Tag: band
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Did you know that misbehavior can inspire SPECTACULAR music lessons?
Hear me out…. some of my BEST music lessons have come from watching student “misbehavior,” and this is my plea for YOU to consider letting student misbehavior inspire your lesson ideas. First, a story about hula-hoops: As a new teacher with a donated set of hula hoops, my original lesson idea was to scatter the…
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Innovative Songwriting Strategies to Enrich your Music Class
“Just start songwriting!” said the music teacher to a class full of scared, confused, and overwhelmed middle schoolers. Big surprise – it did NOT work. Teaching songwriting is COMPLICATED. The possibilities are ENDLESS and students often don’t even know where to begin. To curb this challenge, music teachers need to scaffold their songwriting lessons so…
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POWERFUL Social-Emotional Learning Activities for the Music Classroom
Students today are facing challenges that we teachers can’t fully imagine. They are growing up in a post-pandemic, social-media saturated, rapidly changing world. Now more than EVER, we need to give these children skills to cope with these new and evolving obstacles. Here are some ways to incorporate social-emotional lessons into music class. Project Idea…
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Indispensable advice for auditioning your music students.
Auditioning is stressful for students of any age. As a music teacher, there are some some things that you can do to help your students with this process. Here are some ideas! Tip #1: Make sure students know EXACTLY what will be asked of them at the audition. Not only does this give your students…
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SPELLBINDING Music Class Activities to Embrace the Magic of Autumn!
The taste of pumpkin spice lattes. The smell of fallen leaves and bonfires. The excitement of the impending holidays in the air. As Autumn creeps into the last days of summer – we music teachers can begin to consider music class activities to embrace the MAGIC of the season! Here are some AWESOME project ideas…
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Outside Activities for Music Class!
Hooray! It’s May! In every single class last week, my students asked me their favorite spring question; “Can we please go outside?” I also adore going outside, but I like to keep our outdoor activities musical when possible. Here are some of my “go-tos” for when I take my music students outside! 1. Rhythm Dictation;…
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Unpopular opinion, but POP MUSIC is worth learning about in music class.
“Pop music isn’t worth learning about! Focus on the greats!” “It just isn’t real music.” “It all sounds the same!” As a music teacher, you are bound to hear some version of these comments at some point from well-meaning people who don’t believe that pop music has merit. While these comments about the inferiority of…
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Summer Themed Projects for the Music Classroom!
Have your music students mentally checked out for the school year? Have YOU mentally checked out for the school year? Let’s face it, this time of year EVERYBODY is ready for summer. It’s time for warm days, beach trips, sleeping in, etc. Here are some fun music education projects to celebrate the impending summer months!…
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Quick tricks to get your music students SINGING!
Some students walk in the door singing and dancing. If only that were the case for everyone. Some students, believe it or not, hate singing at first. As music teachers, it is our job to try and turn this around. Here are some ways that I have found to help get these students out of…
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The most common thing I hear from other music teachers is….
“I have no idea how to plan for so many grade levels.” This is the plight of the specials teacher. Currently, I teach 9 grade levels (k-8), run two choirs, and vocal music direct my school’s musical. My first year of teaching, it felt nearly impossible to plan for so many grade levels. But it…