It’s funny, but I couldn’t believe that I never had never put this list together! Teaching Music has not only been my occupation for the last 19 years, but it is also my passion. I love igniting the learning fire in students, and having the privilege of teaching them Music is an added bonus. For […]
Write for the NAfME Blog SEARCH & FILTER Search Category Subscribe to NAfME Notes Subscribe to NAfME Notes, our biweekly e-newsletter, to receive highlights from the blog and other NAfME news in your inbox. Subscribe Now Write for the NAfME Blog Interested in sharing your experience with the music education…
It’s funny, but I couldn’t believe that I never had never put this list together! Teaching Music has not only been my occupation for the last 19 years, but it is also my passion. I love igniting the learning fire in students, and having the privilege of teaching them Music is an added bonus. For […]
This editable music choice board template is an easy way to engage students in distance learning through music. Because it’s editable, you can customize the activities and instructions to fit the needs of your lower, upper, and secondary general music classes. This resource is perfect for: ✅ elementary music teachers ✅ middle school music teachers ✅ secondary general music teachers WHAT YOU'LL GET WITH YOUR DOWNLOAD ✺ Music Choice Board for Google Slides ✺ Music Choice Board Grid (editable PowerPoint) ✺ Pre-filled Music Choice Board Grid Examples ✺ Link to instructions for distribution FOR MORE DISTANCE LEARNING RESOURCES, CLICK HERE ___________________________________________________________________ #musiccrewdistancelearning musiccrewdistanceK #musiccrewdistanceENSEMBLE #musiccrewdistancePRIMARY #musiccrewdistanceUPPER #musiccrewdistanceGENERAL
Don’t get me wrong — I love candy. And, a jolly rancher, a tootsie roll, or a starburst can work wonders in the classroom for student motivation and enthusiasm. So can pizza parties, and cupcake days, and brunch, and…I’ve had so many types of food parties I can’t even keep track! Recently, however, I’ve been […]
Write for the NAfME Blog SEARCH & FILTER Search Category Subscribe to NAfME Notes Subscribe to NAfME Notes, our biweekly e-newsletter, to receive highlights from the blog and other NAfME news in your inbox. Subscribe Now Write for the NAfME Blog Interested in sharing your experience with the music education…
Back-to-school season is in full swing. Here are six icebreakers to help your secondary music students get to know each other better, learn names, dust off their music brains, and start off the new year by building community!
Top 3 Units for Middle School General Music. Organized Chaos. Ideas and resources for project based learning with middle school general music students. World music, composition, and careers in music.
by Sarah Gulish and Victoria Boler (12 Pages + over 25 pages of editable resources) This is an eBook for digital download. The purpose of this book is to provide resources for music teachers looking to collect data to better advocate for their programs and reach students. This interactive PDF describes the various types of data, how they can be collected, and how they can be used to create a music program story to share with community members and administrators. Each purchase includes access to a google drive folder with dozens of resources and templates that can be copied and edited, including email templates, google questionnaire forms for students, parents, and colleagues, conversation starters with administrators, sample qualitative stories, sample quantitative stories, and more.
Do you have fraying mallets and a very small budget? This was my problem. But, it is not a problem anymore! I was brave and patient and learned how to rewrap my own mallets. The photo above shows blue mallets that were very frayed. The red mallets have been rewrapped by me! With a little patience and practice, you can learn how to wrap mallets too and free up some money in your classroom budget for other resources. Before gaining the courage to make that first cut and unwrap a mallet, I watched at least 2 hours of video tutorials. There are several different techniques and videos out there in cyberspace, but I found that Episode 198 from Drummer Talk provides the most comprehensive and clear demonstration. I suggest you watch this entire video BEFORE attempting to wrap your own mallets. These are the supplies Dave Kropf suggests before beginning your project: Scissors Darning Needles (Size 18) Yarn (Size 3) As you wrap and cross the yarn over the top of the mallet, it should be placed off-center. This creates a nice crown which will be stitched to keep the yarn in place. When first attempting to wrap, I found it easiest to keep the yarn off-center on mallets that have more of a flattened core on top. If you have one, begin with this style core rather than a spherical core. After wrapping about 4 mallets, I found a groove and my wrapping and rotating technique became more automatic. During several evenings, I would sit on the couch and wrap mallets while watching television. Below, you can see many of the mallets I have rewrapped. The mallets with the white shafts were crowned with the technique Dave uses in the video because that is how they were crowned from the factory. Most of the mallets with black shafts were crowned with a back-stitch because I tried to imitate how they came from the factory. I encourage you to find some confidence and attempt to learn something new! After wrapping several pairs, I looked back at the first pair I wrapped and decided to cut them off and rewrap them again! My technique had improved so quickly, that I was not happy with my first pair anymore. I even got a little wild and crazy and made RAINBOW MALLETS!!! These are a great incentive. I reward a student who is doing a great job and allow them to play with the rainbow mallets like a ROCK STAR! Go forth! Be brave! Happy wrapping! Update: This post has been featured on the March 2016 Music Education Blog Carnival. Check out the rest of the carnival by clicking this link.
