MelodySoup blog

Top 10 things to Remember When Recording Student Work in Music Class.

2013-06-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that more and more teachers, both music and general education teachers are recording their students. It's easy to do. Both voice recording apps and hand held digital recorders have become so common place that it's almost as popular as it once was to record using a cassette tape and tape recorder.

But it's been so long since we had the habit of recording that I think it's important to be reminded of some very important ideas in regards to recording in the classroom.

1.  Always tell your students that you are going to record. This may keep some studnets from participating, but it may also improve the effort of others.

2. Alway allow students a way to decline the opportunity. If they don't want to be recorded, then any value that could be gained by the process is lost.

3. Always provide an alternate way to get the assignment done. My recorder students could earn belts in 3 ways, in person, by email using an online digital recorder, or by phone messaage.

4. Always keep parents informed. Even if they have signed a release at the beginning of the year, they need to know that recording is one of your arsenal of tools that you use to teach and assess student learning.

5. Always have a plan for anything that is recorded. Is this recording for a daily grade demonstrating a specific skill? Is this simply a scratch recording for rehearsal that will be deleted? Is this part of a private digital portfolio? Is this a formal performance assessment like a concert or recital?  Anything without a specific purpose should be discarded.  Keeping a strict eye on this will save time and space on your harddrive

6. Always take care with sharing settings. Only share with the people who need to hear. My favorite place to share recordings is actually in a "garden-walled" website hosted through google apps that is actually run through my school district. I set it up so that it is only by invitation only.

7. Always use the latest available platform for saving recordings. If you are creating a digital portfolio you want it to last. My college senior recital is on a little cassette tape! People have used CDs since I was in elementary school, but the portfolio of my entire college career of vocal study is on a cassette tape???? What a shame!

8. Always be ready to record. You never know when your students will be ready to preserve a special musical moment. Having multiple modalities of recording on the ready will enusre that you don't miss anything that you won't want to forget.

9. Always keep track of those release forms. You don't want to accidentally share information that you don't have permission to share..... These days everyone is having to make daily choices about their own online presence. It is not our job to make those decisions for parents so check! then record! then check!  then check again! THEN post with tightly controlled privacy settings.

10. Always let students enjoy their own recordings. When I was growing up, I spent hours with a tape recorder. Now days students really don't do that. Since we sound different to our own ears, recording is a very powerful tool and well worth the extra mindfulness and effort it takes to use it as a tool while teaching.

Bonus: Don't stop recording just because you and your students decide to start over. Stopping the recording often breaks momentum. If you get a take that you are satisfied with, you can always trim off the parts that are "practice" with a program like Audacity.

Bonus + Don't forget to have a good look at your district policy that concerns sharing of student images, voices and work. Do more than read it..... understand it! :)

I bet that you might have some ideas of some other things are good to remember when recording student work. Please feel free to share them in the comments. :)

Voice plus for iphone - my new right hand

2013-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so i find this title little ironic since I'm left handed. However, I want ya'll to know that I really love this app. The best part is that I got it as sort of a joke because I thought it would be fun to make funny sounds with it..... But now I find that it is the app that I use almost daily.

Last summer I got my very first iphone. I have always had an "un"smart phone before, so to say that I took a technological leap in my personal phone capabilities is an understatement. I really don't know how I functioned as an adult without an iphone.

One reason why I got an iphone is that I knew that my school is always looking for new ways for students to use technology in the classroom and I was pretty much entirely unfamiliar with apps....
So I got an iphone and started exploring.

I think that this might have been the first app I actually paid for. Now I know that you can do all sorts of goofy things with the effects to change what you record.... BUT, here is what this program does that makes is useful to me virtually every day.

1. It records with pretty good sound quality. I'm certain that if I attached some real microphones to my iphone I could get a cleaner sound, but for on the fly, in the moment recording, it's amazing!

2. The saving process is EASY! The sharing process is EASY! No fuss

3. The files are easily retrievable and can be played back.

4. AND THE BEST part is that when you send the file to yourself on email..... The file is saved as .WAV which means that I can actually DO something with it without any problems.

As a .WAV file, my scratch songs can go directly into audacity where I can edit further or do nothing.

The difference between using this app and other digital recorders that I use in class is that I almost always have my phone somewhere on my person. I can also send whatever I record to myself without having to plug my phone into my computer first, so it's quicker.

Listening Maps - keeping them close at hand

2013-06-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but if I'm not careful, I could have a real mess in my room..... I find that this is especially true when I am trying to collect necessary items for lessons I am teaching.

Most of us recieved a collection of listening maps as part of our text book adoptions. I find that keeping them in those little envelopes that were provided just gets in my way.... If there is any hope that I will use them at all, they have to be accessable and easy to put my fingers on.....

So I alphabetized them by the composer and then title and put each one in sleeves.

Incendentally,

If you put a white piece of paper behind then, they work GREAT with a document camera OR if I want to use one with my Activeboard, I scan it, and then I can write on it.....I also put a white piece of paper behind them and copy them for students to write on......

Easy Cheesy!

Summer Vocal Health - An investment into next year.

2013-06-09T20:15:00.001-07:00

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Now that it's summer

Don't forget to invest in your voice by allowing yourself the time you need for restorative vocal rest. Enjoy some silence. If you have to talk, try to save most of your talking in quiet places away from loud ambient noise.

Don't forget to get healthy with lots of water and plenty of excercise. Nothing helps singing more than a healthy body supported by lots of water.

Don't forget that the food and drinks we consume greatly affect our voices and can be controlled by better choices.

Don't forget to get your allergies tested. It's amazing how much a little rag weed can affect how we do our job.

Don't forget to find a good ENT. In the elementary music classroom our voices are our primary instrument and therefore an essential part of a job well done. Keeping tabs on how your voice is holding up over time can help prevent injury and can provide an avenue for ongoing care throughout your career.

