snow day reflections

We have yet another snow day – this makes 7 or 8 in the last 6 weeks – so I am doing a little bit of reading and planning. I’ve been reflecting on the past couple of months. It seems as though we haven’t progressed very much, what with winter field trips, winter carnival days, special guests, snow days, etc. I always assumed January and February were the months where you could really catch your drive and get lots done becuase there aren’t any major holidays, but this has not been the case for us! However, here are some of the things that my classes have been working on:

Grade 1: We’ve been learning (after much preparation!) to label tah, ti-ti, and just last week – sah. Where I live, kindergarten is not part of the public school system, so students only recieve their first experience with music in grade 1. In September 2011 kindergarten WILL be in our school system. I’m looking forward to that!

Other things we’ve done:

• Poem & Song (with non-pitched percussion instruments & sign language) for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Read, “Orchestranimals” by Vlasta Van Kampen & listened to audiobook
• The “Elevator Song” – melody direction (high pitches, low pitches, experiencing major scale aurally & visually w/ boomwhackers, playing pitched instruments)
• Sound story – “The Little Boy Named Espimandos”

Grade 2 – We’ve really been focusing on rhythm reading, writing, and performing – and then we added in solfa on top of that. The kids love it! They take such pride in their compositions!  We’ve also been doing a lot of singing & movement games

Grade 3 – We have been working on a sound story – “The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat” by Eugene Field. Then, we learned a song based on the story and now we have begun working on an Orff orchestration to accompany the song. We’ve also been learning about the pentatonic scale, and how to set up our xylophones and metallophones into F pentatonic.

Grade 4 – We have been working on an Orff orchestration to “Little Green Bug” from “An Orff Mosaic from Canada” by Lois Birkenshaw-Fleming.  On top of singing this silly song and learning all of the instrument parts that go along with it, we’ve been writing our own silly lyrics based on the original song.

Grade 5 – We began 2009 with a short unit about Franz Liszt. We researched a little about his life, and then we listened to his music. We watched the video, “Liszt’s Rhapsody” – and then we had a lot of fun with Bugs Bunny & Tom and Jerry’s animated versions of the Hungarian Rhapsody.

Then, we reviewed our treble clef note-reading, learned about major scale patterns, and the tonic & dominant notes in C major and F major. We sang, “Chumbara” and “Everybody Loves Saturday Night” and played the I and V chords on Xylophones and keyboards. Now we are moving into playing entire chords with small groups of students.

Grade 6 – We have been working on a “decades of music” unit. We’ve been visiting stations in the music classroom that have been all about music in the 50’s all the way to the music of today. We’ve been to listening stations, watched videos, read articles, played instruments, and visited websites to help us experience each decade.

As I look back, I can see that we have been accomplishing much in the music room – just at a bit of a slower pace than I’d expected. March Break is in 2 weeks – after which our snow days should begin to taper off, and more work can be done! 

Oh the things we will do!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that my school (the one I teach music at) is quite small – approx. 180 students in 9 classes over 6 grades. We don’t get a lot in terms of technology, usually the bigger schools get the cream of the crop, but we are starting to see some new things come into the school. I was told this week that our school will be getting LCD projectors installed into several classrooms around the school. I spoke up about how fantastic it would be for me to have one in the music room. Well. I’ve never seen such shocked faces in my life. “What in the world would you use an LCD projector in the music room for?”  Well. I told them. And guess what? I’m getting one

I can’t wait to get it set up and start sharing the ideas and lessons that I will be using in collaboration with the new LCD projector! I would love to hear your thoughts, though. Do you supplement your lessons with PowerPoint? Notation softward? Fill me in! 

ask and you shall receive

This week I’ve been doing some serious thinking and planning for what’s to happen after Christmas. I’ve decided to create some stations around my music room for various times throughout the year. I asked around, and I did a little digging in storage areas, and I came up with some great stuff!

#1. A Second Computer

I already have a computer at my desk, but I wanted to set up a basic technology station. As I’ve mentioned before, my school is fairly behind the times when it comes to technology, but I’m determined to use what we have to its fullest potential, and try to find ways to get more into the school!. Anyhow. I asked around and found out that we do have some computers laying around the school that are not in use. One of the teachers helped me set it up and hook it into the school network today. Ta-Da!

#2. Listening Station

I’ve got a large stereo system in my room, but I do not have anything for concentrated, small-group listening. I’d noticed that other classes around the school had headphone hubs and 6 nice pairs of headphones, each individually controllable. Again, I asked around and found that there was one complete set – headphones and all! – just lying in storage. I got permission to use that! Then, I looked around for a second CD/Tape player that I could set up the listening station with. I found one – brand new – in the basement and got permission to use that. Listening station complete!

Now, here are two questions for all of you out there

#1. What other kinds of stations do you set up in  your music room?

#2. What software do you use with elementary students? I’m thinking audacity, notation software, I own one copy of Groovy Shapes…What else?

Please comment and let me know your thoughts!

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

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!

free theory worksheets

A colleage showed this website to me – it’s a great online resource for theory worksheets, manuscript paper, composer activity sheets, and online theory games. Enjoy!

the “whiteboard” experiment

I tried to be economical and savvy and inventive…but I’m pretty sure it backfired. I had this brainwave that having individual whiteboards for my music classes (grades 4-6, mostly) would be an awesome way to help to rhythm drills and theory lessons, etc – and it would! It would be fantastic! But the thing is, those individual whiteboards cost a lot of money. So I thought I would make my own.

I laminated sheets of cardstock with 2 lage music staves printed on them. They were flimsy, but the whiteboard markers I had worked with them, and they erased rather well. I was excited.

I took them out in one of my grade 6 classes yesterday morning. The kids were really excited because it was new. We did some rhythm dictation and some note-reading exercises and all was great in the first class. But then, as I was working with one student individually, the kids started to play with their new “whiteboards” – they were writing notes to each other, they were seeing if they could colour the whole thing in with their marker, they broke markers and made the ink leak everywhere…Yeah. It was awful.

But I tried again with the next class. The erasers that came with the markers started to get really full of dry-erase marker dust, and wouldn’t erase very well at all. Now the desks were full of colour and so were the kids hands.

The sheets do clean up nicely with a little bit of that expo dry-erase spray – they were good as new again. I’d love to have the real thing, but I know that won’t happen this year.

So. I tried it. It didn’t work as well as I thought. The end.