MelodySoup blog

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

Caution! Primary Music Centers Under Construction - Part 1

2013-03-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Although I'm not ready to fully roll out centers for all of my classes, my schedule this week has allowed me the time to experiment some and try centers with a few individual classes in kinder, 1st and 2nd grade.

Today I'm going to share one of my centers and how I adjusted it to fit the needs of the 3 grade levels I've used it with so far.

Compose a melody!

First I wrote the pitches for a C pentatonic scale on foam sheets. I wanted students to be able to create patterns, and because I want the freedom to adjust and learn as I go without a huge commitment to materials I included only 4 "do" cards and 2 of each of the remaining pitches. On a purely practical note, this center was really easy and cheap to create and only required about five minutes of preparation because you don't have to laminate foam sheets. This is a center that will always be a part of my center rotation in one version or another.

Kindergarten:
1. I prepared each xylophone to be played in C pentatonic.
2. Before opening this center, I had students help me model creating a pitch pattern in front of the xylophones. Then we modeled taking turns playing the xylophones. We modeled how to play the xylophones appropriately.
3. My kinder students were asked to take turns creating melodic patterns for their partners to play.

Outcomes:
Centers were made for kindergarten and kindergarten was made for centers. My little ones were so happy to have the chance to explore this center. With the VERY quick addition of some bright stickers that labeled the scale on the xylophone itself.....(I hadn't thought of that until I had a class full of kids)..... they were off to the races. The very first thing they did was find the F and B bar and put them back on the xylophone, but even with them on, I noticed that they made a real effort to follow the melody created by their friend. Because there was no rhythm value on the cards, they took the time to hunt for and find the pitch on the instrument. However in kindergarten creating and playing a melodic pattern lasts about a minute and a half and then it's time to improvise! My favorite part is that using a center like this with just one or two of the really "cool" instruments allowed my kindergarten students to hear what they were playing because the music room wasn't cluttered with 10 other instruments playing together.... There were just two instruments and they had permission to play something new and self directed.

1st grade center:
1. Before opening this center, I had students help me model creating a pitch pattern in front of the xylophones. Then we modeled taking turns playing the xylophones. We modeled how to play the xylophones appropriately.
2. My first grade students were asked to take turns creating melodic patterns for their partners to play.

Outcomes:
1st grade were almost as excited about this center as kindergarten. I didn't pre-set the xylophone into C pentatonic, since we have recently been playing as a class together, they automatically took off the bars. The biggest growth was in their ability to help each other get their patterns right. First graders read the cards out loud to each other while helping their partner to find the right bar. They were able to sustain the planned activity for a longer time before they started improvising. Their improvisation was more informed and conversational. They dialoged with their partner about what they should try next.

2nd grade
1. Before opening this center, I had students help me model creating a pitch pattern in front of the xylophones. Then we modeled taking turns playing the xylophones. We modeled how to play the xylophones appropriately.
2. My second grade students were asked to take turns creating melodic patterns for their partners to play.
3. I gave them the extra challenge singing what they play. I asked them to try and find the pattern for Rain Rain Go Away and to figure out how to play that song in addition to their composition.

Outcomes:
2nd grade was truly intrigued by the idea of composing. They took turns composing and conducting their patterns and really could have stayed at this center longer.

More information about centers coming soon!

You might also enjoy Reflections Upon Centers In Music

Reflections upon Centers in Music - Making every moment count

2013-03-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have music centers on the brain. I can't quit thinking about them because I want to make the experience my students have when using centers more meaningful and effective. I'm almost.....sort of.... happy with my learning outcomes for some of my centers but not as happy with others. Every year the actual management of centers gets easier, but there is always room for improvement. As a tenacious optimist I think I can do better! In fact, I've been thinking about centers all through spring break and am ready to jump in this week Melodysoup Centers 14.0.....

Questions I ask myself when planning to use centers

1. Have I chosen wisely? Every center I choose must be interesting enough for students to want to participate AND instructionally important enough for them to construct meaning. If I find that some of my centers are "super cool" while others are "place holders" then it's time to figure out how to duplicate the "super cool" centers OR bring the "place holders" up to scratch.

2. Do I have time? I don't see my students very often and I don't see them for very long. I've recently realized that in some cases when I want students to practice certain things, as few as 2-3 centers help me to keep the class moving forward while building success and increased independence.

3. Have I stayed true to my objective? Centers can be really fun! Centers can foster "play state" which is the best place for children to learn! Centers can be all sorts of things, but did the opportunities I provided for my students foster the learning I intended? Did I lead them through an opportunity to learn a musical skill? Or did I lead them through an opportunity to learn that their classmate eats crayons?

4. Do I have the right management in place? The most creative and fabulous centers in the world will fail miserably if the students can't get them out and put them up without eating up all of their time or destroying the center. Centers HAVE To be EASY EASY EASY EASY EASY to use!

5. Is this center transferable? The more grade levels that can use a given center, the better!

Coming Soon!

Melodysoup Centers 14.0

Congratulations!

2013-03-08T18:35:00.001-08:00

We have a winner!

Everybody check your email and see if you received an email from me. As soon as I hear back from the winner I'll announce who won and what the next give away will be! :)

Last DAY!

2013-03-06T19:47:00.003-08:00

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a FREE book from MelodySoup!

Friday FREEBIES!

Carnival of the Animals - in a pinch, lessons that can pass between me and the sub

2013-03-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Carnival of the Animals is just great music! There are about a thousand different activities and directions that you can explore with your students, so much so that this great work deserves several posts. Today I'm going to share with you how I like to introduce these pieces to my students and why it's a work that should be revisited.