Don't forget to think of ways to provide sound support for yourself in your classroom and other loud environments. There are lots of great devices, microphones and amplifiers that can be used every day in our classrooms and while we are at bus duty that can keep our voices from over reaching and becoming strident.

This microphone is my favorite one to use in class. I plug it into a little $50.00 amp that I found at RadioShack. I like it because I don't have to wear the reciever on my clothes, because the entire piece is heavy duty and designed to be worn by areobics instructors. I don't know about you, but it is ususally during the times when I am facilitating movement and dancing that I often need the most support from a microphone. This one is awesome and well worth the investment!

The Move!

2013-06-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken earlier this week to convince me that I had made lots of progress on my move.

Well progress I have made and now my pile is twice this big....in the top box I have my clown costume from Jr. High and my point ballet slippers....

But really, you never know when you are going to need a clown costume ....

And who hasn't wanted a pair of "real" ballet shoes to show the students when teaching the Nutcracker?

Of course it's time to get rid of a lot of things and to embrace new things....

But what is your favorite "go to" item that you use so much you've had to replace it?

The blessings of conversation in the midst of transition

2013-05-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

I am feeling blessed today. I got to have WONDERFUL and meaningful conversation!

Today I got to help my 5th graders celebration their promotion into 6th grade. It was a lovely ceremony and one of the best since I've been at this school. The day was a little bittersweet because I know that not only are these students completing their time in elementary school, but I also know that when they drop by for a visit in the years to come, I won't be there to greet and encourage them.
There I was, right in the middle of the temptation to pout and feel sad that I am leaving when I had the chance to get excited about the future. You see this afternoon I got to meet with the music teacher at my new school!

When I first accepted the position as music teacher at my new school I was so excited to get to work with her, and then just like me, she has found herself in a season of unforseen change and has now decided to retire at the end of the year.

So now instead of just creating a "transition notebook" for the teacher who will take my place, I am also recieving a "transition kit" from the music teacher whose work I will inherit.

It was so wonderful to have a good chat with her. I know that I will miss getting to work with her becuase the more we chat the more I see what great partners we could have been.....

What a wonderful job she did of answering my questions, providing critical information and being organized. Now in the midst of all that is the last few days of school, I'm spending my "free" thinking time in what I would call "informed" dreaming. Let the creativity of summer begin!

I hope that when I get a chance to meet with the music teacher that will replace me that I am able to be as helpful as my new friend Libby was for me.

I am blessed! What an amazing experience this change has been so far!

Composing Rhythms in 2nd grade

2013-05-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Like everyone else, I'm in the last few days of school. My students last day is June 5th and we have a workday on June 6th. One of my chores is to get my computers in order. As part of that chore, I found these pictures taken earlier this year (sometime in February/March) My second graders were writing a rhythm composition using quarter, eighth and rests.

I made a BIG deal about being composers, and gave them special paper. We folded the paper four times so that we had 16 boxes (beats).

I then told them that they could draw a quarter note in any 8 boxes of their choosing.

Then I told them to write 4 sets of eighth notes in 4 boxes of their choosing.

I made a BIG deal about the "blank" spaces and suggested that they could either fill in the remaining four boxes with quarter notes or eighth notes OR they could draw a rest in each empty box.

They were so proud of themselves and took great delight in sharing their rhythm compositions with each other.

Scratch recording students on the cheap without a lot of fuss.

2013-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Wildcat's Roar

Necessity is the mother of invention and in preparation for our annual round of standardized tests, I wanted to record my students as they chanted a rap that I wrote for them last year.

Last year because of time I had no choice but to circulate a recording of me rapping..... no one wants to hear me rap..... so I knew that it was not a permanent solution.

I don't know about ya'll but sometimes my to do list doesn't fit in the hours I've been given, so it was REALLY close to testing time and I was faced with a choice.... suffer through another year of listening to myself rap on the announcements

for 3 weeks OR record my students....... Since I didn't suddenly wake up with a recording studio in my classroom I had to get creative.

Here is what I did.

1. I used one of my classroom macbooks.

2. I opened up a track that included the instrumental loops that I h

ad used when I recorded the vocals originally.
3. I connected and then "

daisy-chained" 2 headphone splitters so that as many as 12 students could listen to the accompaniment at once and be free to record vocals,
4. I asked groups of volunteer 3rd,4th and 5th graders to come to the music room and take turns laying down tracks.
5. Each time I would record a new vocal track, I would mute it so that the next group could match their voices to the original.
6. Then using Garage Band, I balanced the voices and mixed the tracks down to one.....

Not perfect, but sooooo much better than what I had before.

Transition notebook - Leaving a classroom and school in good shape!

2013-05-13T18:12:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

Here is how the end of the school year feels to me!!!!

We are all facing the end of year rush and this year because I am changing schools I get to not only inherit someone else's work when I go to my new school, but I also get to leave behind a music program for someone else to step into.

The last time I left a school, I also left a teaching partner with whom I had essentially shared a brain, so I didn't have to remember where the mallets were, or which key went to which cabinet because my former co-teacher already knew all of the things a new teacher would need to know.

In the situation I am currently leaving, even though I'm not teaching music alone, as the all day teacher who doesn't have to juggle multiple campuses I have become the keeper of information......

So I am starting a "need to know" book that I will leave behind for the teacher who follows me.

The purpose of this book is purely informational. I want to include the information that I keep in my brain about what I do that the principal, my teaching partner or the school secretary might not remember. I want to aide the new teacher in their transition so that as they claim their new classroom and make it their own, they can do so with enough knowledge of what went on before to make their job easier.

Additionally, this notebook will keep me on task as I create it and will help me ensure that I don't leave anything in a mess, undone, or un-findable.
1. Have a remembered to go into the costume closet and organize it nicely while removing personal items and returning borrowed ones?
2. Have I "summarized" the piano lab in such a way so that someone else won't spend hours untangling a mess of cords?

