to "the show." Do I really want to destroy my own holiday season by dragging that on? Absolutely not - my sanity is more important. So, we will press on, we will do our best, and the snowflakes will fall where they may (even though we don't have snowflakes in South Texas).
So, if you're reading this and have "that December music teacher feeling" do not despair. First, you are not alone, but more importantly - stop stressing about "the program." Continue to do your best and all will be well.
Until next week...
Friday, November 23, 2012
You, too, Can be a Guitar Hero!
In 2008 I made the decision that it may be time to
begin a guitar program as part of general music instruction at my school. The popularity of the instrument in music
programs was growing, there was a great deal of interest because of the
guitar’s traditional connection to popular music, and I felt my fifth graders
who were reaching the usual “too cool for school” point could use a little
motivation. I must also add that living
on the Texas/Mexico border was a key motivator for me to begin this
program. The mariachi tradition is rich
here and given the instrument’s prominent place in these groups (along with its
cousins the guitarrón and the vihuela) made the decision to start teaching it
in elementary school a no-brainer. Our
middle schools and high schools have award-winning mariachi and conjunto
programs, and it is, after all, our duty as elementary music specialists to
prepare our students for what lies ahead once they leave our instruction.
As a keyboardist/vocalist/saxophone player, the
guitar was always the “mystery instrument” for me. The piano has always made sense to me
visually and since that was my first instrument at the age of 10 it was easy to
transfer my piano knowledge to other instruments – including my voice. But the guitar was just “weird.” I marveled at those who could play it and
play it well and knew that picking one up to play would be a challenge due to
the fact that it was unlike any other instrument with which I was
familiar. But…as we are to instill that
“life-long learner” attitude in our students, I put my fears aside and decided
to model this ideal and learn the guitar for myself. After all, I certainly didn’t want to
embarrass myself in front of a “real” guitar teacher because I was an accomplished
musician (Old dog, new trick? Hey, I
have my pride!), so I took the guitar to the woodshed as it were, and got to
it.
I prepared by getting a decent, inexpensive, steel
string guitar for myself along with a “learn-to-play-guitar” method book that came
with a play-along CD. It was rough
going, but I gave myself a few months before the actual start of the 2008-2009
school year. Besides, when it comes to
teaching elementary students, you really only need to stay one or two lessons
ahead of your students, right?
Preparing
for the "Big Buy"
I knew if I was going to do this, I was going to go
at it all the way – I wasn’t about to have six guitars with four students
sharing each one – especially in fifth grade.
This being my mission, my next step was to consolidate my budget
accounts so I could actually purchase 24 guitars. If your experience is
anything like mine, you know that transferring monies from your 54321 account
to your 12345 account usually requires an act of congress and a promissory note
to sign over your first born child upon completion of the transfer. But this was important, so I was willing to
endure whatever “the system” was willing to throw at me for the sake of getting
this program off the ground.
I made the decision to buy twelve ½-size, nylon
string guitars and twelve ¾ -size guitars.
Learn from my mistakes if you have not already begun the guitar
adventure in your own classroom: the ½
-size guitars work just fine and they’re not really all that different from a
full size. I am six feet tall and have
absolutely no problems maneuvering with a ½ -size guitar. The ½ -size guitars are less expensive too.
If you're going to go as big as getting an entire
class set of guitars, keep storage in mind.
I was able to purchase 24 guitar wall hangers for a reasonable
price. Take the time to set up
procedures for students getting guitars as well as returning them to their
proper place carefully. This "ounce of prevention" will
avoid headaches and mishaps that could easily drop your 24 guitars down to 18.
Prepare
to Repair
As every music specialist is well-aware, you not
only have to be a crackerjack teacher when it comes to music, but you also have
to be somewhat of an instrument repair person.
When you are using nylon strings in this setting, you have to expect a
broken string here and there - have some spares. Also, learn from my pain, get yourself a
string winder! They only cost a couple
bucks and save you loads of frustration in an already packed-full school day,
not to mention avoiding the contraction of a case of carpel tunnel
syndrome. Finally, I have learned that
Gorilla Glue® is my best friend. I have had
the saddle of a couple of my guitars come off while hanging in place over the
weekend. I have also had the wood on the
saddle crack and cause the bridge to fall.
Gorilla Glue® has saved all
guitars involved. Just remember to read
the directions - it's not like any other glue.
It does expand (like the directions say) so use sparingly, and rather
than "clamping" as suggested in the directions, I found setting a
couple textbooks on the saddle while the glue dried over night did the trick
just fine.
How
to Avoid Doing Your Best Pete Townshend Impersonation (Out of Frustration, Not
to Be Cool)
I began my classroom guitar adventure thinking I
could approach it in traditional lesson-by-lesson fashion. I diligently went about preparing lessons
incorporating the first pages of the guitar method that had so aptly taught me
my way around the first, second, and third strings of the guitar. I am a stickler for copyright, so I would
never photocopy a book – but I can project a page from it onto the screen using
my document camera for my students to view.
Besides, the method book worked for me, so it should be a breeze for my
fifth graders, right? WRONG! I’m not certain what, exactly, caused this to
be such a failure. Even though guitar
was to be included as only a portion of the day's music lesson, it just wasn't
working the way I had imagined. Maybe it
was too much information on one page, maybe my expectations were too high,
maybe my conservatory-approach training caused me to be too much of a
perfectionist, or maybe it was a combination of all of these. Whatever it was, it was definitely not what I
wanted my classes to look like.
As the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year
arrived, I decided to get a handle on this.
The start of a new school year is always the same for upper elementary
grades - review concepts from previous years and then start to build on
them. It's always a challenge to have
fifth grade students review very basic concepts and still hold their interest,
so I decided this would be the way I would introduce the guitar rather than use
the method book approach.
A
Tool for Review
When reviewing basic rhythm reading skills, I
incorporated the guitar by having my classes play simple quarter note-quarter
rest-eighth note rhythms that I keep printed on homemade flashcards. By simply having the students play the rhythms
on the first string of the guitar (as opposed to clapping or playing classroom
rhythm instruments) I was able to accomplish two goals: first, the students were solidifying their
basic rhythm reading skills and second, I was able to introduce the guitar
without a lot of lesson book reading.
They learned how to hold the guitar, which string was the
"first" string, and how to play on only one string. The following week I augmented the review to
include patterns with whole notes and half notes. I took this opportunity to introduce placing
the fingers on the fingerboard - first finger, first fret, first string (the
pitch "F"). After getting the
idea of how much pressure was required to change the pitch on the first string
from "E" to "F," I had them identify notes by giving this
instruction: "When I show you each
card, play E's for every quarter note or whole note, play F's for each eighth
note or half note..." Here they
were able to read simple four-beat rhythm patterns, identify notes by their
proper names, and practice playing on the first string simultaneously. The concentration required was enough to keep
them focused without being overwhelming which can sometimes cause the "I give
up" attitude with this age group.
Later we were reviewing basic meter - meter in 2 and
meter in 3. I had the students practice
something this simple by having them open their textbooks to "Amazing
Grace." We identified the time signature
and what it meant, discussed the concepts of "strong beat" and
"weak beats," then accompanied the song (which, thankfully, is in the
key of G major in our text) by playing the fourth, third, and second strings
(D, G, B) in succession. True, this
accompaniment doesn't fit the song exactly,
but when you are learning how to pick individual strings on the guitar - it's
good enough!
Go
for It!
These are just a couple of examples of using the
guitar to accomplish musical goals you were most likely already teaching in
your music class. When introducing an
instrument to young children, we need to buck traditional music instruction
slightly and get creative. Teaching
techniques like peer evaluation, cooperative learning, and the use of
"centers" can all be incorporated to keep your students interested
and motivated. Take a look at your
existing curriculum and take some "pondering time" to come up with
unique ways of including the guitar as a regular part of your general music
instruction. I still only include guitar
as a part of each lesson, and
occasionally we don't use them at all.
This keeps the learning less tedious and keeps the excitement fresh.
If you haven't already started this adventure and
are considering it, or if you have already started and may be feeling a bit
discouraged, I hope my experience will help you press forward with it. Your students will thank you for it.
My next try is going to be with a few apps...I'll
give you the verdict after I've had a chance to try and fail at a few things.
Until then, happy strumming and I'll be writing
again next week...
Sunday, November 18, 2012
"The Plan" - Part V
Whew! And to think when I conceived this that I was going to put it in ONE post...glad I woke up before I started it.
This week, the final week for the curriculum series, I am addressing tone color and expressive elements as well as music-related topics.
Tone Color
The basic understanding of this musical element is that: 1) Different materials produce different sounds and 2) We classify instruments by the materials from which they are made or by the way these instruments are played, and 3) The scientific concept that (generally) "larger items produce lower sounds, smaller items produce higher sounds."
