my new baby…

It’s long overdue, but I’ve finally purchased a new guitar! I’ve played for years (not well, but I can hold my own!) – and I’ve begun taking guitar classes. I decided that it was time to retire my 8-year old Yamaha f-310 and upgrade. I now present to you my brand new Yamaha CPX700:

Legends and ghost stories

I’ve been having trouble keeping my grade 6 students engaged. The “junior high” mentality just kicks in earlier and earlier – they know they’re at the top of the totem pole here at the elementary school, and they think they’re too cool for what I have to offer sometimes. It’s ok though – they keep me on my toes! I like a challenge!

For the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be researching our local history for ghost stories, legends, and the like. We listened to a song today called, “The Ghost Ship” and we discussed the elements that made this particular arrangement an effective retelling of the tale of this ghost ship. I am going to have the students work in small groups (2-3 students per group) to research a legend or ghost story that originates from around our area. Then, they are going to collaborate on writing the lyrics to a song based on that legend or ghost story. Once the lyrics are finished, then I will help them put a melody to it (if they don’t already have one in mind) and we’ll create simple accompaniments that will suit the style and feel of their piece. Hopefully, we’ll then record their compositions.

When I presented the idea to them, they immediately loved it. I think that my two grade 6 classes just really love to be hands-on and they like to be treated as responsible people who can handle a project such as this – they feel important, and that this is going to be something worthwhile.

That they are already taking ownership of this project makes me super excited – I think it will be all that much more meaningful to them

Maestro’s Obstacle Course by Cheryl Lavender

“Maestro’s Obstacle Course” is a game from the book, “Help! I’m a Substitute Music Teacher!” by Cheryl Lavender. (On a side note – definitely buy that book!!! I haven’t had to have a sub yet, but if I do, this book has excellent ideas to leave behind for a substitute teacher who is not experienced in music. Where I live, there are only 2 music substitutes available for our area, so they are very hard to get!!)

Here are the basics to the game:

1. Split the class in half: one half will be the “orchestra” and the other half will become human”obstacles” around the room.

2. One student will be the “Maestro” and lead the “orchestra” and one student will be blindfolded.

3. “Maestro” needs to lead the blindfolded student around the human obstacle course by cueing specific members of his “orchestra” to play. Each individual instrument will have a specific action assigned to it (i.e. claves = walk forward, cymbal = turn left, ect). This is all done with the instruments giving directions, and no talking.

That’s just a basic outline – obviously the book is much more detailed. It’s a lot of fun – the kids really love it, it’s easy to set up, it encourages listening and proper instrument technique, and it’s a great segue into teaching timbre!

Rhythm Bingo

My school is very small and doesn’t have much money, so I’ve been trying to come up with economical ways to re-create activities that I’ve done in the past during my practice teaching times – only without the resources that I had there. One of the best ways of reinforcing rhythm came from playing a rhythm-focused Bingo game that my co-operating teacher had at my last practicum in the spring. The kids love it, and they are all the while practicing reading, clapping, and writing rhythms.

This teacher owns Cheryl Lavender’s Version which is excellent – it comes in two parts, each with 2 levels in increasing difficulty.

I decided, however, that since I can’t buy it right now, that my students would get the chance to make their own. I did this in a series of deliberate steps:

1. I displayed 24 4-beat familliar rhythms on the board. I didn’t introduce anything new at this point – that will come later. I had the students clap through the rhythms on several occasions, just for practice.

2. I gave sheets of blank paper to the students, and had them write the word “BINGO” across the top of the page in large letters ( did this on a larger scale on the whiteboard as a demonstration as they did theirs on paper – I find they just get too confused if ever step isn’t shown exactly! ) Then, we made straight, vertical lines down the page, and then divided the page into 5 rows of blank squares, using the entire sheet of paper.

3. I allowed them to decorate the center square any way they liked – this was their, “Free” square.

4. Then, the students took the rhythms from the board and started to copy them down into the empty squares on their home-made Bingo cards. They had to make sure to write the rhythms properly (stems the right way, in the right order, etc). Also, they needed to randomize their placement of the rhythms so that no one person had all of the rhythms in the same order on their cards.