With these Film in Music Lessons and Worksheets for Middle School and General Music, you can help your students learn about the Elements of Music while listening to some of their favorite movie soundtracks. Each of the no prep lessons include a variety of activities for film in music history, readin...
Have your social studies student try her hand and writing her own protest song in this creative worksheet.
The Parent-Teacher Slideshow for Open House in Music is an interactive slideshow that can be used for parent-teacher conferences, open house night, Music in our Schools Month™, Back to School Night, Celebrate the Arts Night, and more! This introduction to music is an easy way to show parents the music concepts their children will learn in your classroom. It also includes an editable picture album to showcase your student events such as music programs or choir concerts. #musiccrewadvocacy #musiccrewMIOSM ⚠️ Available in Google Slides & PowerPoint ⚠️ WHAT YOU'LL GET WITH YOUR DOWNLOAD: Main Menu with clickable topics for easy navigation Melody 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Rhythm 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Dynamics 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Tempo 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Harmony 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Timbre 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Texture 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Form 2 slides with an easy-to-understand definition and interactive audio examples Music Facts 4 slides with research showing the proven benefits of music education 5 slides of “fun facts” about composers and musical instruments Editable Picture Album 10 editable slides to display your favorite classroom or performance group pictures Instructions & Ideas for Use ___________________________________________________________________ Why You and Your Students will Love it ✅ Set the slideshow to run during Open House Night to show community members all the concepts taught in music class ✅ Present this slideshow to your school board to show the concepts that are learned in music class, along with facts showing the proven benefits of music education ✅ Customize the editable picture album to email to your elementary choir students at the end of the year ✅ Use the slideshow as a center during Celebrate the Arts Night so that students and parents can explore it together ___________________________________________________________________ Related Products ❤️ Welcome to Band ❤️ Welcome to Choir for Open House Night ❤️ Welcome to Orchestra
This post has been a long time in the making. I started this series on using the Super Six in the music classroom quite a while ago, and sadly I got distracted. It was however, always my intention to finish the series with a post on Summarising. The skill of summarising is something that every […]
Middle School Music curriculum gives students an opportunity to learn about musical rhythms, tempo, pitch, tone and a variety of musical styles and genres. In order to get the middle school student excited about curriculum, try several interactive games that can be played to reinforce concepts learned in class. Games ...
Curated Music Resources for remote teaching — We're glad you found us. Answer some questions to see how we can best help you. What music resources are you looking for? (question 1/2) Classroom Music Instrumental Music Choral Music
Here are my tips and ideas for teaching songwriting in music class. Keep reading to get the FREE RESOURCE with lesson plans.
At the MTNA Conference I had the privilege of meeting Bonnie Slaughter, the creator of this ingenious approach to theory. I like to think of it as the text messaging approach to music theory. 🙂 Theory Strips are a 10-level program that organize music theory concepts into strips that can easily be completed one day […]
This cooperative learning strategy takes the idea of "working in pairs" up a notch.