Pre-K - At this grade level, students can have experiences with various tone colors that may be available in the classroom. Begin to point out that small, medium, and large sizes play high, middle, and low sounds. Practice using different voices - speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling).
Kindergarten - Students at this age can begin placing sounds in groups - hit, shake, scrape, ring, etc. It is not important that they know the four families of instruments. Kindergarteners can also identify man's voice, woman's voice, and child's voice. Speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling) voices are also solidified at this age.
First Grade - First graders continue classifying sounds and have much experience playing different sizes of instruments and relating that sound to pitch range. They also can begin with playing different instruments in different ways and discovering or identifying how playing the instrument in a different way changes its tone color (how will the xylophone sound different if we play it with a wooden mallet instead of a yarn mallet?).
Second Grade - This is the age when we actually start to discuss families. I never go into a comprehensive study of brass, woodwind, percussion, and string, but I do take the time to start to look at one or two of these families and several of the instruments contained in them.
Third Grade - Whatever families were not covered in second grade can be added in third grade.
Fourth Grade - In fourth grade being able to place instruments in their appropriate family is important. Not only "memorizing" what instrument goes where, but being able to articulate the "why" an instrument belongs in a certain family and not in another. Fourth graders should have a good understanding of the four main instrument families and what instruments belong in them.
Fifth Grade - In fifth grade, other "families" can be added (keyboard instruments, electronic instruments) as well as various ensembles and what instruments/voices are contained in them. This age can also intellectualize various aspects of sound in groups and why they are traditionally arranged in a certain fashion (i.e. why is the conductor in the center of the orchestra? Why are there so many strings and only a few brass? Why do the strings sit near the front of the stage?).
Expressive Elements
The main expressive elements in music are dynamics and tempo. As mentioned in my first post, you really can't have either of these without connecting them with some other element of music. Perhaps the most difficult concept to get across (even to fifth graders) is the difference between "high" and "loud" and "low" and "soft." Use appropriate terminology at all times and whenever possible, sneak in those "music words" even in non-musical contexts: "Boys and girls, I need you to line up and be very pianissimo while getting in line." When walking in a line, "We are moving andante - be careful not be largo or allegro!" Connect types of music with various tempi, "If you were to sing a song that puts a baby to sleep, would you use a fast or slow tempo? Would you sing loudly or softly? Lullabies are usually slow and soft." Try singing songs in various tempi or dynamic levels. How did it change the way the song felt to you?
When discussing form in the upper grades, talk about elements of music that can contrast to create different sections - tempo and dynamics are two of these elements.
Music-Related Topics
I once had a discussion with a very noted music professor about this. I was young in my career and was confused as to the importance of selecting topics for my classes and leaving others out (in elementary school, there simply isn't TIME to address them all!). He said, "I have found that whatever YOU are into, your students will be highly successful at that. I have seen teachers who are passionate about opera. They develop units of study about opera and their students are quite successful. Another teacher who is not as strong in opera could teach the same unit and it could end up being a total flop." I have carried this with me and it has helped ease my guilt a little when I realize, "Gee, my students are leaving me not knowing ____." If composers and facts about their lives really rock your world, then by all means, include them. Which ones do you include? Good question. At this point in musical history, I suppose it's completely up to you - there are far too many! I try to select "the biggies" to discuss (within the context of the study of other elements) - Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, etc. My music memory students are currently studying "O la o che bon echo" by Lassus. I will confess, I don't believe I've ever heard this piece of music (or heard of this composer) in my life. Sure, I may have crammed about Lassus for a music history class in college - but that is testament to how important it was in my overall musical life as an adult. I can tell by listening that Lassus probably wasn't a contemporary of Beethoven and his style is most like what I know to be renaissance music. Intellectually, isn't that good enough for what we want our students to know?
Once your students are well-versed in musical elements, you can discuss style very intelligently. Play some music. What style are you hearing? They are very aware of style - especially within the larger genre of pop music. They may not put a name on it, but they know. So this is a good time to start diving deeper into the topic since they know more about the elements of music. What makes hip-hop different from pop? What are some artists from each style? When they realize the topics they've learned about in music are universal, it is a little easier for them to grasp the difference between, for example, the romantic and baroque periods. Pick what your find meaningful for your students to have successful musical lives - either as consumers or musicians or professionals in a music-related career.
Well, there you have it. That's my take on elementary music curriculum. I have no doubt I have probably left out something. If I realize I have, I will come back and edit my posts. Feel free to leave a comment if there is something about which you feel strongly.
Until next week...
This week, the final week for the curriculum series, I am addressing tone color and expressive elements as well as music-related topics.
Tone Color
The basic understanding of this musical element is that: 1) Different materials produce different sounds and 2) We classify instruments by the materials from which they are made or by the way these instruments are played, and 3) The scientific concept that (generally) "larger items produce lower sounds, smaller items produce higher sounds."
Pre-K - At this grade level, students can have experiences with various tone colors that may be available in the classroom. Begin to point out that small, medium, and large sizes play high, middle, and low sounds. Practice using different voices - speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling).
Kindergarten - Students at this age can begin placing sounds in groups - hit, shake, scrape, ring, etc. It is not important that they know the four families of instruments. Kindergarteners can also identify man's voice, woman's voice, and child's voice. Speaking, whispering, singing, and yelling (calling) voices are also solidified at this age.
First Grade - First graders continue classifying sounds and have much experience playing different sizes of instruments and relating that sound to pitch range. They also can begin with playing different instruments in different ways and discovering or identifying how playing the instrument in a different way changes its tone color (how will the xylophone sound different if we play it with a wooden mallet instead of a yarn mallet?).
Second Grade - This is the age when we actually start to discuss families. I never go into a comprehensive study of brass, woodwind, percussion, and string, but I do take the time to start to look at one or two of these families and several of the instruments contained in them.
Third Grade - Whatever families were not covered in second grade can be added in third grade.
Fourth Grade - In fourth grade being able to place instruments in their appropriate family is important. Not only "memorizing" what instrument goes where, but being able to articulate the "why" an instrument belongs in a certain family and not in another. Fourth graders should have a good understanding of the four main instrument families and what instruments belong in them.
Fifth Grade - In fifth grade, other "families" can be added (keyboard instruments, electronic instruments) as well as various ensembles and what instruments/voices are contained in them. This age can also intellectualize various aspects of sound in groups and why they are traditionally arranged in a certain fashion (i.e. why is the conductor in the center of the orchestra? Why are there so many strings and only a few brass? Why do the strings sit near the front of the stage?).
Expressive Elements
The main expressive elements in music are dynamics and tempo. As mentioned in my first post, you really can't have either of these without connecting them with some other element of music. Perhaps the most difficult concept to get across (even to fifth graders) is the difference between "high" and "loud" and "low" and "soft." Use appropriate terminology at all times and whenever possible, sneak in those "music words" even in non-musical contexts: "Boys and girls, I need you to line up and be very pianissimo while getting in line." When walking in a line, "We are moving andante - be careful not be largo or allegro!" Connect types of music with various tempi, "If you were to sing a song that puts a baby to sleep, would you use a fast or slow tempo? Would you sing loudly or softly? Lullabies are usually slow and soft." Try singing songs in various tempi or dynamic levels. How did it change the way the song felt to you?
When discussing form in the upper grades, talk about elements of music that can contrast to create different sections - tempo and dynamics are two of these elements.
Music-Related Topics
I once had a discussion with a very noted music professor about this. I was young in my career and was confused as to the importance of selecting topics for my classes and leaving others out (in elementary school, there simply isn't TIME to address them all!). He said, "I have found that whatever YOU are into, your students will be highly successful at that. I have seen teachers who are passionate about opera. They develop units of study about opera and their students are quite successful. Another teacher who is not as strong in opera could teach the same unit and it could end up being a total flop." I have carried this with me and it has helped ease my guilt a little when I realize, "Gee, my students are leaving me not knowing ____." If composers and facts about their lives really rock your world, then by all means, include them. Which ones do you include? Good question. At this point in musical history, I suppose it's completely up to you - there are far too many! I try to select "the biggies" to discuss (within the context of the study of other elements) - Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, etc. My music memory students are currently studying "O la o che bon echo" by Lassus. I will confess, I don't believe I've ever heard this piece of music (or heard of this composer) in my life. Sure, I may have crammed about Lassus for a music history class in college - but that is testament to how important it was in my overall musical life as an adult. I can tell by listening that Lassus probably wasn't a contemporary of Beethoven and his style is most like what I know to be renaissance music. Intellectually, isn't that good enough for what we want our students to know?