Here are some of the things that I will include in my notebook.

I'm hoping that some of you who have moved recently will be so kind as to leave a comment with a suggestion. When I get a book together that I like I'll pretty it up and create a free downloadable for everyone to have.

Instruction

District curriculum CD - Hard copy is in the classroom library
List of performances that each grade level has participated in (including songs)
Rhythm systems(ta titi, da da....) that students are accustomed to.....
Melodic systems (fixed or movable do, or numbers)
grade levels who have used recorder - method book
A brief explanation of what my students covered and where I think there might be holes.

Management - STUFF

This may be on a CD with important documents
Equipment - (where are my manuals?) This list may be important if things are moved over the summer
costumes, uniforms, and choir shirts - how many? .jpeg in case there needs to be more ordered.
vendor list
Money - what we have, how to use it, how to make it grow
What has been ordered for the fall

Resources -

Textbook series with resources - most important if these things are moved
Magazine subscriptions (Music Express, Music K-8, Activate ) - with the volume
Donorschoose.org list of projects

Tips and tricks -

Is there a special way to open that cabinet?
Is there something hidden somewhere else on campus like a CD burner in the library?
pictures of possible room set up - My room is the place where ALL of the furniture in our pod ends up when they wax the floors in July, so providing a furniture list with pictures might be handy.
Setting up the DVD player so it will play on the activeboard......
What items need attention - I can put a work order in for everything before I go, but it would be great for the new teacher to know what should have been fixed so that if it hasn't been addressed, he or she can address it in the fall.

Who to call

If you need to know who the volunteers are
If you need a parent to go on a field trip
If you need an accompanist
If you need another music teacher

Special projects

Upcoming grant initiatives
Campus events - planning (i.e. Carnival)
After School program

Here is the sad part.... I haven't created ANY of this yet..... but NOW I have an outline and I have a notebook with pockets so I can at least start making a pile of things to go into my "need to know" notebook.

Please leave a comment if you think of something I should add to my notebook! :)

Super Sized Post-it Notes! Orff Instruments and a 4th grade "informance" that is finally taking shape.

2013-05-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

I like to learn new things. I am primarily a singer and as a result, I am generally more comfortable with performances that deal with singing. Using instruments for performance is something I've been working up to..... Although my Orff training is limited to the classes I took in college (which I only sort of paid attention to) and a workshop here and there AND although I don't claim to have any kind of deep understanding of the work, what I HAVE learned of the Orff approach is fitting in nicely with the way that I already practice my teaching as part of my study with the Richards Institute of Language and Research....Many of my ETM friends from around the country are also great Orff educators, so I'm sure they will let me know if I misunderstand, but as far as I can tell, these philosophies dovetail in their belief that a formal label is only as valid as the experience it represents. Basically, LOTS of experience first, then when labeling is necessary it becomes a simpler matter because the quality of the experience is rich.

This year as I was developing the idea of our 4th grade "informance" I wanted to use as many folk songs as I could that are a part of the ETM song experience game collection.... But I wanted to stretch my students as well as myself by trying to take the song experience games that we already know and love and adding accompaniment.

So when I went to TMEA I was on the hunt for good Orff resources. I wanted resources that would help me find success without a lot of fuss despite my lack of formal Orff training.

Here are some of the resources that I found that I have really enjoyed. This is probably my favorite... because for me, as someone who doesn't quite think "Orff" ..... it provided a systematic support as we moved through each slide AND because the instructions are on each slide I didn't have to refer back to the teaching manual..... it's all right there.

Interactive Folksongs by Christi Cary Miller

Orff Source Collection This link takes you to the Music in Motion Website. Volume 2 and Volume 3 are easily available from several sources.... Volume 1 is harder to find online.

While at TMEA I purchased Volume 1 and Volume 2 and am now using arrangements from both volumes to accompany ETM songs.....

Which leads me to my primary source for the majority of the songs I use in my classroom and in this "informance".

Often, when students know several of the ETM songs, we will put them all together as a set of partner songs. It takes time to play the children into this experience, but it is always worth the time and effort. One of my classes took the partner songs that they have sung and added their own instrumentation made up of yet another partner song......

Register for a Colloquium or Winter Course TODAY!

I have purposefully not included a link directly to a purchase page for this book because the book by itself is not nearly as useful as the classes themselves. After all, if your only experience with a football game was the coaches playbook, you might not ever be inspired to watch an actual game..... If you are looking for a place of inspiration, information and insight, then a time of study with ETM is exactly what will meet your needs. The link above will send you to all of the current course offerings. If you decide to attend, please let me know!!!!

Organizing it all!

Because I was putting songs together from so many different sources, I copied the pages I needed, slipped them into page protectors, made notes about which classes had what responsibilities and then used my BIG post-it notes to remind myself of who was playing what. The post-it notes are my working memory for the informance.....We are presenting our work on Thursday.....I'll be sure and let you know how it goes

Following their lead! - Giving in to a hunch to follow the student

2013-05-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had those moments in teaching when a comment or action from a student will send your lesson into an entirely new direction? One of those moments when you realize that you almost missed the forest for the trees, but on a whim you followed an impulse and it turned out better than you could have ever expected?

Well that happened to me last week!

I was right in the middle of introducing new and reviewing known instruments to my 3rd grade class. I had a blank instrument family chart on my white board and I asked students to come up and write the name of a known instrument on the board in the appropriate family. The students had written down all that they could remember, flute, clarinet, bassoon, oboe (thanks to Peter and the Wolf which had been fully explored in Kinder and 1st grade.) and I was starting to augment the list to include some instruments that they were not as familiar with.....My plan was to build the chart and then watch short video clips as we moved from one family to the next...... The application and aural identification was to happen in a later lesson..... ..... On this day I was presenting the lesson to a reasonably responsive class, even though some were passive, everyone was at least politely attentive.

