Music Teachers Chatboard

wayne We have music prior to our morning news over our closed circuit TV/intercom. I do not have control of the selections played...the office staff does...they play a mixture...patriotic, pop, music for holidays, etc. They will do something specific if I request it. An announcement comes over our intercom every morning for everyone to pause for a momen...See More

Jan 15, 2015

Mrs H We use 3 tone bells - years ago I lent the office 3 of my chromatic bells that I don't use as often and a mallet. The kids play Db-Gb-Bb, Bb-Gb-Db at the start of morning announcements. (We're audio only for announcements.) We're a K-5 building, and the announcers are all 5th graders. I'm the announcer adviser, as well. On Veterans' Day, I had a gr...See More

Jan 16, 2015

Just wondering....and don't know who else to bounce this off of. We have a few students in our school who misbehave all the time. They have been referred for this behavior....now, it's not just small things....today it was 'I will kill you and stab your eyes out." He said this to a class mate. this was a 2nd grader. So the teacher referred thi...See More

what does your admin do?

by anon for this one

Dec 11, 2014

Bev Iris If you aren't getting support from on site admins, time to either get the Union involved (YOU have the right to be in a least restrictive environment too!) As do your students.

This kid needs help big time.

Speak to your Union rep if you must.

Or the school psychologist, if you're lucky enough to have one on site, and d...See More

Jan 13, 2015

anon reply It is also interesting what happens when the parents of the 'impacted' students being up the concern.

As far as breaks - those should be plan written with some type of constraints, where student goes, how long may stay and etc. Log the info and look for patterns.

Video in the classroom/school may have State by State guidelines to...See More

Jan 15, 2015

Anyone do Feierabend's Keep the Beat on a regular basis?

by 3rd year

Jan 9, 2015

Hi all,

I love Feierabend's Keep the Beat CD and his idea of having students listen and follow you making different beat motions. He does this for his First Steps curriculum every lesson.

I love it. I agree with it. But my kids are not enjoying it. I stopped doing it in some classes because they roll their eyes or sigh when I say...See More

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3rd year GREAT suggestions! Thank you!

On 1/09/15, change it up after K wrote: > Instead of just on different parts of the body - - use rhythm > sticks, march the beat, use drums on the beat, tap chinet > paper plates to the beat, draw "beat lines" according to the > meter (triangles, squares), point the beat of sheets of >...See MoreGREAT suggestions! Thank you!

On 1/09/15, change it up after K wrote: > Instead of just on different parts of the body - - use rhythm > sticks, march the beat, use drums on the beat, tap chinet > paper plates to the beat, draw "beat lines" according to the > meter (triangles, squares), point the beat of sheets of > seasonal icons, conducting beat patterns, bouncing balls to > the beat, bouncing balls in meter patterns to the beat, > passing type games to the beat, hand clapping partner > routines to the beat, clap rhythmic ostinatos to fit the > music rather than just the beat, pass the rhythmic ostinatos > around the room in small groups, move the rhythmic ostinatos > to different areas ala hand jives, pass the rhythmic > ostinatos back and forth between woods and metals with hand > percussion. > > Find kids who are really secure in the beat and let them be > the leaders who choose the places to put the beat. > > Choose a sequence of where the beat is (lap, clap, snap, > head) and do 8 or each, 4 of each, 2 of each, 1 of each > > By the end of Kindergarten, 99&37; of my kids can keep the beat > pretty successfully in group experiences following the > teacher as a leader. > > Second grade kids are going to find continuing to do this in > exactly the same ways pretty silly after a while. > > Also - about 1 minute is long enough for this. 3 and 4 > minute songs are just too long for most kids to care about > keeping the beat. > > > > > ar wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I love Feierabend's Keep the Beat CD and his idea of having >> students listen and follow you making different beat >> motions. He does this for his First Steps curriculum every >> lesson. >> >> I love it. I agree with it. But my kids are not enjoying >> it. I stopped doing it in some classes because they roll >> their eyes or sigh when I say it's time to do it. I was >> doing it K-2, but I think I'm going to cut it out. >> >> Anyone doing it successfully? How do you do it? Do your >> kids like it? >> >> I'm pretty animated and fast-paced when we do it. I make >> silly faces and I move the beat all over my body. >> >> A lot of them tune out during the song and stop following > me. >> >> Suggestions? I love the idea of doing this every week, >> since it's only 3-4 minutes long and allows them to hear a >> lot of great classical music. >> >> Thanks.