5. I walkd around the room and helped students, corrected their rhythm writing if needed.

6. When all of the cards were finished, we could play: I choose a rhythm and clap & speak it to them. Then, they clap & speak it back to me. Then, I have one person come and write the rhythm on the board, and they place a bingo chip on top of the rhythm. Before the game began, we would have decided what would constitute “Bingo” – a straight line, diagonal line, four corners, etc. A “full card” game is not possible with this because all of the students have all of the same rhythms, and they would therefore all win at the same time. The randomized location allows for lines, diagonal, corners, L-shape, etc to be played without having several simulatneous “bingo” winners.

*Also – as the students are familiarized with the game, I won’t speak the rhythm to them anymore, I will just clap it and they clap it back. I will also omit the writing on the board – I would hand out blank sheets of paper, and each student will write the rhythms down as a rhythm dictation exercise.

PROS of this method of Rhythm Bingo:

1. Students take ownership of their “Bingo Card” – they like the responsibility and it makes it more fun
2. Can switch bingo cards around
3. Students have lots of practice writing notes/rhythms while making the card, and are held accountable for writing them correctly and neatly

CONS of this method of Rhythm Bingo:

1. Longer process than just using a bought version
2. If a student misses the card-making day, they are behind and will probably miss the first game
3. Students won’t always write the rhythms properly, and need to correct over and over, and is therefore quite time-consuming
4. Some students finish very quickly and are bored

Field Trips and Halloween

Today was my first time being in charge of a field trip! I took my elementary choir (grade 4,5, and 6) to record a track on the Children’s Wish Foundation Christmas CD. It’s pretty exciting for them – all of the schools in this area will each record a track and then the CD will be sold. The funds raised from the CD sales will go towards granting the wish of a terminally or seriously ill child. Local radio stations will also play the CD during the month of December. It was exciting for me!

On another note – has anyone ever done anything really fun and music-related for Halloween? I’ve been asked to do a station in our school’s Halloween activity day later in the month. I’m super excited about it – I’m thinking about something will scary sound effects…composing “halloween”-y music…I’m not really sure. Any suggestions?

“easy as 1-2-3″

I’ve been having so much trouble with my grade 1, 2, and 3 students when they line up at the door to leave, so today I decided that it was time to review the procedure. While I was at it, I introduced a new technique to get their attention.

After they had entered the classroom and we sang their daily welcome song, I had them (in small groups) line up at the door. I made sure to remind them to keep both feet on the red tiles (my floor is mostly white tile, but it has a red-tiled border that leads right to the door – which is so great!), and face the back of the person in front of them. Eventually I had them all lined up and ready to go. Then, I asked them for three things:

#1. All eyes looking at me

#2. No talking

#3. Arms at your sides

Then, we walked out the door and lined up at my other door to enter again. We then entered the room, sat down, lined up, exited, and entered again – just for practice.

Eventually, I will only have to ask for the numbers, i.e. “give me number one….give me number 2…” when I want the particular response.

I definitely think that reviewing our entrance/exit procedures was a good idea. I forget that they can forget. Physically going through the motions was good for them – and I think it would definitely help them remember more than if I just verbally reminded them. If we have to do this once a month, so be it!

I think the 1-2-3 thing will work too, not only for lining up, but in the classroom, walking in the halls, concerts, you name it!

Today was a great day for my little ones – every single one of the grade 1, 2, and 3 classes were just a joy to teach! I love these days!

Back at it.

My blog is back! I haven’t been able to access it for a couple of days, but now it’s back and I’m happy!

At school this week, we’re working towards our Thanksgiving assembly that will take place on Friday afternoon. I’ve been working on a number of Thanksgiving-y pieces with all of my classes.

