If we were to walk into an active music room, we would see students singing songs, playing games, moving, and playing instruments, among many other things. Where does writing fit into an active music room? In addition to copying notation, how can we use writing notation as a part of the learning process so students are equipped to showcase the results of their learning? Today we’ll explore possible ways to go deeper with writing activities in an active music room, using a framework called Depth of Knowledge. All the resources in this blog post will be available to download at the bottom of the ..read more

In music education, the learning phases of preparation, presentation, and practice are unique to the Kodaly framework of teaching and learning. As a part of the preparation phase, teachers lead students through a process of experiencing the target musical pattern without the Western theory musical label or notation. Physical preparation is a key component of this experience-based learning sequence. Today we’ll explore possible ways to explore rhythmic and melodic elements through the lens of physical preparation activities.      Why Use Preparation? The preparation process begi ..read more

One of the main barriers to including creative processes in elementary general music is that there never seems to be enough time! Despite the fact that most music teachers say they value the creative arts, the reality of teaching music is that there is limited time in a lesson, and limited lessons in a year. We spend our time in active music rooms joyfully singing, playing, speaking, moving, reading, writing. It can sometimes feel as though creative processes are one more thing to cram into an already-full lesson block. In this podcast episode, Anne Mileski and I talked about the value of usin ..read more

Listening lessons can provide beautiful opportunities for a breath of fresh air in the music room! At times, these may look like using activities that are, on the surface, “just for fun.” However, they add an element of curiosity, imagination, and artistry that can flow into our regularly-scheduled curricula.  In this podcast episode I shared thoughts on “one-off” lessons that are not connected more broadly to the curricular sequence. One of the functions of a “one-off” lesson, in addition adding a fresh activity into the routine, is that there are times we need breathing room in our teac ..read more

In this post we looked at why we need Universal Design in the music classroom. In this post we considered some ways we can add more opportunities or engagement for all our students. Today we’ll look at how we present information in the classroom, and the space we make for students to perceive and comprehend that information. How do we present information to students? How do we ask them to take in the information? How do we ask them to use the information? How can we offer our information in different forms so that students with variables in backgrounds and learning preferences can comprehend t ..read more

One of the most effective musicianship and classroom management strategies I know of is to bring students into the classroom musically. When we begin the warm up routine with an active musical entrance procedure, students are immediately immersed in the tone of the lesson. Active musicing as an entrance procedure can take many different forms. Students might enter the room listening to music, they might enter speaking, they could enter with body percussion, they might copy the teacher’s movements, or they might sing. Today we’ll focus in on songs for entering the classroom, specifically geared ..read more

When a new school year starts, many teachers want to begin making music right away, and actively exploring musical concepts from last year and moving toward new musical understandings. When we start the school year, where might we begin musically? How will we know what students remember from last year? How will we keep music class active, while reviewing previously learned concepts? Let’s look at a few ways to review and assess at the beginning of the year. We’ll clarify what assessment is (and isn’t) in this context, we’ll talk about choosing what to assess, the assessment process, and docume ..read more

In many situations, elementary general music teachers are required to tie their lessons back to the National Core Arts Standards or local standards for music education. In the case of local standards, these have most often developed in reference to the National Core Arts standards. For some of us, aligning our active music experiences to the National Standards can feel tricky. This may feel like one of the highest priorities for our administrators to see in our lesson plans. Yet, it might be an area that was overlooked in teacher training courses. Today we’ll look at the National Standards for ..read more

There are times we come across a song or rhyme we know students would enjoy, but we might not be sure where it fits in the curriculum. How can we step back and imagine musical possibilities? What if we were to treat songs like musical prompts? In this post we talked about some ways to explore one rhyme with several different pedagogical lenses.  Today we’ll do the same for a song, Sea Shell. Here’s an example for how one song might be used for three different pedagogical outcomes and three different age groups. This also shows how we might approach the song in different areas of lear ..read more

So many of us are interested in using popular music, but we’re unsure of how to tie the music back to musical concepts we’re teaching in the curriculum. What’s the connection between our curricula and songs that are not from the folk song tradition? Here are some ideas for using pop music in upper elementary classes. All of these ideas come from the 2021 - 2022 curriculum inside The Planning Binder. We’ll look at a few selections for upper elementary, as well as some activities for older beginners. Let’s jump in!    Concepts and Songs Lists One of the biggest time-saving documents w ..read more