Jan 10, 2015

Anne I do, and I do it with all grade levels, but I mix it up! I don't exclusively use the music from that CD. At the end of each class, I put on any kind of music that has a consistent, moderately fast beat, and we keep the beat while we listen to the song. It's a good end to every lesson. I use some Raffi, some story songs, some jazz, some folk dance ...See More

Jan 12, 2015

Mike & Monica's Music Room online music concept videos

by Kathleen

Jan 10, 2015

This is a great site for all elementary grade kids to learn music concepts. Please visit the site and watch the music concept videos then (important) click on the + for each video to indicate your approval.

Two music teachers - Mike & Monica - have teamed up to teach music concepts such as harmony, tempo, syncopation, form, melody. Cl...See More

Miss Friday...K only?

by 3rd year

Jan 8, 2015

Hello Miss Friday!

It's been awhile since we talked Kodaly sequencing.

Let me just say that I'm having a really hard time with it.

I think I'm drowning in my resources.

Right now I'm using American Methodology, The Music Effect, Kodaly Today, and Feierabend.

Some align with each other, some don't. It se...See More

Not Miss Friday, but... In my experience, Kindergarten needs just a few things, almost a "pre-Kodaly" curriculum.

Lots and lots of experiences keeping a steady beat. Pat it, clap, march it, play it on drums, play it on boomwhackers, bounce balls, tap it on your head, etc.

Lots and lots of experiences distinguishing beat from rhythm. Sing a song...See MoreIn my experience, Kindergarten needs just a few things, almost a "pre-Kodaly" curriculum.

Lots and lots of experiences keeping a steady beat. Pat it, clap, march it, play it on drums, play it on boomwhackers, bounce balls, tap it on your head, etc.

Lots and lots of experiences distinguishing beat from rhythm. Sing a song, "echo" the song on a hand drum by playing its rhythm, etc.

Lots and lots of experiences to find singing voice (talk, sing, whisper, etc.), to match pitch (hello echoes, ghost wails, fire sirens, slide whistles, to sing echo songs, etc.

Lots of experiences using proper musical describer vocabulary: up down, loud soft, high low, fast slow, etc.

Invest in these foundational things in kindergarten and start the true Kodaly work in Grade 1 (quarter note and rest, paired eighth notes, SM and SLM songs).

Grade 2: Add half, whole and dotted half notes. DRM, DRMSL Grade 3: Add sixteenth notes (4 to a beat), High do, low la and so Grade 4 and 5: Add syncopation, dotted quarter eights, eighth two sixteenths, 6/8 and full DRMFSLTD

That's one possible sequence that's pretty common. But, I wouldn't jump into too much in K. At least in my area, most K kids don't come to school with the necessary pre-requisite skills to successfully navigate the beginning of a Kodaly curriculum.

On 1/08/15, 3rd year wrote: > Hello Miss Friday! > > It's been awhile since we talked Kodaly sequencing. > > Let me just say that I'm having a really hard time with it. > > I think I'm drowning in my resources. > > Right now I'm using American Methodology, The Music Effect, > Kodaly Today, and Feierabend. > > Some align with each other, some don't. It seems like > they're all chock-full of great ideas...but none of them are > in a daily/weekly sequence, so I'm having a hard time > fitting them together. > > I have a list of all my songs for K and of my objectives for K. > > If you have the time, could we move off this board into > e-mail communication? > > I'd like to try to put together a Kindergarten curriculum, > with your guidance, if your offer to help still stands. > > I understand if you don't have the time. > > THANKS! >