Once your students are well-versed in musical elements, you can discuss style very intelligently. Play some music. What style are you hearing? They are very aware of style - especially within the larger genre of pop music. They may not put a name on it, but they know. So this is a good time to start diving deeper into the topic since they know more about the elements of music. What makes hip-hop different from pop? What are some artists from each style? When they realize the topics they've learned about in music are universal, it is a little easier for them to grasp the difference between, for example, the romantic and baroque periods. Pick what your find meaningful for your students to have successful musical lives - either as consumers or musicians or professionals in a music-related career.
Well, there you have it. That's my take on elementary music curriculum. I have no doubt I have probably left out something. If I realize I have, I will come back and edit my posts. Feel free to leave a comment if there is something about which you feel strongly.
Until next week...
Saturday, November 10, 2012
"The Plan" - Part IV
This week we look at the elements of harmony and form.
Harmony
When developing harmonic concept in young children, baby steps are really important. Singing in harmony and aurally identifying it are not easy tasks for most human beings - especially at the age of elementary students.
Here is the breakdown by grade level of how I cover harmony:
Pre-K - I make sure I use lots of "harmony" words when speaking in class. "Let's sing that without the accompaniment...or...I am going to play an ostinato." It's also important that students at this age learn to echo appropriately (i.e. not sing your part with you - which they love to do!). It is important that young students get the idea that we "take turns" musically (my part, your part).
Kindergarten - In kindergarten we continue to make sure we know when our "turn" is and we develop the ability to identify the presence and absence of accompaniment. At this age I have students play simple ostinati to accompany age-appropriate songs as well.
1st Grade - Here we actually want to identify an ostinato. Later in the year we want to make sure students understand we can have rhythmic ostinati (that don't add harmony) and melodic ostinati (that do add harmony). We play them while the class sings, we play along with recordings, we also make sure that we know when an accompaniment is NOT an ostinato. Just because an instrument is playing along, does not mean it is an ostinato.
2nd Grade - In second grade we want to get to the point where we actually know what "harmony" is - two or more pitches being played or sung simultaneously. I want them to understand that just because an instrument is playing with a singer (or singers) it may not necessarily be playing harmony. At this age it's also appropriate to have students recognize simple chord changes in an accompaniment (I-V).
3rd Grade - Third graders really start getting into the nitty gritty of harmony. They do all the previous activities with harmony, but also identify a chord as "three or more pitches played together." We identify chord symbols when they are present in printed music and play them on classroom instruments. We look at what harmony looks like in printed music. In third grade we also work on identifying and singing canons (rounds) and partner songs.
4th Grade - In fourth grade I give my students more practice with all of the previous harmony experiences - accompaniment, ostinati, chords, canons, and partner songs. We may also play a recorder song in two parts.
5th Grade - Once again, this is the year when we can approach the more theoretical side of all the harmony experiences they've had since pre-K. We can add the idea of Roman numerals marking chords. We can build chords based on scales (identifying scale degrees, letter names, and syllable names of pitches). This is also the year when I introduce reading two-part written music (for singing) as well as the term "descant."
Form
This element is one of the best for relating music to life. I usually start of my form introduction with the parts of a house - two squares for the windows, a big square for the actual house, a rectangle for the door and a triangle for the chimney. I say, "What do you think might happen if an alien came to you and had never seen a house? How do you think he would put these pieces together? I then go about making some ridiculous combination of the above-named shapes. Then I explain, "Because we know the order of the parts of a house, we can put a house together that makes sense. Music is the same way..." I also try to impress upon them that nearly everything has form (the body, the weather, visual art, buildings, etc.).
Here is the grade level breakdown for form:
Pre-K - Four-year-olds can identify "same" and "different." At this age I play small examples or melody fragments and ask the students to identify if they are the same or different. We also have lots and lots of experiences singing songs in AB and ABA form and do dance with "same" and "different" parts.
Kindergarten - In kindergarten when discussing form, I mainly want my students to know two words and know them well - these are: "verse" and "refrain." We make a big deal about "different words/same music" and "same words/same music" repeated.
1st Grade - In first grade we work on being able to identify AB and ABA forms in music. We also point out that some songs simply have an "A" section and nothing else.
2nd Grade - In second grade we can add slightly more complex combinations of "A" and "B" and continue to find the verse and refrain in music both aurally and when printed.
3rd Grade - Adding to AB, ABA, and AABA, this is the age when I like to introduce rondo form. It's also a time when we can actually discuss "parts" of a piece of music. "How did you know A was ending and B was beginning?" This is a perfect opportunity to review all the elements of music. "What can change in a song's parts? What if there is no singing, what can change?"
4th Grade - This is a good time to focus on printed music directions that give big clues to form - D.S., D.C., coda, and fine should all be parts of the fourth grade vocabulary when discussing form.
5th Grade - There was a time when I would use fifth grade to introduce more complex forms - sonata form, fugue...but...with new times come new demands and my daily lessons do not allow for this. Now I am content to add theme and variations to their form vocabulary and if we get that far (when combined with all of the topics from the previous years), I am satisfied.
Next week I'll get into tone color and talk a little about the "expressive elements" and "music-related" elements. Until next week...
Harmony
When developing harmonic concept in young children, baby steps are really important. Singing in harmony and aurally identifying it are not easy tasks for most human beings - especially at the age of elementary students.
Here is the breakdown by grade level of how I cover harmony:
Pre-K - I make sure I use lots of "harmony" words when speaking in class. "Let's sing that without the accompaniment...or...I am going to play an ostinato." It's also important that students at this age learn to echo appropriately (i.e. not sing your part with you - which they love to do!). It is important that young students get the idea that we "take turns" musically (my part, your part).
Kindergarten - In kindergarten we continue to make sure we know when our "turn" is and we develop the ability to identify the presence and absence of accompaniment. At this age I have students play simple ostinati to accompany age-appropriate songs as well.
1st Grade - Here we actually want to identify an ostinato. Later in the year we want to make sure students understand we can have rhythmic ostinati (that don't add harmony) and melodic ostinati (that do add harmony). We play them while the class sings, we play along with recordings, we also make sure that we know when an accompaniment is NOT an ostinato. Just because an instrument is playing along, does not mean it is an ostinato.
2nd Grade - In second grade we want to get to the point where we actually know what "harmony" is - two or more pitches being played or sung simultaneously. I want them to understand that just because an instrument is playing with a singer (or singers) it may not necessarily be playing harmony. At this age it's also appropriate to have students recognize simple chord changes in an accompaniment (I-V).
3rd Grade - Third graders really start getting into the nitty gritty of harmony. They do all the previous activities with harmony, but also identify a chord as "three or more pitches played together." We identify chord symbols when they are present in printed music and play them on classroom instruments. We look at what harmony looks like in printed music. In third grade we also work on identifying and singing canons (rounds) and partner songs.
4th Grade - In fourth grade I give my students more practice with all of the previous harmony experiences - accompaniment, ostinati, chords, canons, and partner songs. We may also play a recorder song in two parts.
5th Grade - Once again, this is the year when we can approach the more theoretical side of all the harmony experiences they've had since pre-K. We can add the idea of Roman numerals marking chords. We can build chords based on scales (identifying scale degrees, letter names, and syllable names of pitches). This is also the year when I introduce reading two-part written music (for singing) as well as the term "descant."
Form
This element is one of the best for relating music to life. I usually start of my form introduction with the parts of a house - two squares for the windows, a big square for the actual house, a rectangle for the door and a triangle for the chimney. I say, "What do you think might happen if an alien came to you and had never seen a house? How do you think he would put these pieces together? I then go about making some ridiculous combination of the above-named shapes. Then I explain, "Because we know the order of the parts of a house, we can put a house together that makes sense. Music is the same way..." I also try to impress upon them that nearly everything has form (the body, the weather, visual art, buildings, etc.).
Here is the grade level breakdown for form:
Pre-K - Four-year-olds can identify "same" and "different." At this age I play small examples or melody fragments and ask the students to identify if they are the same or different. We also have lots and lots of experiences singing songs in AB and ABA form and do dance with "same" and "different" parts.
Kindergarten - In kindergarten when discussing form, I mainly want my students to know two words and know them well - these are: "verse" and "refrain." We make a big deal about "different words/same music" and "same words/same music" repeated.
1st Grade - In first grade we work on being able to identify AB and ABA forms in music. We also point out that some songs simply have an "A" section and nothing else.
2nd Grade - In second grade we can add slightly more complex combinations of "A" and "B" and continue to find the verse and refrain in music both aurally and when printed.
3rd Grade - Adding to AB, ABA, and AABA, this is the age when I like to introduce rondo form. It's also a time when we can actually discuss "parts" of a piece of music. "How did you know A was ending and B was beginning?" This is a perfect opportunity to review all the elements of music. "What can change in a song's parts? What if there is no singing, what can change?"