I'll be honest and admit that I typically save Carnival of the Animals for May. I save it for May because I find that it just about teaches itself and when I'm busy or tired or just feeling uncreative, Carnival of the Animals is great to make sure that my teaching is as good as it can be ALL of the time even when I'm not at my best.

This last week was just such a time. I caught the BUG! BUG in all caps.... I got SICK SICK SICK! Of course this happened right after TMEA no less!

I missed Monday and then on Tuesday I MADE myself go school on Tuesday. I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday I drug myself to school. I'm back at school today, but guess who doesn't have a voice? THIS girl!! So needless to say, Carnival of the Animals has become an important part of my teaching this week.

First of all, I use the John Lithgow version of Carnival of the Animals with the older students.

I use the Jack Prelutsky version of Carnival of the Animals with the younger students.

My first goal is to assist my students as they listen to the work. I really want them to experience the work as a whole, at least in the beginning. However, my students aren't equipped to just sit and listen to much of anything. So I use my handy dandy folded paper to help my young ones increase their listening time. THE BEST part is that my sub can easily do everything I do without a fuss or bother.

Here is what we do.

1. We fold out papers in half 4 times. My students are pretty good folding paper because I find it easier than creating worksheets and running copies.

2. Then they copy the title. I differentiate this for grade level and literacy level.

3. Then while seated in front of the book we are using, they listen to the poem and then during the music they draw the animal.

4. I pause and repeat on some of the songs that are too short to draw and during some of the longer pieces I cut them short so that we can get through several animals in one class.

5. I don't push the pace of the lesson, but I don't hold back either. I've noticed that my students are proud of their work and often I'll post some of them outside my wall.

6. If students need to get up and move to the music, we just set down our lapboards, move to the music and come back and draw the animal that we just became.

Terrific Tuesday! - My favorite sub folder organization tool

2013-02-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

First let me say that on another day when I'm not home sick I'm going to write an entire series on my sub plans, how I organize them and keep them relevant. But for now, let me tell you about my FAVORITE organizational tool for my sub plans.

Plastic Dividers with Pockets

I put all of my lesson plans into plastic sleeves. I also put any copy "masters" in a plastic sleeve right behind the lesson plans. I keep my sub folder stocked with all the copies a sub might need for one day. The sub plans the copies go in the pockets for that grade level. My subs don't have to hunt for papers any more.

I've discovered that brand DOES matter! My Avery pocket dividers have lasted for more than 5 years. My off brand pocket dividers aren't going to make it through the year.

Extra Special Go Texas Day!

2013-02-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

Everyone in Houston knows that Go Texas Day is awesome! Go Texas Day commemorates the opening day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Each year trail riders descend on the city from all different directions and converge on city as they make their way to the Reliant Stadium and Arena for opening day. Elementary schools all over town have events in celebration.

Our school has a square dance and sing along with each grade level during their regularly scheduled "specials" time. Our parents are invited and because the gym is so packed with dancers and guests it's hard to find a place to stand where you aren't in the way of a video camera.

Once the dancing is over we sing together with whatever time is left after the dancing. As soon as one grade level leaves, we set up another grade level for square dancing and away we go! 6 grade level programs in one day is A LOT!!!!!! But it is really an adventure in precious!

Each morning I have hallway duty and one of my primary functions is to help the 5th graders find the gym where they read quietly until their teachers arrive to pick them up. (I have a few 5th graders who tend to get lost when it's time to read, so I help them remember where it is and what they are supposed to do when they get there) This morning was no exception, but unlike other ordinary mornings, I had a whole bevy of 5th grade girls AND boys primping in the nearest bathroom trying to get ready for the BIG DANCE! Since the nearest bathroom is also right next to the music room, I had my bandannas ready and anyone who didn't come to school outfitted as a cowboy could borrow one. They were ALL so excited!

Of course, I was dressed up for Go Texas Day too and I'll admit that I sort of embrace my "Fancy Nancy" persona on Go Texas Day and try my best to be a little over the top. Today I had a red bandanna skirt, a red rhinestone "rodeo" T-shirt and denim jacket with a red rose pinned to the lapel and a red rhinestone cowboy hat and of course I had boots. FUN!!!!!

The hardest part of the day is standing all day in boots on the gym floor. There are other times during the year when I spend the day in the gym and none of them are quite as taxing as the day I spend in boots, so I'm guessing that the gym floor and my boots are just not a combination for comfort. It is my habit to sort and reset my room every Friday after school, and for my own sanity today was no exception. I try my best to only stay late (after my daily 5:30) one day a week and it usually ends up being Friday. Today, because my feet hurt, I only stayed long enough to detangle the spaghetti on my desk into piles and put away just a few things while gathering a work bag to take home for tomorrow. By then my Go Texas Day feet were screaming at me, so I was out of there and home by 5:50....I live very very very close to school.

Within five minutes of arriving home I was ready for bed, in my pajamas, ready to watch a movie before heading to bed. It wasn't long before I realized that the sweet children who live downstairs and who attend my school were not going to quit knocking at my door. My clue was when they switched from knocking to using the metal door knocker. I looked at myself and realized that I didn't have a choice. I was going to have to answer the door IN my pajamas. - How Embarrassing!!!! However, it was worth it!

There they were, big brother still in his cowboy clothes and little sister dressed in her princess finery complete with a tiara. They were standing there holding out a plate of birthday cake and ice cream for me! Princess was celebrating her birthday today and wanted to bring me some cake and ice cream! So SWEET! I have the best neighbors EVER!

Now I'm enjoying a very sweet Saturday while I catch up on piles of laundry, grades, and planning for the rest of the semester. LOVE my Saturdays!