App in Focus: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is free application that is a must for any music classroom! It contains an essential introduction to the instruments and players of the orchestra as well as aural quizzes and form games.

At the core of the app is a recording of Benjamin Britten's piece performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Mark Elder. The recording can be played with either a scrolling condensed score or with a video of the performers. 

At the left of the score are icons of who is playing which line. Above the score are notes about what is happening and what to listen for. I plan to use this with some guided questions or a graphic organizer for students to follow as they listen and watch. Easily adapted for use across several grade levels.

But the fun doesn't stop there! My next favorite part of this app is the Aural Quiz. It starts out with identifying instruments into their family groups and the difficulty increases as the levels continue. I could see children easily loving this game. With my iPad mirrored to my Apple TV, we could play this game as a class.

There are two games that teach and play with form in the app. Both are very user friendly and make learning about fugue and variation fun. Both also have example recordings with the same kind of extraordinarily helpful explanation text that follows the music as it plays. Children can create their own composition using the variables provided and use musical terminology to explain their choices.

As if that wasn't enough content for a FREE app, there's still more! There are video interviews with the university students who play the music and information about Benjamin Britten's life.

Wonderful app that students and teachers will enjoy! Download it today!

But what's in it for music teachers?

There is a common perspective among music teachers that professional development has to be music specific if it is to be of any relevance to their teaching. This attitude belies the richness of professional development and the possibilities it brings for music education.

I just got back from a weekend of training at an International Baccalaureate conference. Full of ideas, inspiration, and teachers working towards improving their practice, I found the conference invigorating despite the fact that I didn't run into another music teacher the whole time I was there. The workshop I went to was called "Making the PYP Happen in the Classroom" and was an introduction to the Primary Years Program (PYP) philosophy and practice.

Inquiry is at the heart of the IB program. How can we design experiences for children that allow them to wonder and ask questions? This kind of lesson design results in student directed learning, which increases achievement. It also decreases the amount of teacher talk, since the ideas and questions of the students are used to initiate possible new lines of inquiry. Instead of instruction as monologue, it is instruction as dialogue.

While at the conference my creative teaching mind was inspired! I started thinking about how I could design an inquiry unit for my second grade students about string instruments. 

How could I introduce string instruments in a way where all of the knowledge came from the children and their observations about the instruments? I'm still deciding how this will look, but our first lesson in this unit will be an exploration. The students will describe the look, feel, and sound of string instruments on poster paper. After we have explored several different string instruments we will compare the similarities and differences between the instruments. Then we can come up with a list of common attributes that creates the string instrument category. 

I'm still writing and thinking about this unit and nothing is set in stone except one thing. Professional development is about learning how to be a good teacher, and that applies to all subject areas.

Rap a Tap Tap - Music, Dance and Literacy Lesson Plan

Tap your feet and tip you hat, here comes a lesson for Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles, Think of That! by Diane Dillon. This lively book tells the story of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, considered by many to be the best tap dancer of all time. 

Integrating books and literature into music lessons increases cross-curricular learning and student engagement. However, being in my first year of teaching, I don't already have a collection of books to use. I am fortunate to work at a school that still has a library and in perusing the shelves I found Rap a Tap Tap.

The book alternates between a line of new text and a repeating phrase, perfect for young music learners. I set the repeating phrase to music, taught the words and rhythm first, and then added the music. While teaching the words we practiced using our different voices, our big bear voice, our little mouse voice, and then we used our singing voice.

We read the book together, all singing the "Rap a tap tap" part together. We talked about dancing, about making sounds with our feet, and how that sound could be music.

I asked the children if they would like to see Mr. Bojangles dance. Of course they said yes!

 For this video I played the introduction and then skipped to the part where Mr. Bojangles dances. I first let the kids just watch the video, and then we all stood up and danced with the video on the second viewing.

This video is very fun as Shirley Temple plays a little girl who doesn't want to go to bed. The children can certainly identify with this!  I also like the video because it shows the children that kids their age can do this type of dancing too.

I did this lesson with kindergarten children, so we just explored moving our legs and arms the way Mr. Bojangles does. They have a blast moving their feet and bodies around to the music. If you have some tap dance background, you could do a similar lesson and teach a few steps with older children.

Enjoy!

First Concert Done!

The school has successfully put on our first concert! I followed the example of a nearby school and split the concert into two assemblies. The first assembly had Kindergarten, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grades. The second assembly had 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades. I liked the way the concert had different elements to it with singing and instrumental music.