I wrote down piccolo and realized suddenly that I was having a brain freeze and couldn't remember if I was spelling it correctly or not. Since I had asked my students to copy the chart we were creating for themselves, I wanted to make doubly sure that I was spelling everything correctly. I walked over to a text book, quickly turned to the instrument glossary in the back and corrected my spelling....... I was JUST about to go on when I noticed that the entire class had followed my lead and reached underneath their seats and retrieved their textbooks! Without being asked!!!!!!

It quickly became clear that my students were FACINATED by the glossary!!!!! Sooooo I slowed down, jumped off of my agenda and onto theirs...... I guided them through the process of using a glossary. We researched instruments of all sorts for the rest of the class using only an 8 page instrument glossary.... After my students had researched the instruments on their own, the quick video clips that I had decided to use had so much more meaning and usefulness.

Remember the woodwind family? Well after I had mentioned the piccolo, they found the saxophone in the glossary. They gleefully added it to our list and then were dismayed to discover that in the BBC woodwind video we watched, the saxophone was not a featured instrument..... Imagine how much fun it was to explain to my 3rd graders a little of the history of the development of the modern orchestra and the inclusion or exclusion of the saxophone...... By the time we got to the percussion instruments they were really into their self appointed task of finding new instruments....... My favorite discussion that I overheard was the rather heated debate about whether or not a piano was a string instrument or a percussion instrument......

Three things are true......

1. Even though after that class I made sure to include the glossary as part of our resources, the class discussion wasn't always as in depth or as interested.....and yet...... in every class I had students commenting on how much they had enjoyed the lesson and ask if we could get out the glossaries again for our next lesson......Not an everyday occurrence.....
2. I almost missed it! At this time of year I get so focused on not missing things I almost missed VERY important learning. My favorite answer became, "What does the definition say?" or, "Based on the picture, what you've read and what you've heard, what do you think?"
3.I should never forget that to this often media addicted generation of students we get to teach, a simple song, story or book holds all of the novelty and fascination that we THINK we are creating by oversaturating them with media and technology. Honestly, when I reflect on this lesson, I think the reason why they liked it so much was because the pictures in the book were STILL and they could examine them and take the time to read and discuss...... I wanted to and did incorporate very short video clips into my lessons because they were excellent performances.... However, video, even well done video is ALWAYS passive. Without the bedrock of their own active research my lessons would have been pleasant examples of polite passivity rather than eager learning. Books and in this case plain old note taking are the ultimate interactive technology!

Change is Coming! shoo shoo shoo

2013-05-06T19:29:00.002-07:00

Well I am equal parts THRILLED and totally grieved that I am going to be changing schools and school districts at the end of this school year.

I have been truly blessed during my time at my current school and the Lord has been faithful to give me a true love for the students I've been blessed to serve while at this school. Not only has he blessed me with a love for my students he has provided an amazing team and the very best administrative support a music teacher could ever have. I know that I am a better teacher than I otherwise would have been because of the great people I have worked with.

At the very same time, the Lord has been faithful to lead me into a new direction with new opportunities and healthy changes that I am eager to see come to fruition.

I am certain that over the next weeks and months as I prepare to go and start over at a new school I will face difficult days, but I really believe that my one regret is that I can't take my current school family with me because I know I would love keeping them near.

Not only am I changing schools and districts, the culture of the neighborhood I am serving will change as well.

For the entire 14 years I have been a teacher, I have served a student population with a high percentage of low-income, at-risk students who are learning English as a second language and who face significant often cultural obstacles that have kept them from reaching their academic potential..... Over the years my students have struggled to have test scores in the academically "acceptable" range and who have had to work extremely hard to reach toward an academically "recognized" school rating.

Now I will be working at a school that serves primarily upper middle class students and although I know for certain that each of these students just like ALL students face obstacles of their own, as a school their test scores indicate that their students perform at an academically "exemplary" level.

That my friends is a HUGE change for this music teacher to comprehend.

On a purely personal level, its a great time for me to reflect on what I do and how I do it.....

What in my practice do I need to hang on to because it will meet the needs of any students?

What elements of my practice do I need to refine so that I can extend the learning of my future students past what I am accustomed to presenting?

I'm hoping that the next few weeks will illicit both thoughtful and useful blog posts from me as I process and prepare for the big changes coming me way.....

One thing I know for sure..... I am determined to leave my old school in good shape.

It was not so long ago that I came to this school with more questions in my head then I could possibly ask about how things worked..... SOOOO I think I'm going to put together a notebook for whomever is going to be hired for the position that I leave vacant..... I'm going to fill it with things that would have saved me time when I was first starting here..... As that notebook takes shape I plan on sharing it with you..... We all know that leaving well is important as it benefits our students.

Best moment of the day.

2013-05-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Our choir concert on Tuesday was super sweet. Our day yesterday at the choir festival was really special and today one of the 5th graders who played the djembe for one of our pieces got to audition for a highly coveted place in the 6th grade percussion class for band next year.

After his audition he came back to class and said, "Ms. McSpadden! Guess what? I am going to be a percussionist." The rest of the class was busy practicing recorder in small groups while I was busy testing..... No silly recorder playing for my young drummer.....no.....He managed to find an abandoned, misplaced and forgotten rhythm stick in some alternate universe within the music room and proceeded to "play" everything he could get his rhythm stick to touch. For once, I left him to it.......

and THAT my friends is how a percussionist is born!

Choir Attendance Tracking- Keeping it Simple, Keeping it REAL!

2013-04-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

My after school choir is made up of volunteers. The folks who have a good attendance record and who attend 80% of rehearsals get to go on our field trips.

With that in mind, over the years I've spent a TON of time keeping track of choir attendance. I've created spreadsheets, created weekly rosters, had students using rehearsal time hunting for their name and learning how to mark a check or highlight their name....and conferenced with students who are at risk of loosing their spot...... Tedious business that did not really help me keep track of much and made sure that I was working too hard!

