Over the 17 years I have taught elementary music, I have learned so much about my profession, about the students, about music, and about education. Today, I'm blogging about the things I didn't learn from a workshop, from a book, or from a blog post, but instead just from experience! #1: You will lose your voice...and if you're not careful, you can damage it forever. My first year of teaching, I lost my voice EVERY single weekend. It shocked me how much I had to use my voice as a music teacher: singing, giving directions, managing my class. I wasn't expecting to barely be able t…
Over the 17 years I have taught elementary music, I have learned so much about my profession, about the students, about music, and about education. Today, I'm blogging about the things I didn't learn from a workshop, from a book, or from a blog post, but instead just from experience! #1: You will lose your voice...and if you're not careful, you can damage it forever. My first year of teaching, I lost my voice EVERY single weekend. It shocked me how much I had to use my voice as a music teacher: singing, giving directions, managing my class. I wasn't expecting to barely be able …
I'm excited to have a guest blogger today! Tamarie Sayger will be writing about a game to help incorporate the Kodály philosophy into the band classroom. You can read more about her at the end of this post; thanks to Tamarie for sharing her expertise! As someone who has been lucky enough to teach elementary music as well as secondary band, I love finding ways to incorporate Kodály philosophy into instrumental instruction. Kodály training taught me how valuable different aspects of music education, other than just performance, are for children. This article explains how I would use The Env…
Here in the states, we've just begun our second half of the year, but I was reminded recently about how our friends in Australia are starting school right about now since they just finished summer. Because of this, TeachersPayTeachers is throwing a big sale on January 20 and 21! Many stores, including mine, will be 20% off, and then you can get an additional 8% off with the code START16. Since we are starting our second half of the year, and Australians are at the beginning of their year, I thought I'd write about resources that can help with planning--whether you are starting your yea…
So, you've taught students how to read music, using rhythm, solfa, and letter names, and now you want to have them compose. But where to begin? Just this year, I've really started delving into composition projects with my students, so I thought I'd share some ideas. Up until now, I think I've been so focused on teaching students how to read that I didn't feel like I had time to have them compose. However, after doing some reading on the subject and attending some great workshops, I realize that composition projects are doable in the general music classroom, even if you onl…
So, you've taught students how to read music, using rhythm, solfa, and letter names, and now you want to have them compose. But where to begin? Just this year, I've really started delving into composition projects with my students, so I thought I'd share some ideas. Up until now, I think I've been so focused on teaching students how to read that I didn't feel like I had time to have them compose. However, after doing some reading on the subject and attending some great workshops, I realize that composition projects are doable in the general music classroom, even if you onl…
This past fall, my fifth graders performed a program based on the book, "Wangari's Trees of Peace," by Jeanette Winter (click the picture to view the book on Amazon.) The book is a really inspiring true story about a girl from Kenya who plants trees to replenish ones which had been cut down. It's a great story about perseverance and courage! Today, I'm blogging with a summary of songs and dances I used for the program, as well as scenery ideas. I divided all of the text in the book into one or two sentences, with 26 or so narrators reading lines and music and dances inters…
This past fall, my fifth graders performed a program based on the book, "Wangari's Trees of Peace," by Jeanette Winter (click the picture to view the book on Amazon.) The book is a really inspiring true story about a girl from Kenya who plants trees to replenish ones which had been cut down. It's a great story about perseverance and courage! Today, I'm blogging with a summary of songs and dances I used for the program, as well as scenery ideas. I divided all of the text in the book into one or two sentences, with 26 or so narrators reading lines and music and dances inters…
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