4th Grade - This is a good time to focus on printed music directions that give big clues to form - D.S., D.C., coda, and fine should all be parts of the fourth grade vocabulary when discussing form.
5th Grade - There was a time when I would use fifth grade to introduce more complex forms - sonata form, fugue...but...with new times come new demands and my daily lessons do not allow for this. Now I am content to add theme and variations to their form vocabulary and if we get that far (when combined with all of the topics from the previous years), I am satisfied.
Next week I'll get into tone color and talk a little about the "expressive elements" and "music-related" elements. Until next week...
Saturday, November 3, 2012
"The Plan" - Part III
As promised, this week I'm addressing meter and melody.
Meter
This element is a logical follower to beat and rhythm because they are connected. It's not a topic to be brushed over and can easily get confusing for young minds - especially as you dive deeper into it. The basic principles I want my students to know are that each of the two main meters (2 and 3) has a feeling - I choose "march" for 2 and "sway" for 3 but that is arbitrary. If you have something that works, have at it.
I want students to know that all meters are combinations of these two basic meters. I divide meter into categories: duple (2), triple (3), compound (6 or 12), and unusual (5 or 7). Any time you have a meter other than 2 or 3, it is simply a combination of these two. Meter in 4 is two groups of 2, meter in 5 is either a 2+3 feel or a 3+2 feel, and so on.
I connect meter with life and address the reasons why meter in 2 is so much easier for us than meter in 3 or any unusual meter. We have two legs and feet. Walking is a meter in 2. We would certainly look a bit odd walking in 3. Our heartbeat is a meter in 2 (or the compound meter of 6 if you want to get technical). Meter in 2 or 4 is relatively easy to grasp as opposed to other meters.
Here is the breakdown of how I address meter in each grade level.
Pre-K - At this age, I am mainly concerned with my students knowing that "Meter in 2" and "Meter in 3" exist. They are too young to really intellectualize much more about it. Because of this, they need lots of experiences playing instruments, singing, and moving to each. I often point out "This song was meter in 3."
Kindergarten - I'm not so concerned that students at this age give a name to "meter in 2" or "meter in 3" but if they can, that's great. My main focus for kindergarteners is their ability to identify "strong-weak" and "strong-weak-weak" patterns in music. Movement and playing of instruments is the best way to accomplish this. Visual representations are also a must (big and little sticks, large and small pictures, etc.). The repeat sign is also something I like to introduce at this grade level.
First Grade - In first grade, we begin to name beat groupings as "meter in 2" or "meter in 3." We identify the time signature (meter sign) at the beginning of written music. We practice dividing written music with barlines. We review the repeat sign and also learn about the double bar.
Second Grade - With the introduction of longer note values during the study of rhythm, this is a good age to focus on the written aspect of meter a little more deeply. We can see that other meters exist (meter in 4).
Third Grade - In third grade, with the introduction of syncopation, much experience with reading, singing, and playing or moving to meter is very important. At this age I stick to basic meters of 2, 3, and 4. We continue to identify the meter sign (still using a number over a note value rather than an actual time signature) and discuss what it means.
Fourth Grade - In fourth grade we can introduce the lower number in the time signature. Why? This is traditionally the year students begin to learn fractions in math. We continue to identify the feeling of various meters, practice interchanging note values for number values in the meter sign, and practice counting multiple measures of rest (this can be done in third grade - however, in my current situation, we play the recorder in fourth grade so it's a prime opportunity to learn to count multiple measures of rest when playing with recorded accompaniment).
Fifth Grade - We continue to study all the meter concepts from previous years, but add the concepts of compound meter and unusual meter. At this age, you can test the waters to see if they truly understand meter as it is written and as it is heard. Play a simple tune like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" then play it again - changing the meter. How was it different? You can have the students practice this in writing if your daily schedule allows time.
Melody
I have a firm foundation in the Kodály method, although I have never taken the certification levels for this method. I prefer Kodály especially when it comes to developing melodic concept in children because of the hand signs. It provides a very kinesthetic aspect to the teaching of melody. Not only does each pitch "feel" different (the sign itself), but children gain the relationship of higher and lower that each pitch has in relation to the others.
My students learn these main ideas: The note head is the part of the written note that identifies the melody or pitch. Pitches are individual sounds (do, mi). Melodies are made up of groups of pitches (do-mi-so). Melodies can move in three ways - up, down, or staying the same. Pitches have four different relationships to each other - step, leap, skip, and repeat.
Before going into grade level introductions, it is important to note that singing a melody (not a short one, but one of any length) completely in solfege has little to no value to students at this age. You may want to try this type of activity late in fifth grade, but singing through music in solfege in the elementary grades has little to no meaning to a developing child. What we are aiming for here is that students begin to recognize patterns of sound and that music is, at the lowest level, a series of these patterns.
Here is my breakdown by grade level as to how I introduce melodic concepts to my students:
Pre-K - high, middle, low. This takes a lot of work. I also make sure to address that "high" does not mean "loud" nor does "low" mean "soft." We address melodic range in pieces of music as "high" or "low." We also do some vocal-visual work at this age - following abstract drawings (or actual drawings if you want!) with our voices.
Kindergarten - we continue work on high and low and upward and downward melodic motion. I do some visual representation of melodies (pictures, big circles) representing upward and downward motion, but don't get into actual notation at this point.
First Grade - In first grade we start to learn a few actual pitch names. I introduce them in this order: so and mi (together...if you prefer "sol" by all means, write it that way), then la, then do. We start to read so and mi on two lines, then on two spaces (three lines) and talk a great deal about "on the line" or "in the space." It's also important to strongly address the "left-to-right" nature of music reading. When writing melodies for the first time, it is common for students place notes on top of each other or place the first pitch of a melody then begin to write the second pitch before the first one. I demonstrate this by writing my name - left to right, then writing it again with the letters all jumbled up. I also talk about when the teacher says, "Write your name on the line..." it is quite different when we write music "on the line." We discuss how "so and mi are in spaces, then la goes on the line above so. When so and mi are on lines, then la goes in the space above so." After some practice with two lines and two spaces, we expand it to the full staff. We talk about the number of lines and spaces and how we number from bottom to top, not top to bottom. When I introduce do, I use the old Kodály "key" for finding do on the staff (present textbooks tend to write the word "do" at the beginning). We sing:
Then we sing the converse, "When do is in a space..."
Second Grade - In second grade we start looking at pitch relationships - step, leap, skip, and repeat. I introduce the pitches re and do¹. I have heard talk that this approach is best suited for Hungarian children and that American children should be introduced to the pentachord as soon as possible (do, re, mi, fa, so) but...the Hungarian way has worked for me for the past 27 years and I'm not about to fix something that isn't (for me) broken. If you want to do it that way, have at it...but you didn't hear it from me.
Third Grade - Third grade students continue to work on reading, singing, and playing the pentatonic and finding melodic patterns containing do, re, mi, so, la, and do¹ in songs that we sing. We practice reading the pentatonic (or its pitches) in various keys. This is also the age when we begin to look at tonality (major and minor) and pitches below do (low-la and low-so or la1 and so1). We learn about "home tone" for major and minor - the focus or "home tone" for major is do, for minor it is la.
Fourth Grade - I introduce fa and ti in fourth grade. Fa and ti get saved for this later stage in development because of the concept of the half step. There are plenty of adults who could not tell you which pitch is higher when listening to a half step and hearing it can be tough. I introduce the meaning of "sharp" and "flat." After the introduction of these pitches fa and ti, we can talk about the order of whole and half steps in the major scale. "We were happy when we were home." Whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. How will this order change if a song is in minor mode? We look at simple key signatures of C major, F major, and G major and their relative minors A minor, D minor, and E minor. Fourth grade is also the year that we begin to name pitches with syllables as well as letter names.
Fifth Grade - In this grade level we can address the full spectrum of key signatures and scales. We talk about the importance of key signatures ("Why not just write everything in C major?"). We discover the circle of fifths. We practice interchanging pitch names with syllables, letters, and scale degrees. This is kind of "heavy duty" so it's best to break this up over the year. Too much "theory" can make Jack a very dull boy - and Norm a not-so-fun-and-interesting music teacher! Find the most creative and fun ways you can to inject these rather heavy musical topics into each music lesson.
Next week...harmony and form...until then...
Meter
This element is a logical follower to beat and rhythm because they are connected. It's not a topic to be brushed over and can easily get confusing for young minds - especially as you dive deeper into it. The basic principles I want my students to know are that each of the two main meters (2 and 3) has a feeling - I choose "march" for 2 and "sway" for 3 but that is arbitrary. If you have something that works, have at it.