The best thing about the concert was that I did not have the students get on and off stage. We don't have permanent seating because it is one of those cafetoriums. Therefore, I had all the students sit in the auditorium. When it was their turn I had them stand and when they were done they sat down. It worked very well not having them get on and off stage. It made the concerts short, so now I know if I do the same thing again we can have more music!

I had a star and night "theme." It was really just an idea in my head that helped me pick songs for the younger kids to sing. Next time I would like to get the grades a bit more integrated as far as a theme goes. I am pondering organizing something around the Great Kapok Tree.

My favorite comment about the concert came from a second grader. She said her favorite part was when her mom clapped after she sang. That is what it's all about!

First Lesson on Dynamics and Following the Conductor - Donor's Choose Instruments

When our instruments from our Donor's Choose project came in, the students were very excited! All of the children love to play the instruments and look forward to any time I announce that we will be playing them.

This lesson is very easy to do and you don't need a special set of instruments. Any set on nonpitched percussion will do, one instrument for every student.

As I pass out instruments I have the students echo me. I say a four beat rhythm or a sing a short melodic phrase. I saw a teacher do this on a video and thought it as brilliant. When I hand out an instrument they know to hold it without making noise.

First we practice not playing the instruments. All students put their instruments in their lap and copy my hand gestures. I teach two gestures before we begin and have them copy with their hands. First is hands open with palms up, an inviting gesture. The second is hands closed into fists with palms down, a closing gesture. I assess visually to make sure that every student has copied my hands.

Then they pick up their instruments and I conduct using the two basic gestures. They love it! And it is a perfect introduction to watching the conductor. I play around with long and short durations of playing and of silence.

With all the students watching I communicate to play softly through body language and keeping my hands low near my belly button. Then of course there is the contrasting loud, also communicated through body language with my hands up near my head. I still occasionally include silence so that they all stay watching.

These gestures are very basic and the students catch on quickly. After I have taught this I have a student come up and conduct the group. They all want to be the conductor!

This whole lesson took about five minutes and I will use it again to practice loud, soft, watching the conductor, and student leadership.

Teaching Through Modeling "I'm Sorry"

As a first year teacher I do things just because others have said it is a good idea to do. Theoretically I know why these things are suggested, but I mostly just blindly follow them. Today I understand why one of those ideas is worth it.

That idea is modeling how to say you are sorry by apologizing to children when you make a mistake. My third or fourth week I raised my voice to speak to a sixth grader. I did not perceive it as yelling because I was simply talking over the crowded band room, but he perceived it as yelling at him. I spoke to him privately in the hall, apologized for hurting his feelings, and went back to class. His attitude was defiant and standoffish for the rest of the period.

During the next few weeks, he was still trying to figure me out. But I pretended not to know what was going on. I treated him kindly, greeted him by name, and kept teaching. I acted as if we were on good terms.

Yesterday, he and a friend were talking in class because neither of them had brought their instruments. I told his friend to move to the back to fill out the alternate assignment and instead of his friend getting up to move, he got up in quite the huff. I explained that it was not him that was to move, but his friend. He started talking back to me angrily, saying that his friend had not done anything and it wasn't fair. We got into a back and forth, but this time all I said was a calm, "Please sit down." I must have repeated it twenty times but it felt like a hundred. In the moment I thought he would not sit down, that he would stand there defiantly forever. But he eventually did sit down and his friend moved to the back.

But that's not really the interesting part. The best part about all of this happened after class when he apologized to me for his behavior. I don't think this would have happened if I hadn't apologize to him. I believe he apologized because I followed the advice of those who have taught before me, and showed him how to say you're sorry for being human once in a while.

1st Grade -Common Instruments- File Folder Game

I have been enjoying creating visuals and games to use in my classroom. Today I present a file folder game for use in 1st grade. The pdf file for this game is free and available from my TpT store.

It includes five common instruments and one uncommon: guitar, piano, trumpet, drum, violin, and recorder. I included recorder because we play it in 3rd grade at my school.

 The file includes:
- Pictures of each instrument
- Pictures of a person playing each instrument
- Written word for each instrument
- Quarter notes to represent syllables

4 games are playable.
1) Match each instrument to the person playing the instrument.
2) Match the written words to the instruments.
3) Categorize each instrument as one, two, or three syllables.
4) Memory game matching each instrument to the person playing the instrument.

All images are copyright under Creative Commons or Free Use.

Happy Teaching!