Good ideas happen in the strangest places!

This year I had an epiphany at the dollar store. when I came across some cookie sheets. I asked some student choir elves to help me out. They labeled one cookie sheet with HERE and one cookie sheet with ABSENT. Since I had a large group of students, both 4th and 5th grade had their own set. 5th grade blue, 4th grade green

I typed everyone's name like this:

John Doe
5-7 (my example is missing the number).

Then I laminated the green and blue sheets of paper that I printed onto. I then had my choir elves cut out the tags and put magnets on the back.

When "John" is absent, I put a hash mark on the tag. "John" decided a few weeks ago that he didn't want to come to choir anymore.... I can tell just by looking because the hash marks make it super easy to count the absences. It's past time for me and John to have a chat.

Storage and Use:

1. I keep them in the choir folder buckets. (You can see the 5th grade choir bucket on the far right of this picture. The attendance cookie sheets fit easily into the back.

2. I keep the HERE sheet nested in the ABSENT sheet so that the magnets don't get picked off by accident. Storing them together makes sort of a name tag sandwich and keeps those tags on the sheet when they are not in use.

3. Everyone starts out absent...we haven't had class yet....

4. As they arrive, they move their tag to the HERE sheet.

5. All I do is remind everyone to move their tag. Then at the end of class, I put a mark on the magnets still remaining on the ABSENT sheet.

6. Numbering the tags makes it VERY fast to put them in order for next times use. In fact, this set up is so easy that I have released the management entirely over to the students. I have an attendance captain who marks absences for me and I can refer to this "living" document when I need to.

This has worked so well that I'm seriously considering using a similar system in my classroom for daily attendance. I'm thinking that if I had class sets in baggies and then "day" sets in baggies, I could switch them out..... I'm not totally sold on using this in a large scale capacity, but for choir or other special ensembles its soooooo much easier than what I was doing I'm going to keep it up.

Bonus!

This can double as a choir arrangement chart

Caution: Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 6

2013-04-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a center dilemma that I didn't have a good answer to for a long time....mostly because the answer was so easy and obvious that I almost missed it.

I would like my students to have access to instruments during centers, but I find that what starts out as gentle experimentation often turns to noisy banging if I am not available to hover over the instrument players. Having to hover over any one center takes away from my ability to keep moving and monitoring.

So, as you have seen in previous posts, I do have one center that uses xylophones. Honestly, in the beginning I'd always put my most well behaved small group there first and hope that the least well behaved group would simply run out of time.....Oh my! Look at the time..... I guess we'll have to have our next turn next time..... This worked to a point, but really everyone needs the hope of a turn eventually....So I had resigned myself to the fact that I would either need to hover over the xylophones OR only use the center with select groups.

Until one of my students who had not listened to me at all grabbed the wrong mallets..... EUREKA!!! Problem solved.

By choosing the "wrong" mallets, she had actually chosen the "right ones" for composition centers, because the foam mallets sucked up most of the sound which gave my students the freedom they needed to really experiment without being so loud that other equally as creative centers were drowned out by the sound level of the xylophones. Using the foam mallets means that the xylophones are now no louder than the "flip flop pipes" and actually complement their tone quite nicely.

If the focus of your centers is proper instrumental technique then these foam mallets may not be the best fit for you because they tend to inspire students to play with abandon as they try in vain to make a louder noise..... However, if you are wanting students to experiment, improvise and compose, while other centers are also in session AND you want your sanity and hearing in tact, then these MAY be the perfect fit. They certainly made my centers work more smoothly! Let me know if you have similar results.

For more information about centers please, check out my other posts about centers here:

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 5

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 4

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 3

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 2

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 1

Reflections on Centers

Confessions of a Tired Music Teacher! - Two Unrelated Truths I've Unexpectedly Uncovered.

2013-04-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

This was a tough week. In terms of school it is a tough time of year because the calendar is not our friend. Both teachers and students are suffering from fatigue. After all we have been in school for a very long time. Yet, in Texas we have our heaviest round of standardized testing this coming week and for elementary music teachers at schools like mine that means that we are gearing up for our heaviest performance season all year..... the month of May. When you take an already tough week and add the national tragedies we've experienced this week it means that at least for me, this has been one of my most challenging weeks ever. I didn't have any "extra" work this week, but I admit that doing an ordinary days work took a whole lot of extra ordinary effort. I would come home and watch the news, sleep fitfully and then start over.

Imagine my surprise when I also had two totally unrelated truths that I've discovered about how I want to be as a teacher that I wanted to take the time to capture here.

True Statement 1

Choice is a powerful motivator, I just have to learn to stack the deck in my favor without revealing my hand.

In other words you can sink or sail your ship by the way you turn a phrase.

Explanation:
At this time of year even students who are ready and prepared for learning can become hesitant and reluctant. At the same time, students who often need lots of extra support and discipline to stay involved are not responding any longer to the structures, encouragements and consequences that have kept them on track all year. Consequently, I am the only one who can guide my students past their reluctance and in some cases tendency toward active sabotage toward an engaging lesson that is worth their time and effort.

When "that" class came in.... you know the one.... the one that makes you work harder than all the others combined?..... I was ready......My objective never changed, but my delivery did. I introduced what was in my mind the "consequence" assignment as an ordinary assignment with equal weight and validity as the "better choice" assignment. I spoke of both with equal sincerity and mild enthusiasm so that my students were convinced that both were true options for their choice. I ended up with the entire class on board with the more active of the two lessons without any fuss. This was much more effective than introducing my choice of an assignment followed by a curt impatient description of an alternate punitive assignment for those students who failed to agree with my choice.

I think it worked because I surprised my students. I think it worked because it disarmed students who enjoy being the squeaky wheel. I think it worked because I was fully set up for both options. The benefit was that we had a good class and no one sabotaged the work because in their minds they got to choose.