STOMP! First... Bring your recycling to the classroom. Cans, plastic, boxes, bottles... anything that makes a sound. Have the kids pick through the recycling and find items for their 'stomp' song. Have them explore and find 3 sounds that each of the recyclable items can make. For example, swirling sound, drum sound, crushing, crunching, rattling, etc... Write it down on a chart. Draw the recyclable piece, write down it's sound and how to make it. Do they use their hand to make the sound, or a pencil, or other object? Use a line to show it's sound. Swirly line for a swirling sound. Up and down lines for a tom-tom drum sound, etc.. Have them find a few more pieces at home. The garage or the toy box is a great place to look. Second... Organize the sounds into a song. Have the kids form groups of 3 - 4. Each person selects a recyclable item to play. They need to come up with a rhythm, or you could give them a rhythm (depending on the age group). Have each group write 8 measures of rhythm. I have them write 8 and repeat it when they perform the song. Some kids will feel comfortable writing more measures. You could have them write it with ABA, ABC form in mind?? Third... After much time and practice, comes the Performance! Video tape the groups playing. The kids love to watch the show later.
My grade 6 students have been working on the tune "Duke's Place", an arrangement of Duke Ellington's C-jam blues. This arrangement by Doug Goodkin is found in his book, "Now is the Time", published by Pentatonic Press. While learning the Goodkin written words, barred instrument parts and working on improvising, we have been identifying and talking about the 12 bar blues. In preparation for their assessment at the end of the week, we had a sorting contest today! I created cards that had I, IV or V on them and put them in packages of 13 cards (one extra to make it more tricky!) paper clipping them together. After reviewing 12 bar blues with students for the millionth time (...well it felt like it...) I put them in pairs and gave them a package of chord symbols. They were to leave their pack face down with the paper clip on. When I said, "Go!" the pairs needed to organize their cards as fast as they could in order to create the 12 bar blues pattern. When they were finished they were to raise their hands and after looking at my stopwatch, I would shout out their time. We did a second round- how many groups can do it in under 20 seconds? After a couple of tries everyone was able to do that and we tried 15 seconds, 10 seconds, etc. The best of course was when I told them that the other class' time was better and that they needed to try and beat them! I also explain to my students that there are different variations of the blues pattern such as I-I-I-I for the first four bars instead of I-IV-I-I like in Duke's Place. Our next step is bingo chips with letter names on them. Students will not only organize their 12 bar blues pattern, they will place the letter name bingo chips on each card to indicate bass notes in different keys. Should be fun! Click HERE for a FREEBIE printout of the chord symbol cards and matching study sheet! How do you teach the blues? What activities and resources do you use? - Steph
This article contains a few videos and teaching ideas for using STOMP in the music classroom
Dear TED…I love you Like many of you I have been intrigued, fascinated, amused and enthralled by countless TED talks […]
Learn how to juggle hundreds of assessments every week with a handy dandy seating chart. Music class management can be easy is you start with a plan. FREE download of seating chart templates!
As I work to empower my students, this year I added student jobs to band and orchestra. Students now get to fulfill specific roles.
Provide students access to the resources they need to be successful, and empower them with the skills they need to use those resources.
Using music in the secondary classroom is a great way to engage students, so here are some songs to use in ELA, and some ways to use them. (Blog post)
What’s your favourite way to teach the notes of the staff? I’m a member of a number of “music teacher […]
Subscribe to the Sing Play Create Free Resource Library. Music activities, worksheets, songs and games for PreK-6th grades.
Distance learning stressing you out? Learn about some FUN Zoom music lessons that you can do tomorrow for your elementary music students.
by Patrick K. Cooper and David C. Cooper ( 154 pages) This is an electronic resource for digital download. This book gives readers the knowledge they need to understand, appreciate, and create the art of radio production from broadcast to podcast. Throughout this book will be step-by-step instructions (lesson plans) for how to format and organize your show based on the type of listening experience you are trying to create. Teachers, students, hobbyists, and amateurs will learn how to craft their skills to make professional-quality broadcasts and podcasts to share with the world.