I want students to know that all meters are combinations of these two basic meters. I divide meter into categories: duple (2), triple (3), compound (6 or 12), and unusual (5 or 7). Any time you have a meter other than 2 or 3, it is simply a combination of these two. Meter in 4 is two groups of 2, meter in 5 is either a 2+3 feel or a 3+2 feel, and so on.
I connect meter with life and address the reasons why meter in 2 is so much easier for us than meter in 3 or any unusual meter. We have two legs and feet. Walking is a meter in 2. We would certainly look a bit odd walking in 3. Our heartbeat is a meter in 2 (or the compound meter of 6 if you want to get technical). Meter in 2 or 4 is relatively easy to grasp as opposed to other meters.
Here is the breakdown of how I address meter in each grade level.
Pre-K - At this age, I am mainly concerned with my students knowing that "Meter in 2" and "Meter in 3" exist. They are too young to really intellectualize much more about it. Because of this, they need lots of experiences playing instruments, singing, and moving to each. I often point out "This song was meter in 3."
Kindergarten - I'm not so concerned that students at this age give a name to "meter in 2" or "meter in 3" but if they can, that's great. My main focus for kindergarteners is their ability to identify "strong-weak" and "strong-weak-weak" patterns in music. Movement and playing of instruments is the best way to accomplish this. Visual representations are also a must (big and little sticks, large and small pictures, etc.). The repeat sign is also something I like to introduce at this grade level.
First Grade - In first grade, we begin to name beat groupings as "meter in 2" or "meter in 3." We identify the time signature (meter sign) at the beginning of written music. We practice dividing written music with barlines. We review the repeat sign and also learn about the double bar.
Second Grade - With the introduction of longer note values during the study of rhythm, this is a good age to focus on the written aspect of meter a little more deeply. We can see that other meters exist (meter in 4).
Third Grade - In third grade, with the introduction of syncopation, much experience with reading, singing, and playing or moving to meter is very important. At this age I stick to basic meters of 2, 3, and 4. We continue to identify the meter sign (still using a number over a note value rather than an actual time signature) and discuss what it means.
Fourth Grade - In fourth grade we can introduce the lower number in the time signature. Why? This is traditionally the year students begin to learn fractions in math. We continue to identify the feeling of various meters, practice interchanging note values for number values in the meter sign, and practice counting multiple measures of rest (this can be done in third grade - however, in my current situation, we play the recorder in fourth grade so it's a prime opportunity to learn to count multiple measures of rest when playing with recorded accompaniment).
Fifth Grade - We continue to study all the meter concepts from previous years, but add the concepts of compound meter and unusual meter. At this age, you can test the waters to see if they truly understand meter as it is written and as it is heard. Play a simple tune like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" then play it again - changing the meter. How was it different? You can have the students practice this in writing if your daily schedule allows time.
Melody
I have a firm foundation in the Kodály method, although I have never taken the certification levels for this method. I prefer Kodály especially when it comes to developing melodic concept in children because of the hand signs. It provides a very kinesthetic aspect to the teaching of melody. Not only does each pitch "feel" different (the sign itself), but children gain the relationship of higher and lower that each pitch has in relation to the others.
My students learn these main ideas: The note head is the part of the written note that identifies the melody or pitch. Pitches are individual sounds (do, mi). Melodies are made up of groups of pitches (do-mi-so). Melodies can move in three ways - up, down, or staying the same. Pitches have four different relationships to each other - step, leap, skip, and repeat.
Before going into grade level introductions, it is important to note that singing a melody (not a short one, but one of any length) completely in solfege has little to no value to students at this age. You may want to try this type of activity late in fifth grade, but singing through music in solfege in the elementary grades has little to no meaning to a developing child. What we are aiming for here is that students begin to recognize patterns of sound and that music is, at the lowest level, a series of these patterns.
Here is my breakdown by grade level as to how I introduce melodic concepts to my students:
Pre-K - high, middle, low. This takes a lot of work. I also make sure to address that "high" does not mean "loud" nor does "low" mean "soft." We address melodic range in pieces of music as "high" or "low." We also do some vocal-visual work at this age - following abstract drawings (or actual drawings if you want!) with our voices.
Kindergarten - we continue work on high and low and upward and downward melodic motion. I do some visual representation of melodies (pictures, big circles) representing upward and downward motion, but don't get into actual notation at this point.
First Grade - In first grade we start to learn a few actual pitch names. I introduce them in this order: so and mi (together...if you prefer "sol" by all means, write it that way), then la, then do. We start to read so and mi on two lines, then on two spaces (three lines) and talk a great deal about "on the line" or "in the space." It's also important to strongly address the "left-to-right" nature of music reading. When writing melodies for the first time, it is common for students place notes on top of each other or place the first pitch of a melody then begin to write the second pitch before the first one. I demonstrate this by writing my name - left to right, then writing it again with the letters all jumbled up. I also talk about when the teacher says, "Write your name on the line..." it is quite different when we write music "on the line." We discuss how "so and mi are in spaces, then la goes on the line above so. When so and mi are on lines, then la goes in the space above so." After some practice with two lines and two spaces, we expand it to the full staff. We talk about the number of lines and spaces and how we number from bottom to top, not top to bottom. When I introduce do, I use the old Kodály "key" for finding do on the staff (present textbooks tend to write the word "do" at the beginning). We sing:
Then we sing the converse, "When do is in a space..."
Second Grade - In second grade we start looking at pitch relationships - step, leap, skip, and repeat. I introduce the pitches re and do¹. I have heard talk that this approach is best suited for Hungarian children and that American children should be introduced to the pentachord as soon as possible (do, re, mi, fa, so) but...the Hungarian way has worked for me for the past 27 years and I'm not about to fix something that isn't (for me) broken. If you want to do it that way, have at it...but you didn't hear it from me.
Third Grade - Third grade students continue to work on reading, singing, and playing the pentatonic and finding melodic patterns containing do, re, mi, so, la, and do¹ in songs that we sing. We practice reading the pentatonic (or its pitches) in various keys. This is also the age when we begin to look at tonality (major and minor) and pitches below do (low-la and low-so or la1 and so1). We learn about "home tone" for major and minor - the focus or "home tone" for major is do, for minor it is la.
Fourth Grade - I introduce fa and ti in fourth grade. Fa and ti get saved for this later stage in development because of the concept of the half step. There are plenty of adults who could not tell you which pitch is higher when listening to a half step and hearing it can be tough. I introduce the meaning of "sharp" and "flat." After the introduction of these pitches fa and ti, we can talk about the order of whole and half steps in the major scale. "We were happy when we were home." Whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. How will this order change if a song is in minor mode? We look at simple key signatures of C major, F major, and G major and their relative minors A minor, D minor, and E minor. Fourth grade is also the year that we begin to name pitches with syllables as well as letter names.
Fifth Grade - In this grade level we can address the full spectrum of key signatures and scales. We talk about the importance of key signatures ("Why not just write everything in C major?"). We discover the circle of fifths. We practice interchanging pitch names with syllables, letters, and scale degrees. This is kind of "heavy duty" so it's best to break this up over the year. Too much "theory" can make Jack a very dull boy - and Norm a not-so-fun-and-interesting music teacher! Find the most creative and fun ways you can to inject these rather heavy musical topics into each music lesson.
Next week...harmony and form...until then...
Saturday, October 27, 2012
"The Plan" - Part II
This week's post is a continuation of last week. This week I'll address two musical elements and the way I break them down by grade level.
Let's start with "the beat." In the broad sense, I want my students to understand:
Because the beat is so basic, there really isn't a "breakdown" of what to teach at each level. However, here are a few suggestions...
Pre-K - lots of opportunities to move to the beat - dances, parachute play, clapping and moving body parts to the beat, playing the beat on rhythm instruments. For tempo, being able to identify the beat as "fast" or "slow" is good enough at the ripe old age of four.
Kindergarten - even more of the above. In this grade I do like to introduce the term "tempo" and practice identifying some basic tempo markings such as allegro, presto, andante, and largo.
First through Fifth Grades - more movement and playing of the beat and identifying tempo. In fifth grade I do try to make a stronger emphasis on the fact that the beat is felt rather than heard in many pieces of music. I address tempo-related concepts as they arise in the literature we happen to be using (accelerando, ritardando, etc.).
Rhythm
The next logical progression from beat is rhythm. What they need to know at a core level:
Kindergarten - still more practice identifying beat as opposed to rhythm and vice versa. I avoid actual notation reading at this level, but we address rhythms in terms of long and short as in B-I-N-G-O - long, long, short-short, long. I also use picture notation at this grade level - big pictures for long sounds, small pictures for short sounds, and we do actually read the quarter rest for a beat of silence. There are many good materials (old and new), and I have a book called Kinderjams! that is ingeniously listed on the J.W. Pepper website as a "recorder book" (see my bio on this blog about being pigeon-holed as a "recorder guy"). If you're interested, I still stand by the collection and its awesomeness. I still use it, and my kids love the recordings. Check it out here.
