Review Game--Bus Driver

As I was browsing a lesson plan sharing website, I came across a great game to use for review, called the Bus Driver Review Game.

My 4th, 5th and 6th grade are about to have a quiz on music terms and notations, so this was the perfect venue.

I set the chairs up facing the board in rows of 2. The idea is to look like they are riding on a bus.

The people in the front 2 chairs are the bus drivers.

I show flashcards to them, and the first bus driver to call out the correct answer gets to remain a bus driver. The other has to go to the back of the bus on their side, and all the rest of that side moves up a seat. So now the person who was behind the loser of the first flashcard, is now a bus driver. 

It worked out so well. The kids loved it. With one class, there were a few classroom management issues in the back of the bus. (Why is it that they think you can't see them!?) But the pace of the game goes by so fast, that they weren't in the back of the bus for long.

The game reminded me a little of Around the World, that I remember playing in music class when I was about their age. Maybe in 25 years, they'll remember the Bus Driver game too!

Bangers and Pounders

On Monday I had lunch with my 8 year old at his school. As I walked past their music room I heard the kids playing all sorts of instruments; not necessarily in beat, but along with a CD playing. That's when it hit me: these kids need to play some instruments.

Singing is wonderful. Learning music theory is wonderful. But there is something about pounding sticks together or banging something noisy that makes kids smile. 

So we banged and pounded. And those kids smiled.

The Christian school where I teach has a meager assortment of instruments. But we made the most of that meager amount and the kids were never the wiser.

I introduced the song Ebeneezer Sneezer which is a great song to explore an octave and really warm up the voice and work on pitch matching. So we sang it a few times together sans instruments. Then I introduced the centers/stations.

The stations were: piano, rhythm sticks, bells/glocks, singing and instruments. 

As we rotated around the stations, I also seized the opportunity to develop proper concert form: 

                                                                         1. prepare instruments

                                                                         2. eyes on me

                                                                         3. wait for a four count lead in

                                                                         4. watch for my downbeat.

And the best part was....they got it! Hooray for success!

Epic Fail vs. Success

Wow. I completely underplanned for the Kindergarten and First Grade today. It was painful. Worse yet, was that the PTO President was my helper for the day.

I was pulling activities out of thin air and making up games on the spot. Breaking a string on my guitar wasn't helpful either...

On a positive note, the 4th grade lesson was amazing, if I do say so myself. :) We defined terms for the quiz next week, and in doing so introduced the concept of bar lines, measures, time signatures and beat, and how they all work together cohesively to create order in music.

This was my analogy:

Our homes are not built like gymnasiums. We have walls that divide the space into rooms. The walls are not the room itself, instead they separate the space into rooms. The room is the space inside the walls.

Music has walls that divide it also. The walls are called bar lines. They divide the music into measures. The measure is the space inside/between the bar lines.

Analogy again: Your parents set the rules as far as how many people live in each bedroom.

In music, the parent is called a time signature. It tells us how many beats are allowed in each room, or each measure. The music must follow the rule of the time signature.

We then went on to compose measures of rhythm using whole notes, half notes and quarter notes. I think they got it! At the same time, it also helps immensely that I have already taught the lesson several times and finally have worked the kinks out.  Sometimes I wish I could have a do-over with the first class. 

Loud and Soft--patting the floor, circle time

For Kindergarten and 1st grade, the first unit is Loud and Soft. Think about it. What if all kindergarteners and first graders understood the concept of loud and soft?? Wow! What a difference it would make in our homes and in the classrooms! So this is an extremely important first concept for them to grasp.

To start the unit, we are going to do the Circle Floor Pat, (this is a glorified name for "simon says sit on the floor and pat the floor")  :)
Here's what we did:

Have students sit on the floor in a circle--criss cross applesauce. Lead them in patting the floor with different forcefulness levels: very soft like touching cotton candy (or petting a puppy), hard like squishing a bug, and in the middle--normal. Vary between these and use the words hard and softly to describe how much force they should use when patting the floor.

The girls loved the "petting-the-puppy" soft pats and the boys loved the "squishing-the-bugs" hard pat. It was a win-win situation!

Day one---Done!

First day of school went great!

4th, 5th and 6th grade:
Gave each student a blank nametag. Along with their name, they had to draw the note that matched their personality. These were the descriptions:
    Whole Note Personality~ One who enjoys sitting back and watching.  One who can do one activity for a long time without being bored.
    Quarter Note Personality~ One who goes along with everyone else. Is very dependable and steady.
    Eighth Note Personality~ One who gets bored very easily. Doesn't like to sit still very long. Enjoys being where all the action is.

It was amazing to see them think about themselves in that way. Can't wait to see if they really who they think they are!

2nd and 3rd grade:
Sang 2 different Name Game Songs. The favorite was Shoo-li-loo. We also sang Down By The Bay. They loved the guitar accompaniment!

Kinder and 1st:
Sang Make New Friends, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Came up with lots of "on the fly" stuff to keep our hands busy. :)

Now to make plans for next week. I have just enough time as their sub to complete one entire unit. I'm thinking of doing Lego Rhythms with 4/5/6, Call and Response Songs with 2/3 and Loud/Soft with K/1.

I keep reminding myself, Fundamentals! Don't forget to stick with the Fundamentals!

Guess who's back, back again!

Well, this is the year that all 4 kids are in school. Amazing.

But now, what to do?

I am back in the music classroom as a long term sub at a local elementary school!

It's kindergarten through 6th grade. Where to start? The regular teacher is on maternity leave, and hasn't had time to set up the classroom or her grade book yet, so I'll start there. :) Next, I'd better get crackin', because they called me with 24 hours notice! Here are my thoughts:

First day of school  priorities:

1. Set up classroom procedures (how to enter/exit classroom, classroom etiquette, etc.)

2. Songs. You have to sing on your first day of music!! But what songs to sing??? Hmm.. I'll have to think about that one. Where are my John Feierabend books?

3. Name Game. I've got alot of students' names to learn.

4. Music Trivia. Everyone likes to go home knowing something new.

That should do it.  I'm so excited!

Practicing Piano without a Keyboard

One of the most visited posts of this blog was on how to practice piano when you don't own a piano. I believe the title of that post was Praciting Piano...sans Keyboard.

My family is an Army family and we move around quite often. In fact, we are moving in a mere 3 weeks to a state that is 6 states away. While that's not moving overseas, it is still a move ,nonetheless, that requires having all our household goods packed up and shipped off. Our piano will be included in that packing and shipping procedure. So while we are in limbo, we have to problem solve this dilemma of not having a keyboard to practice on, as well.

So here are the possible solutions I've come up with for our family:

1. Practice at Nana and Papa's house. They have a piano and we'll be there for a night...but only 1 night.

2. Take a week or so off from piano...but its SO hard to get back into a routine once you lose momentum.

3. Take our cheapo electronic keyboard with us in the van...that will not help the 18 hour van ride go well, though.

4. and final thought: Practice on our piano until the morning that they put it on the truck, bring the piano books along with us and have them do the finger work on a counter or table at a restaurant or hotel, window shop at a piano store along the route, then pull out the cheapo keyboard once we get to the new house and are waiting for our household goods.

#4 might be the best idea for us and for our sanity.