Hi everyone, this is Amanda Isaac. Middle School is a tough and fantastic age group to work with. They challenge you daily and demand your best; the most successful teachers serve that expectation and energy right back to them. Middle schoolers want to be both kids and grown up. I know I try to feed both halves of that personality split. Let them be goofy when appropriate and insist on professionalism when it’s time to work and perform. I also do as much as I can to lead them to certain things subconsciously for two reasons: 1. It’s good pedagogy and 2. Their subconscious usually doesn’t argue with me. During warm ups everyone vocalizes the fullest range of the voice (both girls and boys). We do at least one overall ascending exercise, one descending exercise, and either a range extender or a tongue twister. I teach them why we do certain vocalizes and what their instrument is as scientifically as possible; that knowledge gives them responsibility and accountability for their participation and performance in class and on stage. For instance my favorite warm up is what I call a lip bubble (aka motorboat sound). Ascending and descending the perfect fifth, either with a legato or glissando articulation, gives the students a limited range to manage or focus on. This exercise is wonderful for supporting and maintaining airflow as well as relaxation of many muscles. Occasionally adding the outstretched tongue, which can release some minor tongue tension, injects some purposeful silliness at the beginning of the rehearsal. I usually begin in E flat or E and ascend by half steps to D’. If the piano is used at this point, I try to only have the open fifth or adding the playing the do, re, and sol as a chord to get their ear active in tuning. As for voicing here’s how it works in my classroom. I teach them a short song or fragment and we sing it in multiple keys. I then bring the students up to the piano in small groups, eight to ten at a time, always of the same gender, and we sing thorough them again. I call this a Voice Check (like a doctor’s check-up). No one ever sings by themselves (which reduces anxiety) and I move around the circle "casually" listening to the individuals sing. I then ask them to identify which key felt best for them. The students know that I always take their opinion into account when deciding their voice part and that they don’t always get what they want. Their voice part is determined by how many singers there are in the ensemble, their ability to match pitch, overall tone quality, range, and level of experience. Students sing the part that fits their voice the best. What about the boys? I usually bring all of them up at once and first determine pitch matching ability and guesstimate (depending on my personal experience with the student) where they are in their vocal journey. We do the same exercise as above with modified keys. I use lots of analogies in my instruction and I teach the kids that their voice is like their foot: you can’t control when and how your foot grows, only how you use it. You wouldn’t wear a shoe that’s too big or small or not appropriate for a given activity, so your voice part is going to be as best a fit as possible for your voice where it is now. Boys in my groups sing soprano, alto or baritone. Since we do these voice checks at the beginning of the year and after each concert any student’s voice part is not fixed and can/does change during the year. This leads me to repertoire. The joy and vexation of repertoire! When possible and appropriate, I like to give the students some control of their repertoire. For our festival music I always program a folk song or “world music” type piece which may or may not be in English, an “art” piece which is typically not in English, and a spiritual or gospel style piece in English. I choose two to three pieces per category and present them to the students. We look at the judging form and talk about contrast of styles, genres, languages, and tempi and apply the criteria to the given pieces and together choose the literature. Where do I find my repertoire? The standard answer: everywhere! Repertoire lists found online, concert programs either passed to me or attended, honor choirs, youtube channels of some of my favorite children’s choirs, conferences, reading sessions, colleagues. Don’t be afraid of some SSA literature for a mixed voice chorus; some of those alto parts are in a good range for your changing voice boys. Or my favorite – if the music and/or text is so important to you to teach, make it work for your ensemble! I just rearranged the Peter, Paul, and Mary song “Light One Candle” (SATB) for my 3-part mixed choir because I knew they could handle the harmonies (arranging meant I could control the voicing and lines) and the text’s message was one I wanted them to internalize. Some of my favorite composers and arrangers in no particular order: Ruth Elaine Schram, Patrick Liebergen, Rollo Dilworth, Caldwell & Ivory, Susan Brumfield, Mary Goetze, Jim Papoulis, Henry Leck, Doreen Rao. So you’ve sorted them into voice parts, warmed them up, and have literature in hand. How to teach it? Literacy baby! The resources I use are: Directions to Literacy by Ann Eisen and Lamar Robertson (as a scope & sequence guide for me using different repertoire), One Minute Daily Theory Books 1 & 2 (Slabbinck), 185 Unison Pentatonic Exercises (Bacon) and Kodaly Exercises. They sight-read daily and their mantra is “Don’t stop and never give up.” They read an exercise rhythmically before adding the melody. When they struggle with an exercise I remind them of how far they’ve come (“better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today”). When it comes to literature, my students write solfege