First Grade - begin to read simple four-beat and three-beat rhythm patterns using quarter notes, quarter rests, and paired eighth notes. We read these using rhythm syllables but, experience has shown me that we need to drill, drill, and drill some more about the difference between what the note is called and how we say the notes in a pattern. I do not like asking, "What kind of note is this?" and getting an enthusiastic answer back, "TA!" No, it is not a "ta" - it is a quarter note. I also have learned that it is important to introduce rhythmic notation with the note heads on the notes. This way I can show students notes with stems up and with stems down and they learn there is no difference. Using the tradition "stick notation" from Kodaly does avoid this, but they will be seeing music printed with note heads, so why not start it off that way?
Second Grade - continue to read the first grade patterns, introduce eighth notes both with flags and with stems. Again, it is important to call things by their correct names so students don't have to do double the work. Calling things by cute names may seem like fun to an adult, but really...why teach young children it's a "this" when it's actually a "that?" It just doesn't make sense to me. This is also the year that we begin to read longer note values - half note, dotted half note, and whole note. I introduce the corresponding rest with each and we also discover the tie. Additionally we learn the dotted quarter-eighth note pattern. I don't get into the whole mathematics of the dot - it's not appropriate at this level (they really don't understand fractions at this age - some may, but I'm telling you, a true understanding of the concept just isn't developmentally there yet for the most part). What I do is put up a pattern with a pair of eighth notes in it. I separate the pair on the next line using individual flagged eighths, then write it again tying a quarter note to one of the eighths, and then saying, "We have a much shorter way of writing this..." Amazing. We also discuss the fermata in second grade.
Third Grade - we continue to review all of the note values from previous years. This is the exciting time when I introduce the concept of syncopation. This is a tough one to get across, so we visit the topic more than once during the school year. Third grade is also a good year to introduce triplet eighth rhythms. I don't really introduce much more new rhythmic material to their repertoire at this age because they really need to get a lot of practice in reading and performing rhythm patterns in all the various combinations using whole, half, quart, and eighth notes and rests as well as with ties and syncopation - that's a lot for the eight-year-old mind to get a handle on.
Fourth Grade - again, all of the previous and then I add the study of sixteenth notes in all combinations - two sixteenths and an eighth, an eighth and two sixteenths, four sixteens, dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth, and a sixteenth followed by a dotted eighth. We continue to read rhythms using only syllables at this age level. This is also the age when logical thinking can be addressed when related to music. I introduce the idea here that "we add something to the note, it gets shorter, we take something away, it gets longer." I demonstrate this with a hole note, add a stem, add some coloring, add a flag, and add another flag. You'll know you've hit it when they ask, "Can you have more than two flags?" and then you say, "Sure! What do you think the next type of note will be called?" If you get "Thirty-second!" on the first try, you're doing a whole lot better than I ever have. If I have a class that's really catching on, I'll go into the math side of it - dividing fractions! Oh my!
Fifth Grade - My students have the opportunity to study a band or orchestral instrument when they are in middle school. Before I send them off to the big and thrilling world of sixth grade, I make sure they know how to count rhythms using the "one-and" method since band directors as a group will never lower themselves to the elementary level of syllable reading (even though it makes a heck of a lot more sense!). We review all previous years' rhythms throughout the year and toward the spring I do a big "one-and" lesson and they get it. Why? Because at this point they are ready. They've had lots of experience with notation in the previous years (at least while they were with me) and now whether you call two-eighths "ti-ti" or "hotdog" or "one-and" it's kind of a moot point. They know when they see that pattern what it should sound like. I also take time to review the whole "add something to the note and it gets shorter" discussion from fourth grade.
Well, there you have my take on the elements of beat and rhythm. Tune in next week when we'll go into the mysterious realm of meter and melody.
Until then...
Beat
Let's start with "the beat." In the broad sense, I want my students to understand:
- The beat is steady, only speeding up or slowing down for expressive reasons.
- The beat helps musicians perform together.
- The beat is more often something that is felt rather than heard.
Because the beat is so basic, there really isn't a "breakdown" of what to teach at each level. However, here are a few suggestions...
Pre-K - lots of opportunities to move to the beat - dances, parachute play, clapping and moving body parts to the beat, playing the beat on rhythm instruments. For tempo, being able to identify the beat as "fast" or "slow" is good enough at the ripe old age of four.
Kindergarten - even more of the above. In this grade I do like to introduce the term "tempo" and practice identifying some basic tempo markings such as allegro, presto, andante, and largo.
First through Fifth Grades - more movement and playing of the beat and identifying tempo. In fifth grade I do try to make a stronger emphasis on the fact that the beat is felt rather than heard in many pieces of music. I address tempo-related concepts as they arise in the literature we happen to be using (accelerando, ritardando, etc.).
Rhythm
The next logical progression from beat is rhythm. What they need to know at a core level:
- Rhythm is the division of sounds and silences over the beat as variations of long and short.
- We read rhythms by reading the "stick part" or stems of the notes.
Kindergarten - still more practice identifying beat as opposed to rhythm and vice versa. I avoid actual notation reading at this level, but we address rhythms in terms of long and short as in B-I-N-G-O - long, long, short-short, long. I also use picture notation at this grade level - big pictures for long sounds, small pictures for short sounds, and we do actually read the quarter rest for a beat of silence. There are many good materials (old and new), and I have a book called Kinderjams! that is ingeniously listed on the J.W. Pepper website as a "recorder book" (see my bio on this blog about being pigeon-holed as a "recorder guy"). If you're interested, I still stand by the collection and its awesomeness. I still use it, and my kids love the recordings. Check it out here.
First Grade - begin to read simple four-beat and three-beat rhythm patterns using quarter notes, quarter rests, and paired eighth notes. We read these using rhythm syllables but, experience has shown me that we need to drill, drill, and drill some more about the difference between what the note is called and how we say the notes in a pattern. I do not like asking, "What kind of note is this?" and getting an enthusiastic answer back, "TA!" No, it is not a "ta" - it is a quarter note. I also have learned that it is important to introduce rhythmic notation with the note heads on the notes. This way I can show students notes with stems up and with stems down and they learn there is no difference. Using the tradition "stick notation" from Kodaly does avoid this, but they will be seeing music printed with note heads, so why not start it off that way?
Second Grade - continue to read the first grade patterns, introduce eighth notes both with flags and with stems. Again, it is important to call things by their correct names so students don't have to do double the work. Calling things by cute names may seem like fun to an adult, but really...why teach young children it's a "this" when it's actually a "that?" It just doesn't make sense to me. This is also the year that we begin to read longer note values - half note, dotted half note, and whole note. I introduce the corresponding rest with each and we also discover the tie. Additionally we learn the dotted quarter-eighth note pattern. I don't get into the whole mathematics of the dot - it's not appropriate at this level (they really don't understand fractions at this age - some may, but I'm telling you, a true understanding of the concept just isn't developmentally there yet for the most part). What I do is put up a pattern with a pair of eighth notes in it. I separate the pair on the next line using individual flagged eighths, then write it again tying a quarter note to one of the eighths, and then saying, "We have a much shorter way of writing this..." Amazing. We also discuss the fermata in second grade.
Third Grade - we continue to review all of the note values from previous years. This is the exciting time when I introduce the concept of syncopation. This is a tough one to get across, so we visit the topic more than once during the school year. Third grade is also a good year to introduce triplet eighth rhythms. I don't really introduce much more new rhythmic material to their repertoire at this age because they really need to get a lot of practice in reading and performing rhythm patterns in all the various combinations using whole, half, quart, and eighth notes and rests as well as with ties and syncopation - that's a lot for the eight-year-old mind to get a handle on.
Fourth Grade - again, all of the previous and then I add the study of sixteenth notes in all combinations - two sixteenths and an eighth, an eighth and two sixteenths, four sixteens, dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth, and a sixteenth followed by a dotted eighth. We continue to read rhythms using only syllables at this age level. This is also the age when logical thinking can be addressed when related to music. I introduce the idea here that "we add something to the note, it gets shorter, we take something away, it gets longer." I demonstrate this with a hole note, add a stem, add some coloring, add a flag, and add another flag. You'll know you've hit it when they ask, "Can you have more than two flags?" and then you say, "Sure! What do you think the next type of note will be called?" If you get "Thirty-second!" on the first try, you're doing a whole lot better than I ever have. If I have a class that's really catching on, I'll go into the math side of it - dividing fractions! Oh my!