Jan 8, 2015

Miss Friday @ 3rd Year - Certainly my offer still stands. And we can make a switch to email, which would be better for things like documents and longer communication. My email is: [email removed]

On the good news side: You know you have tons of great material, so if something just doesn't work with the kids, replacing it will be easy. The bad news is:...See More

Jan 8, 2015

Online music games for elementary

by Linda

Jan 4, 2015

I have just been hired to teach elementary music to grades 3 and 4. Thee students have no background in music. I will have access to the computer lab a couple of days each week. Does anyone have any suggestions for good music web sites, games, downloads, etc that will help me introduce and build on music concepts, reading music, playing the recorde...See More

Garland/GA Musictechteacher.com is GREAT. Huge variety of games.

Jan 5, 2015

lis Also, Quavermusic.com is fabulous! The kids have to sign in with a password, but once they've established that there is a lot to explore. You would want to go on there first to be familiar with how everything works in case they have questions. There are dvd's you can buy to enhance your program. I have never seen anything as well done as this. They...See More

Jan 7, 2015

How do you handle dust? I have a pretty huge room, with lots of tables, cabinets, and stuff everywhere. I don't think maintenance dusts at all. There's dust everywhere!

Right now I don't wipe down anything. Do I need to be my own room's janitor and wipe and dust every day?

My room is twice the size of a teacher's classroom...that...See More

DUST!

by 3rd year

Dec 18, 2014

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Martha You probably need to just handle it yourself.

n 12/18/14, 3rd year wrote: > How do you handle dust? I have a pretty huge room, with > lots of tables, cabinets, and stuff everywhere. I don't > think maintenance dusts at all. There's dust everywhere! > > Right now I don't wipe down anything. Do I need to be my > own room's...See More

Dec 18, 2014

DonnaR/CA On 12/18/14, Martha wrote: > You probably need to just handle it yourself.

For your instruments, keep a dust cloth around. Cover as many as you can with towels, sheets, or whatever. If you have garage/yard sales or thrift stores in the area, those are a good source for cheap old towels and sheets.

If you have a mom that loves...See More

Dec 30, 2014

Winter song suggestions??

by Mrs H

Nov 13, 2014

Hello friends! For my holiday concert, I need suggestions for songs to sing at the end as a sing-along with the audience. I'm looking for NON Christmas songs. We have done Frosty the Snowman for about 15 years, and I am just plain tired of it! Jingle Bells is out, since kindergarten is singing it. I'm considering Let It Snow. Can you think of anyth...See More

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lis Have a holly jolly cmas and we wish you a merry cmas and silver bells is fun with the echo.

11/13/14, Mrs H wrote: > Hello friends! For my holiday concert, I need suggestions > for songs to sing at the end as a sing-along with the > audience. I'm looking for NON Christmas songs. We have done > Frosty the Snowman for about 15 ye...See More

Nov 19, 2014

DonnaR/CA On 11/19/14, lis wrote:

> 11/13/14, Mrs H wrote: >> Hello friends! For my holiday concert, I need suggestions >> for songs to sing at the end as a sing-along with the >> audience.

It's Sleigh Ride with choreography -- go to YouTube and look up "Sleigh Ride", then HSES Christmas Sing-Along version. (...See More

Dec 30, 2014

Need a name for my mallet group!

by JazzyGal

Dec 1, 2014

I teach elementary and have started a mallet ensemble for my kiddos but we need a name! Some of our pieces will be from Walt Hampton's Hot Marimba and Marimba Mojo books, but we'll also play some tunes from the Orff volumes and things I've picked up at workshops and conferences along the way. A few names my kids have come up with so far are...
...See More

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bec When I had an instrumental group (recorders and Orff) my husband thought we should call the the "Instrumental Music Performers : IMPS. It was a very fitting title for them!

Dec 3, 2014

lis I had a friend who named her group "Treblemakers"!

On 12/03/14, bec wrote: > When I had an instrumental group (recorders and Orff) my > husband thought we should call the the "Instrumental Music > Performers : IMPS. It was a very fitting title for them!

Dec 12, 2014