into their music as often as possible. Lots of repetition is key (isn’t it always...). That dovetails into management (which I admit I am struggling with this year). Keep them busy! Moving swiftly in rehearsal is good for their attention span. My students also enjoy some freedoms within boundaries when appropriate. Give them some space when you can tell when they’ve hit their limit (usually occurring outside of class) and push them to develop some drive to move through and beyond the minor drama that distracts from the goal (which is sometimes just getting through rehearsal). We teach life skills as much as we teach legato most days. When I was asked to do this blog post I surveyed my friends as to what I should cover. I’ve tried to touch on everything they’ve suggested, saving my favorite for last: “How to keep your sanity”. When you figure it out can you let me know? I try to laugh and find goosebump moments as much as possible, both in and outside of class. Sometimes it’s remembering the small epiphanies the students have or connecting with a former student who is doing well in high school or beyond. In the moment – breathe – lots of breathing!! Restrain that inner voice that wants to be negative. Invest yourself in yourself. Take care of your physical/emotional/mental/intellectual/spiritual/etc needs. Connect with colleagues. I wish you sanity and success with your squirrels. You make a difference and they know it (though they rarely show it). Amanda Isaac currently directs twelve choral groups ranging between 5th through 8th grades, four of which are at the junior high, and teaches 2nd and 3rd grade classroom music at two elementary schools in the same school district in Bakersfield, California. Her junior high choirs consistently earn superiors or higher at festivals and her students regularly participate in county, all-state, division, and national honor choirs. After earning both a BA and MA in Music from California State University Chico, Mrs. Isaac furthered her professional studies by completing her Kodály Certification from McNeese State University with Lamar Robertson, Ann Eisen, and Susan Tevis. Mrs. Isaac has given presentations at both regional and state conferences for multiple organizations and enjoys guest conducting honor choirs. In 2016 she joined the faculty of the Colorado Kodaly Institute where she teaches the Level 3 Pedagogy and Folk Song Analysis courses. Named the Kern County Music Educators Association’s Choral Educator of the Year in 2013, Mrs. Isaac is currently serving her second term as the organization’s President. She also hosts the Kern County CMEA Choral Ratings Festival and holds active memberships in the California Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, and Organization of American Kodaly Educators. Outside of academia, Mrs. Isaac is the Director of Music Ministries for First Congregational Church, UCC in Bakersfield. In her free time, she enjoys life with her wonderful husband and two young children.
This set of worksheets will guide your students through the process of creating a soundtrack to their life, intended for upper middle school or high school students. The end product will be either a poster or PowerPoint presentation. Includes a ready to print rubric as well as an editable PowerPoint rubric. Included: 4 Brainstorming worksheets for songs that represent a student's personality, important events, and people who mean the most to them 3 song brain storming worksheets 2 putting it altogether worksheets Soundtrack of My Life Poster Project & Checklist Soundtrack of My Life PowerPoint Project & Checklist Soundtrack of My Life Assessment Rubric (also includes editable PowerPoint rubric) Soundtrack of My Life Assessment Checklist (also includes editable PowerPoint checklist) ***Please note that fonts are not included in the editable PowerPoints You May Also Like Majoring in Music Bulletin Board High School Marching Band Leadership Training Program No Prep High School Band Sub Plans Motivational Band Posters High School Band Exit Tickets FAQ ♫ I have a question or a product request. How do I get in touch with you? You can use the Product Q & A tab or email me at [email protected] ♫ What grade levels do you create resources for? My resources are intended for K-12 general music teachers and high school band directors. ♫ How do I find out about New Resources and sales before anyone else? Click the ★ Follow button to follow my store and you'll get updates straight to your inbox! ♫ How can I get resources for a discount or for free? Leaving feedback on anything your purchase on TpT gives you credits to use on future purchases. Once you earn enough credits, you can redeem them at check out! Let's Keep In Touch Visit my blog themusicalrose.com Follow me on Instagram Follow me on Pinterest Follow me on Facebook Sign up for my newsletter © The Musical Rose (formerly Music with Miss W) | All Rights Reserved | License for one classroom use only. Please use the multiple licensing option for additional classrooms. #musiccrewsecondary
The basic concept of an escape room is that students work in teams to solve puzzles or answer questions to […]
The Rock Music Design Project is a fun and engaging, no prep activity for Middle School and General Music students. It can be used all year round, but is especially a fantastic end of year music class assignment. Students will enjoy showcasing their creativity designing a rock music logo for their r...
These middle school music writing prompts can be used with kids of all ages, but your junior highers should especially enjoy them.
This board game based teaching tool is great to help students remember the notes of the treble (or bass) clef. This is a cheap game of music battleship.