Fifth Grade - My students have the opportunity to study a band or orchestral instrument when they are in middle school. Before I send them off to the big and thrilling world of sixth grade, I make sure they know how to count rhythms using the "one-and" method since band directors as a group will never lower themselves to the elementary level of syllable reading (even though it makes a heck of a lot more sense!). We review all previous years' rhythms throughout the year and toward the spring I do a big "one-and" lesson and they get it. Why? Because at this point they are ready. They've had lots of experience with notation in the previous years (at least while they were with me) and now whether you call two-eighths "ti-ti" or "hotdog" or "one-and" it's kind of a moot point. They know when they see that pattern what it should sound like. I also take time to review the whole "add something to the note and it gets shorter" discussion from fourth grade.
Well, there you have my take on the elements of beat and rhythm. Tune in next week when we'll go into the mysterious realm of meter and melody.
Until then...
Sunday, October 21, 2012
"The Plan" - Part I
WARNING: this week's post (and the weeks to follow) are not inundated with pictures, so if you're a visual type, you've been warned!
Due to a couple of personal emails and past concerns by music teachers, I decided that this week's blog post should be about curriculum. It seems with all the preparation and ear training combined with performances and exams, colleges and universities traditionally leave out one of the most important aspects of teaching music in their music education programs - what do I teach and when do I teach it? Imagine how wonderful it would be to exit college with a full year of music teaching under your arm for grades K-8...but alas, we're left to figure it out on our own or follow the outline in a textbook series. If anyone had a different experience than this, please leave a comment - I would love to give props to your Music Ed. program!
I've taught through four textbook series at this point in my career. And I have to say with all candor, until recently, not one of them has been worth their price when it comes to curriculum. I say "until recently" because the current text I am blessed with in my classroom comes the closest to getting it right. And I mean that...it comes "close" but it certainly isn't set up the way I could teach from page one to page two and so on and cover the curriculum. I've always used my texts as anthologies rather than curriculum guides. We could easily be on page 4 one week and page 397 the next.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the curriculum writers for my school district this year. Many teachers around the country criticize their state standards as being too vague. I will tell you this is done with intention to give you guidelines on what should be taught without dictating to you how and when you will teach it. If teaching ever came to this, I think I would run! I have the expertise and, after all these years, I have amassed the techniques and materials to impart my expertise (and continue to add to my "bag of tricks!"). I don't need a step-by-step dictated curriculum to accomplish this. However, I know early on in one's career something like this could be very much appreciated. When we wrote our district curriculum, I wanted a hand in it because previous guides seemed to lack "musical substance" and focused more on the materials (patriotic music, music for fall, etc.) than it did on the elements of music.
So, I was thinking this post over for the past few days. I was going to "lay it all out" in this one post, but realized it would end up being more like a novel than a blog post, so I'm breaking it down into chunks, hence the "part one" title. Not only will this make for easier reading, but it will also ease up on the time it takes for me to write it. I know you all think I sit and write my blog all day every day, but...um...no. LOL
Let's start with the lesson. What should a good general music lesson look like? I have always held this in mind and it has never failed me: every lesson should include some music reading, some singing, some listening, some movement, and some playing of instruments. If you can stick those five activities into your lesson - all focused on the same topic, you are almost guaranteed success in music teaching. Sometimes, through discussions with other music specialists, I think they think their class is "song class" or "singing/playing/moving" class without actually being music class. They prepare a series of activities to do with their students that are, indeed, engaging and fun...but if you were to pull one of their students aside and ask them "What did you learn today?" they will most likely tell you the name of the song(s) or dance. They will have no idea of a concept that was to be taught for the day. While not necessarily "damaging" to a child's learning (they may be able to "figure it out on their own" later on), music instruction should be focused on just one thing - learning music. The songs, games, dances, and instruments are not the end goal themselves - they are the means to the end: a deeper understanding of music. If you prepare each lesson with the goal being a deeper understanding of a particular musical element, your students will learn music. With this in mind, the materials (songs, games, dances, instrument parts) are irrelevant. You can use anything that you wish as long as it provides a solid example of the topic. If you're preparing a performance - that's fine. Use the song material to teach the concepts outlined in your curriculum. Don't let "the performance" be the only goal (although, on one level, it definitely is a goal - performance is important!).
This takes me to a side tangent that needs to be addressed. There seems to be two camps when it comes to music education philosophy - those who believe music exists in the school curriculum because it is an art that is worthy of study in and of itself; and those who believe music exists in the school curriculum because it enhances learning in the other core academic subjects. In case you haven't guessed by now, I am of the former rather than the latter. Our students get enough "academic subject teaching" in their day - if they needed more, why not just put more math and reading into their day, why music? If we as music educators perpetuate the idea that we exist for the sake of the other academics, we are surely shooting ourselves in the foot and putting ourselves in peril of being eliminated altogether. Does the study of music actually enhance and solidify learning in other academic areas? Absolutely! There are a multitude of studies on the subject out there (do a quick Google search). Is it the reason we study it? No. Enhancing and solidifying learning that occurs in other academic areas is a "happy accident" as a result of music study - not the sole reason we have music in the school curriculum.
There, I'm off my soap box. Now...back to the curriculum. In the coming weeks, I will be outlining what has been successful for me in teaching music. I will outline grade level by grade level what I include for each of the musical elements. I will not, however, be telling you when I teach it. That, dear reader, is up to you. Personally, I don't think it matters, as long as all of the material gets covered. Some teachers like covering the same topic with every grade at the same time - that's fine. For me, I get bored easily and like to mix it up. So while I'm teaching meter to one grade level, I may be teaching form in the next.
I like to think music instruction is divided into two areas: musical elements and music-related topics. The musical elements are: beat, rhythm, meter, melody, harmony, form, and tone color. A subcategory can be included here that we'll call "expressive elements" - tempo and dynamics. I include these as subcategories because you can't discuss a tempo without having a beat and you can't perform dynamics without combining it with one or several of the other elements. Music-related topics are: style, composers, music history, and music as related to culture (other cultures, patriotic music, etc.). When teaching musical elements, the music-related goals can be addressed within those lessons. For example, when addressing the element of meter, you can include some listening examples from Strauss imparting the knowledge that Johann Strauss was known as "The Waltz King" and was a 19th century romantic composer from Austria.
Stay tuned for more details. Until next week....
Due to a couple of personal emails and past concerns by music teachers, I decided that this week's blog post should be about curriculum. It seems with all the preparation and ear training combined with performances and exams, colleges and universities traditionally leave out one of the most important aspects of teaching music in their music education programs - what do I teach and when do I teach it? Imagine how wonderful it would be to exit college with a full year of music teaching under your arm for grades K-8...but alas, we're left to figure it out on our own or follow the outline in a textbook series. If anyone had a different experience than this, please leave a comment - I would love to give props to your Music Ed. program!
I've taught through four textbook series at this point in my career. And I have to say with all candor, until recently, not one of them has been worth their price when it comes to curriculum. I say "until recently" because the current text I am blessed with in my classroom comes the closest to getting it right. And I mean that...it comes "close" but it certainly isn't set up the way I could teach from page one to page two and so on and cover the curriculum. I've always used my texts as anthologies rather than curriculum guides. We could easily be on page 4 one week and page 397 the next.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the curriculum writers for my school district this year. Many teachers around the country criticize their state standards as being too vague. I will tell you this is done with intention to give you guidelines on what should be taught without dictating to you how and when you will teach it. If teaching ever came to this, I think I would run! I have the expertise and, after all these years, I have amassed the techniques and materials to impart my expertise (and continue to add to my "bag of tricks!"). I don't need a step-by-step dictated curriculum to accomplish this. However, I know early on in one's career something like this could be very much appreciated. When we wrote our district curriculum, I wanted a hand in it because previous guides seemed to lack "musical substance" and focused more on the materials (patriotic music, music for fall, etc.) than it did on the elements of music.
So, I was thinking this post over for the past few days. I was going to "lay it all out" in this one post, but realized it would end up being more like a novel than a blog post, so I'm breaking it down into chunks, hence the "part one" title. Not only will this make for easier reading, but it will also ease up on the time it takes for me to write it. I know you all think I sit and write my blog all day every day, but...um...no. LOL
Let's start with the lesson. What should a good general music lesson look like? I have always held this in mind and it has never failed me: every lesson should include some music reading, some singing, some listening, some movement, and some playing of instruments. If you can stick those five activities into your lesson - all focused on the same topic, you are almost guaranteed success in music teaching. Sometimes, through discussions with other music specialists, I think they think their class is "song class" or "singing/playing/moving" class without actually being music class. They prepare a series of activities to do with their students that are, indeed, engaging and fun...but if you were to pull one of their students aside and ask them "What did you learn today?" they will most likely tell you the name of the song(s) or dance. They will have no idea of a concept that was to be taught for the day. While not necessarily "damaging" to a child's learning (they may be able to "figure it out on their own" later on), music instruction should be focused on just one thing - learning music. The songs, games, dances, and instruments are not the end goal themselves - they are the means to the end: a deeper understanding of music. If you prepare each lesson with the goal being a deeper understanding of a particular musical element, your students will learn music. With this in mind, the materials (songs, games, dances, instrument parts) are irrelevant. You can use anything that you wish as long as it provides a solid example of the topic. If you're preparing a performance - that's fine. Use the song material to teach the concepts outlined in your curriculum. Don't let "the performance" be the only goal (although, on one level, it definitely is a goal - performance is important!).