True Statement 2

By the time my students leave the 5th grade, I want them to feel successful on recorder whether it takes two years, a pair of headphones and a patient partner or whether it takes five minutes in the hallway on the way to class after breakfast.

In other words spiraling the musical experiences I provide for my students provides an avenue for growth over time.

Explanation:
One of my more sensitive students has a particular aversion to the sound a recorder makes. When we began recorder in fourth grade he had a terrible time trying to stay in my room. He was fine until recorders started and then he would escape the noise by visiting the art room. Since he was otherwise engaged in music, I let him demonstrate mastery in other ways. We continued with recorder throughout 4th grade and now here we are in the second half of April at the end of 5th grade and without any invitation from me, but because his buddy from class invited him to, he has earned his white belt on recorder!!!!! Also today, I had a 5th grader arrive who had never even held a recorder before ( that's what happens when you move schools often.) Five minutes in the hallway after breakfast and he already has his first belt. I'm so glad that I decided to stretch our recorder experiences over time so that my students could catch more music with their "learning nets". At schools like this one with high mobility rates, providing a solitary experiences or even isolated units of study will miss lots and lots of students. It's better to provide spiraled experiences where you can revisit and deepen some things from weeks, months and years before. As I've been planning for next year I've been reflecting the effectiveness of how I use the recorder and after these two unrelated experiences I can say that I am happy with the outcomes and find the extra time worth the effort.

Terrific Tuesday! - Sound expert extrordinare

2013-04-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that when you teach elementary music, you suddenly become a sound technician? You might not know a coaxial cable from a quarter inch, but suddenly, you are the on call expert in all things related to sound.....

Everything I know about sound can fit into a thimble. Everything I know about sound I picked up on the fly and one thing I know is that microphone cords are always the first thing to go wrong, especially when they are handled by people who don't know how to take care of them. These are my new microphones and cords from donorschoose.org. These are the "every day" microphones I got so that the "performance" microphones would last longer......

99.9% of the time I am the one setting up the sound and I'm the one who chooses the microphone for the occasion. 99.9% of the time I know well in advance what is needed and there is no problem at all..... And yet, there are still times when "sound emergencies" (like fire drills) occur and I'm knee deep in teaching..... So with that in mind, here are a few tips.

Sound Ideas!

1. If you are in a large district, they will have sound techs....GET HELP!!!! My favorite resource in my district is the sound equipment we can order. They bring it, show me how to set it up, I guard it and then when the performance is over, they take it away. It's AWESOME!

2. Work toward the right equipment. No one is a good audience when they can't hear the performance. Your students deserve to be properly heard. This may take some time and ingenuity. Sometimes PTA is a great resource, I was able to replace and acquire needed sound equipment from donorschoose.org.

3. Teach at least 3 other people how to turn on the system that you have and how to plug in a microphone. I would teach the people who might be giving you a call in a "sound emergency"..... The principals, the librarian, and maybe a grade level teacher or instructional coach who might need it.

4. Teach at least 3 other people, how to wrap a cord without damaging it. The general wisdom that I've noticed is that you don't force the cable into a certain shape, you guide it. There is a feel to it and I can't teach that here, but if you are forcing your cables to wind around something, the chances of them getting a short are really high. Easy does it!

4. Don't keep all of your eggs in one basket. In my school the microphones in the cafeteria get used EVERY day. Therefore, the sound closet is not kept locked. Therefore, I don't keep the microphones in the sound closet. That way, if someone walks out of the school with something, the sound ship isn't completely sunk.

5. Keep a set of microphones and cords neatly stored within reach. If you are at a music teacher meeting across town and the PTA president calls and says, "Hey we need a microphone.." You need to be able to say, They are in the bright pink container next to my desk.

3. As funds permit, keep an everyday set and a protected performance set. They don't even have to be that expensive, they just have to be protected. Cheap and protected sound equipment is better than harshly used and damaged expensive equipment any day.

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 5

2013-04-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just stumble upon the right thing and inspiration occurs!

That is exactly what happened when I visited Hobby Lobby over spring break.

I looked over and noticed this bag of soft geometric blocks...... The price was reasonable and it seemed to be something that I could easily replicate if I liked it.

I sorted the blocks and found that I had enough cylinder blocks to make one game and enough rectangle blocks to make a different game.

Today I'm going to tell you about my cylinder game because that is the one that has worked best. Based on the number and size of the blocks I decided to create a center that started with whole notes and used half notes, and quarter notes. I also created blocks that were half rests and quarter rests.

Then I took some 8.5x11 sheets of craft foam and got out my marker. I measured and discovered that my masking tape was just about the same width as the cylinders, so I cut it into the correct length and started tracing.

I realized pretty quickly, that I would need a way for these rolly polly cylinders to stay in place, so I added Velcro. I put four soft Velcro "beats" inside each outlined "measure". Then I put the scratchy Velcro dots on each block. I'll admit that I was pretty skeptical I really didn't think that the Velcro would last past the first class. I thought for sure that my students who are pretty hard on materials would tear this center up the first time I got it out.

I'm so pleased to tell you that it WORKS! These Velcro pieces have been handled with all of the energy my students can dish out, kindergarten through 5th grade, gentle and rough handling and we still have a perfectly intact center with all of it's parts. I think that maybe the foam blocks and the foam sheet have an easier time adhering to the Velcro than if I had created this center using laminated tag.

In kindergarten this center is a "pre-skill". I want them to understand that it takes 1 or 2 or 4 blocks to fill in the square. Although I tell them what the notes are and although they have practice with quarter notes, I'm trying to "play" them into the relationship between the notes. The placement of the Velcro helps reinforce this.... it makes it difficult to overload a measure. When the students arrange their "songs" to their satisfaction then they bring them to me and I read them. They love love love love love it!

1st grade is similar, but with more independence and with the expectation that they will read what they know.