Grades 4, 5, and 6 are all working on “A Thanksgiving Day Canon” *** by D. Asplund and S. Norlund (from the book, “From Hayrides to Sleighrides”

Grade 3 is working on the speech poem (with speech ostinatos and instrumental accompaniment), “I’m Glad I’m Not a Turkey” by D. Asplund and S. Norlund (from the book, “From Hayrides to Sleighrides”

Grade 2 is working on “A Turkey Named Bert” – a poem and movement piece from the Grade 2 “Share the Music” text.

Grade 1 is working on “Gobble, Gobble” from “An Orff Mosaic from Canada” which is an ABA form piece. The children sing the song for the A section, and then I improvise on a djembe while they move around the room like turkeys for the B section.

*** Major learning experience for me this week with the grades 4, 5, and 6 classes. On monday morning, I taught 6 classes, 2 each of grade 4, 5, and 6. They were all learning “A Thanksgiving Day Canon” for the first time. In the first class, we quickly reviewed the concept of a “canon” and then I taught them the song. We then divided into groups and sang it as a canon. Then, I brought them to my Orff area to learn the instrument parts. Stupid me, I only had one person try each part at a time. I tried to get all of the students doing body percussion while the one student was actually playing the part on the proper instrument, but I had major discipline issues.

As the morning went on, I grew smarter. I have no idea why I didn’t just start it out this way – but I finally realize what I was doing wrong and why I was having so much trouble keeping everyone quiet. I don’t have many glocks, and I only have one each of alto xylo, alto metallophone, soprano xylo, and soprano metallophone, but I had enough instruments for every two students. I split the students into pairs and gave each pair an instrument. Then, we went over the body percussion for each part, and then partner 1 played the part on the instrument, then partner 2 took a turn. We switched back and forth a few times. Then we went onto a new part, and eventually got 2 parts going at a time.

Next day, we’ll review the parts we know and add in the last 2 instrumental parts.

Looking back, I feel like such an idiot! Of course I was going to bore all of the other kids by only having one student play at a time. I knew it, I learned not to do it – but for some reason, I still did it. They don’t have to learn the alto metallophone part on the alto metallophone at this stage, they can learn it on a glock or a xylo and then transfer when we get the parts down.

I realize that I need to keep everyone engaged and active in the music making.  I’ll just chalk it up to my own inexperience (I’ve only been a “real” teacher for a month so far!). Definitely a learning experience, though! I’ll never do it that way again!

I want this…

Today was our area’s PD day for music educators. I sat in on a couple of sessions by a Roland representative who talked about recording in the music classroom. I just about drooled over all of the gagets that he brought with him! The one that I loved most was the EDIROL R-09HR

It’s a top-of-the-line digital audio recorder that’s got the best sound quality out there – internal stereo mic, SD memory…lots of things that I don’t even pretend to understand. The Roland rep. did some live recording with this little machine and I was completely astounded by the quality that played back – it was unbelievable. I think I might just pick one of these up for myself!

Useful websites

Here are just a few extremely useful websites that I use fairly regularly:

Bulletin Boards for the Music Classroom

is a website that contains pictures, descriptions, and instructions on hundreds of music-related bulletin board ideas. There are themes on history, solfege, theory, holidays – anything you can imagine! There are also non-music bulletin boards and character education bulletin boards. There are some extremely creative ideas shared here!

Arts Alive Music

The National Arts Center of Canada provides excellent resources for music teachers – most notably are their composer units. They provide these units online and for free! There are complete units on Beethoven, Mozard, Vivaldi, and Schubert. In addition, they provide composer “Life and times” brochures for several other famous composers. Also on the site are activities and games, information about the orchestra, etc.

Blank Sheet Music

I’ve used this site numerous times for printing off blank staff paper. It allows you to customize exactly what you want (piano score, only treble clef, etc), and in the size that you want. You can also print off blank guitar and bass tab sheets as well.

I’ve got lots more – enjoy these for now!

100 ME Bloggers

I am now the 83rd member of “100 Music Education Bloggers” !!

…now I have to make sure I’m interesting!