This takes me to a side tangent that needs to be addressed. There seems to be two camps when it comes to music education philosophy - those who believe music exists in the school curriculum because it is an art that is worthy of study in and of itself; and those who believe music exists in the school curriculum because it enhances learning in the other core academic subjects. In case you haven't guessed by now, I am of the former rather than the latter. Our students get enough "academic subject teaching" in their day - if they needed more, why not just put more math and reading into their day, why music? If we as music educators perpetuate the idea that we exist for the sake of the other academics, we are surely shooting ourselves in the foot and putting ourselves in peril of being eliminated altogether. Does the study of music actually enhance and solidify learning in other academic areas? Absolutely! There are a multitude of studies on the subject out there (do a quick Google search). Is it the reason we study it? No. Enhancing and solidifying learning that occurs in other academic areas is a "happy accident" as a result of music study - not the sole reason we have music in the school curriculum.
I like to think music instruction is divided into two areas: musical elements and music-related topics. The musical elements are: beat, rhythm, meter, melody, harmony, form, and tone color. A subcategory can be included here that we'll call "expressive elements" - tempo and dynamics. I include these as subcategories because you can't discuss a tempo without having a beat and you can't perform dynamics without combining it with one or several of the other elements. Music-related topics are: style, composers, music history, and music as related to culture (other cultures, patriotic music, etc.). When teaching musical elements, the music-related goals can be addressed within those lessons. For example, when addressing the element of meter, you can include some listening examples from Strauss imparting the knowledge that Johann Strauss was known as "The Waltz King" and was a 19th century romantic composer from Austria.
Stay tuned for more details. Until next week....
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Room
Some have asked about the setup of my classroom. I decided to take some time to go over the layout and features of "my domain."
Aside from the main layout, there are areas of the room that are worth discussing I suppose. We'll start with "command central" - it's important that I have space that is mine. This is an area that is strictly off limits to students:
Another part of this area is where I keep all my "stuff" for conducting my classes - this area is also off limits to students. It's just on the opposite side of my work area. Not pictured is a book shelf (it would be behind me when I was snapping this picture) where I keep my software, DVD sets, teacher manuals, piano accompaniments, Music K-8 issues, etc.
I have my hand sign posters above the board, along with the traditional "Curwen-Kodàly Hand Sign" card set:
.JPG)
Want your very own hand sign set? They are available here.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm a big fan of making magnetic cards to save me writing and re-writing things that I write over and over during the week. Here you can see how I use them. My word wall is completely magnetic (and color-coded by topic) and, when posting objectives for the day's lessons, I frequently just grab a word off the word wall and use the "action words" I have set up under my objective area:
And for those very rare moments that I get to sit while teaching (before the "teach on your feet" crowd gets all crazy, the moments are RARE, but when you've been doing this since the mid-80's, your feet and legs need brief breaks now and then):
I found these magnetic maps (US and World) in one of those "around-the-house" kind of catalogs. If I could remember which one, I would tell you. They are really great for pointing out geography when discussing a folk song or a piece of world music, especially since geography (from any part of the world) seems to be a lacking subject these days. The maps are puzzles, so when talking about Kentucky as being the area where Blue Grass music started, I can pull the state right off the wall:
When you have 24+ guitars, storage can be an issue. I convinced my principal this would be worthwhile purchase: 24 guitar hooks. So far, totally worth it! I assist the students in getting them down...
You can see some of my other Orff and Joia Tube instruments below the guitars. Here is a table in the back of my room where I keep various instruments, glockenspiels, Boomwhackers®, etc. I wrote an article for the national Orff newsletter Reverberations a few years ago about the Boomwhacker® holder. I made it from the box in which the two-octave set is shipped:
I keep two buckets (one wash, one rinse) on the top of my filing cabinet for my loaner recorders when students forget or for those who chose not to purchase their own. The angle of the photograph kind of hides the rinse bucket, but it's behind the wash bucket which has a teaspoon of germicide in the water:
In front of the filing cabinet is my IWB (currently the Mimio board). As you can see, I have an abundance of lined boards in my room and this Wenger portable music board was moved into this school when it was built - transferred from the older building. I had the carpentry staff mount the IWB onto it (because I am expected to share my board) and it works great as an IWB, a projection screen, and when not in use, another display surface. My classroom rules and the school "values code" are posted on it with magnetic strips stuck to the back of the posters:
Next to the IWB is my electronic keyboard storage mentioned in an earlier post. This was built for me by a coworker completely out of leftover scrap plywood and an extra can of polyurethane he had - total cost: $0 I gave him the specks on the shelf size I wanted for the particular model of keyboard I have, he did the building.
Here is a "distance shot" so you can see how the whole space fits together:
The open area behind the risers is for circle movement and games. You can see in the distance I use the back of my piano as "bulletin board" space as well - I bought some large corrugated plastic sheets from an art supply website and mounted them to the back of my piano using heavy duty Velcro strips. Currently the two posters there are the "rewards" and "consequences" posters that go with my pink "rules" poster on the IWB.
I hope you got some ideas from this one. Until next week...
Aside from the main layout, there are areas of the room that are worth discussing I suppose. We'll start with "command central" - it's important that I have space that is mine. This is an area that is strictly off limits to students:
 | ||
| The chair is mine from home - I redid my home office and took the "old" chair to my classroom. Comfort when sitting is a must (since I'm on my feet most of the day). |
I have my hand sign posters above the board, along with the traditional "Curwen-Kodàly Hand Sign" card set:
.JPG)
Want your very own hand sign set? They are available here.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm a big fan of making magnetic cards to save me writing and re-writing things that I write over and over during the week. Here you can see how I use them. My word wall is completely magnetic (and color-coded by topic) and, when posting objectives for the day's lessons, I frequently just grab a word off the word wall and use the "action words" I have set up under my objective area:
And for those very rare moments that I get to sit while teaching (before the "teach on your feet" crowd gets all crazy, the moments are RARE, but when you've been doing this since the mid-80's, your feet and legs need brief breaks now and then):
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| Found this great "tractor seat" find on Wal-Mart's website. The blue matches my risers! |
When you have 24+ guitars, storage can be an issue. I convinced my principal this would be worthwhile purchase: 24 guitar hooks. So far, totally worth it! I assist the students in getting them down...
You can see some of my other Orff and Joia Tube instruments below the guitars. Here is a table in the back of my room where I keep various instruments, glockenspiels, Boomwhackers®, etc. I wrote an article for the national Orff newsletter Reverberations a few years ago about the Boomwhacker® holder. I made it from the box in which the two-octave set is shipped:
I keep two buckets (one wash, one rinse) on the top of my filing cabinet for my loaner recorders when students forget or for those who chose not to purchase their own. The angle of the photograph kind of hides the rinse bucket, but it's behind the wash bucket which has a teaspoon of germicide in the water:
In front of the filing cabinet is my IWB (currently the Mimio board). As you can see, I have an abundance of lined boards in my room and this Wenger portable music board was moved into this school when it was built - transferred from the older building. I had the carpentry staff mount the IWB onto it (because I am expected to share my board) and it works great as an IWB, a projection screen, and when not in use, another display surface. My classroom rules and the school "values code" are posted on it with magnetic strips stuck to the back of the posters:
Next to the IWB is my electronic keyboard storage mentioned in an earlier post. This was built for me by a coworker completely out of leftover scrap plywood and an extra can of polyurethane he had - total cost: $0 I gave him the specks on the shelf size I wanted for the particular model of keyboard I have, he did the building.
Here is a "distance shot" so you can see how the whole space fits together:
The open area behind the risers is for circle movement and games. You can see in the distance I use the back of my piano as "bulletin board" space as well - I bought some large corrugated plastic sheets from an art supply website and mounted them to the back of my piano using heavy duty Velcro strips. Currently the two posters there are the "rewards" and "consequences" posters that go with my pink "rules" poster on the IWB.
I hope you got some ideas from this one. Until next week...
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