By 2nd grade, I can go two different directions with this center I ask the students to either dictate a rhythm pattern from a known song, or I ask them to create something original. If they create something original, then they have to copy their work onto a piece of paper that they then turn in for a grade.

In 3rd, 4th and 5th, it would be nice to have sixteenth notes, but it also is really great practice for them to revisit some rhythms they've known for a while. Also, with the older students, I challenge them to see how many different patterns they can create. Since they don't stay in centers very long, this keeps the motivation high even at this simple center that doesn't have the same "curb appeal" that some of the others have.

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 4

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 3

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 2

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 1

Reflections on Centers

Kickin' it "old school" - how "old school" is keeping things fresh in the music classroom.

2013-04-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

I love how MP3 files and music editing software make the life of this music teacher easier.

But I also love the simplicity of just singing and playing with students.

I love how my macbooks help me create environments for my students to learn in where classroom walls become transparent and students can access the world through the click of a button.

And yet, I love the simplicity of reaching for a globe when my students want to know where something is. There is something special about "touching" China with your index finger and measuring the vast Pacific ocean with the palm of your hand.

I am grateful for my own ability to embrace and utilize technology in my own personal daily life.

All the while I miss the smell of old paper and books from the library.

I think I'm feeling a little nostalgic about the way things used to be because our new afternoon music teacher Rosemary who is quite a bit older than I, ha
s brought with her many of the "old fashioned" ways of doing things..... I'm glad she has, because I'd forgotten how important many of them are.

The first thing she did when she came to my school was ask where the autoharp was..... I've been at my school for four years and I had NO IDEA! Do we have an auto harp??????
Well she found one and I've never seen students more entranced than my students were when she showed them how to play the autoharp..... it was wonderful.

Then she told me that she wanted to do a little performance called Peter Rabbit. I knew the story because I'd heard it as a child, but my students have never heard the story at all so suddenly what was old is brand new and exciting! As it turns out another great music teacher friend of ours, Tobey Unrath purchased the music for this operetta for children while on a trip to London England in 1981 when I was in kindergarten....... Several years ago, Tobey and Rosemary did Peter Rabbit as a performance and it's been one of their favorites for years because I've had the pleasure of hearing them talk about if for a long time.

So Rosemary wanted the 2nd grade to perform Peter Rabbit and all we needed was a date. We got all the details worked out and we have started teaching the music to the children. They LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It is the sweetest thing I've ever heard and the melodies are just right.... they aren't overly simple and they are interesting without being too challenging. I can't wait to start working on the staging.

I think my favorite part is that there is no recording. Rosemary is going to play the entire thing while I conduct. She was not at school today, so I got to play it while the students were in the room today and even the piano accompaniment is just right and fits well in your hand.

Of course I couldn't leave the technology entirely behind.....I did talk her into creating a practice CD so that students can rehearse the songs at home. I know they will be glad to have the chance to practice at home..... IF IF IF IF IF they can find a CD player to play that old fashioned CD on!

Terrific Tuesday!

2013-04-08T20:38:00.001-07:00

Sometimes music teachers have to collect money. This year I have collected money from students who purchased recorders, method books, show shirts and now this week I will collect lunch money for a Saturday field trip... My Terrific Tuesday Tip is this: Print Envelopes! Go ahead! Beg borrow or commandeer a printer and the ink it will take to create this tool before you collect a dime! These envelopes are easy to print and provide a useful backup paper trail that keeps me sane. When i am feeling creative i make them pretty..... today was no such day..... but i got them made! I do not collect money without an envelope!

Marvelous Monday!

2013-04-07T20:22:00.002-07:00

May performances here we come!
Here is my list of May events which range from full blown costumed performances, to "informances", field trips and simple deeds of appreciation but all together they mean that May is going to be crazy, and April is FULL FULL FULL of preparation!

This list doesn't include rehearsals or anything like that

Last week of April - TESTING!
April 30 - Choir concert
May 1 - District Choir Festival
May 4 - Running for the Arts - Choir field trip and performance at the Mall
May 16 - 4th grade day time "informance" - orff, recorder, singing and dancing
May 22 - Volunteer Lunch
May 23 - 2nd grade day time and evening performance of Peter Rabbit
It's about here when I quite trying to keep the dates..... all I can remember is that I've got Kindergarten graduation and 5th grade graduation both of which require the students to sing a song and for me to help with rehearsal and maybe even reading names.

I'm going to do my best to continue to blog for the next few weeks but man oh man is there work to be done!!!!!! When I get to my summer vacation I will have earned it! Whew!

Music to my ears

2013-04-03T16:56:00.002-07:00

Just like everyone else in the state of Texas, the last two days have been our first round of standardized testing. We have another round the last week of April.

As a music teacher, I get to be a part of the army that it takes to get this chore done properly.

Because of the reality of testing I like everyone else is a little out of my ordinary groove for this time of year, but it's been a while since I've posted so I wanted to leave you with an experience that I had yesterday.

My choir is part of the afterschool program. This is really great because then I don't have to worry about transportation. However when there is testing, there is no afterschool program.

Yesterday while I was monitoring a bus line during dismissal I overheard some of my 5th grade boys talking about choir and how much they liked it. When they saw me, they made sure to tell me that they would rather stay for choir than go home. They also wanted me to know that choir was their favorite thing and that they liked the songs we were singing and couldn't wait for our next practice.

During these days of silent testing, this little conversation was music to my ears!

I went home happy!

Caution! Elementary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 4

2013-03-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

Playing the Pipes!

This center just works. I am here to tell you that you can put this center in front of children within the ages of 5 and 11 and they can stay busy creating music, improvising, creating patterns and learning how instruments work for the entire class time. This has been the BEST center and the experience that my students have had while at this center has informed their work as they moved around from station to station. I believe that it is successful because it allows students to be truly and entirely creative. Their interaction with the pipes is entirely open ended and because the pipes are low pitched, they have a pleasing sound no matter how hard they are played. Students of all ages discover the variety of ways that they can be played and even practice vocal exploration. Since this particular series of centers have all been focused on music composition, I provided paper for the students to carry and keep track of any notation they wanted to remember. Sometimes at this center students would notate rhythms, sometimes they would notate pitch and sometimes they provided elaborate scientific drawings that were labeled with descriptions of how adding a length of pipe would change the sound. I intend to add more pipe, and find ways to incorporate this one often. - I love that although it would make an obviously brilliant instrument center, it functions really well during composition stations.

Set up: I bought the flip flops on clearance at an end of season sale at Hobby Lobby almost two summers ago. They sat in my closet waiting for some pipe to play. Over spring break, I found my way to Home Depot which I might have been to twice in my life and purchased some 2 inch plumbing. IF you can find some pipe elbows and other pieces that are missing some of the "twisty - tightening" pieces, then you can get them at a discount. ..... I took mine to the register not even realizing I had selected pipes that were missing hardware.... good thing the clerk knew her plumbing..... I got a discount!

2-3 years ago during the summer I decided to type in "music centers" into the search on YouTube. I discovered a variety of videos that have been created by Mark E. Turner. At that time I found a video about centers that he had posted that contained a big box of PVC pipes and some flip flops. I'm not sure if I've uncovered the video that originally intrigued me, but I have discovered his channel of videos and he has a TON of great ideas and solid thinking about children and music and how to teach them. It's so much to take in that you could spend a good while exploring and watching the almost 200 videos he has posted! Since I got the idea of using PVC pipe and flip flops from him I wanted to be sure and share his videos so that he can get credit for his great work. Check out his YouTube channel, LOTS to learn and LOTS to think about! Thanks Mark for sharing your insights and practice on YouTube where we can find your work!

Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Contruction! - Part 3

2013-03-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Quiet Please We're Testing! Those are not the words a music teacher wants to hear when she shares a wall with a testing room........ ALL my speakers are on the "testing" wall..... My instruments were bleeding through to the other side...... what to do.... what to do....??????

This next set of centers were developed out of pure necessity.

We've been working on composition centers, but many of my composition centers require students to either play or improvise melodies and rhythms on instruments. Basically, I came up with these in a pinch ideas when I had a room full of students and not enough centers to go around.

Before I scrapped all of my composition centers, I first modified most of them. Instead of using un-pitched percussion, my students used body percussion, instead of pitched percussion, my students sang.

I'm pretty sure we did ok, because no one came to the door to tell us to be quiet.

Additionally, I added a couple of centers to replace some of the more rambunctious centers. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

Finale Notepad!

Set-up - headphones and headphone splitters allow for more than one student to hear their work while working on a computer. I use Finale Notepad quite a bit with my older students, so the FREE! download is already on my computers. The trickiest part is getting students logged on. I try to pair a student who I think will be independently successful with one that needs some support. The more independent student uses their log-in credentials.... Since my students have easy access to computers in their classroom they are well used to logging in.

Kinder - nope, didn't do this one with kindergarten..... during kindergarten I just added an extra person with my other centers. They didn't miss it, they were having too much fun.

1st/2nd - I helped them log in and find Finale and then after a quick tutorial on how to manipulate the application I left them alone to doodle and listen to their doodles. I wanted them to have the experience of notating something and then playing it back to see how it sounds. I told them to start with quarter, and eighth notes and they did pretty well. When it was time to go, I helped them save their work.

Rhyming Books
Set-up ...I have a great collection of books. I asked my students to read independently and with each other. I chose the books that are rhyming because they are more rhythmic than others and they are ones with which the students could add instruments if we were allowed to be loud.

Kinder-2nd grade I was shocked by how intrigued and on task the students were. They REALLY enjoyed getting to read my special music books that they don't see everyday.

CHECK OUT!

Reflections upon centers in music

Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Construction Part 1

Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Construction Part 2

Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 2

2013-03-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here it is, another favorite center from the last several days of center reconstruction!

Compose a rhythm!

First I wrote quarter notes, quarter rests and eighth notes on foam sheets. Using foam sheets instead of cardstock in need of lamination saved so much time! The best part about this center is that it is very easy to differentiate for the instructional needs of each grade level AND interest can be keep alive simply by changing the instruments used while reading the rhythm. Before introducing this center I considered creating some sort of 4-beat frame. For now I decided against it in favor of flexibility.

Kindergarten:
Before opening this center I asked students reviewed the rhythms and asked students to help me create a rhythm pattern. I guided them through the process of choosing six cards and we practiced counting them together.

Outcomes:
Their favorite part was mixing up the cards and putting them in order. They did pretty well reading and playing the rhythms. It was amazing to me how many different configurations they came up with. Some students made long "rhythm snakes" while others automatically arranged their rhythms into 4-beat patterns without any direction from me. This center will

1st grade center:
I set this center up almost identically to kinder. I made a much bigger deal about the rests and we practiced before they worked independently.

Outcomes:
This center seemed to catch first grade at just the right place to really enjoy it. One group decided to arrange their composition in a long line. Then they lined up at one end and hopped down the line with one foot on each side. When they landed on a card they played it. As my friend Randy would say "It was as if they knew what they needed!"

2nd grade
The set up for this center started similarly in that I reviewed the rhythms. However, just like in the melody center, it seemed wise to use a song to facilitate their play. In addition to giving them time to create their own rhythms, I asked the students to find the rhythms for Rain Rain Go Away.

Outcomes:
2nd grade was truly intrigued by the idea of composing and were excited by everything. They took turns composing and conducting their patterns and really could have stayed at this center longer. In order to keep the challenge of the center relevant, and to make them feel like their compositions matter, I'll provide a way to write down or record their work.....Nothing motivates like the opportunity to share.

For more information about the centers that I am working to develop, check out this link for the post below!
Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 1