Book: Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band Author: Kwame Alexander Illustrator: Tim Bowers Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press, 2011 Imagine my excitement when I came across this picture book gem written by the Newbery medal-winning author Kwame Alexander. In the Q&A on his website, he mentioned it only took him two…
The Rewards of a Retreat
I recently spent two weeks at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains working on a project. About ten people at a time journey to Hambidge, where the staff and natural surroundings provide the peace and solitude needed to focus. Several nights…
My first book!
If you happened across my blog and wondered why there weren’t any new posts for awhile, it’s probably because I’ve been writing for children. I’m still teaching elementary music full-time, but I’m also pursuing my love of writing. There’s even a book to show for it! And that’s not all….
Teaching Form to the Very Young
Kindergarten is a year of preparation. It’s a year to teach a variety of repertoire and allow students to experience a mixture of songs, games, instruments, folk dances, and other activities. Every concept seems to stem from the idea of same or different: singing vs. speaking, fast vs. slow, loud vs….
Differentiation Part 3 – Recorders
In a few weeks my fifth graders will dust off their recorders and begin using them in music class again. Many of them loved playing recorders in fourth grade, but some of them struggled. We spend the bulk of our time on whole class recorder instruction, but I also offer…
Differentiation part 2
Several years ago I wrote a post titled Differentiation in the Elementary Music Classroom. It was one of my first experiences providing leveled worksheets for my students that would be appropriate for their varying levels. Today’s post takes this a step further. Each time my students complete a worksheet in class, a few…
Effective Stations in Kindergarten
Everyone talks about setting up stations in elementary music classes, but some of the materials I’ve perused don’t seem to further a Kodály curriculum. Since I basically see my students once a week for 50 minutes, I have to be choosy about how we spend our class time. That brings us to the topic of…
Listening for ta-dimi
My third graders just learned ta-dimi, an eighth note followed by two sixteenths, so we listened to “Fossils” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns this week. My students have heard this piece in the past. In second grade they heard it and read the first four beats of rhythm: takadimi…
Post Office Rhythm Game
It’s the beginning of another school year and time to review, review, review! All those previous concepts must be reinforced before preparing new ones. I put a new spin on a game Lamar Robertson taught in Kodály training called Post Office. There are three free sets for download: quarter and eighth…
Choosing Elementary Choir Repertoire
Each Fall semester, my after-school choir performs six pieces, give or take. The choir is made up of fourth and fifth graders and meets for approximately fifty minutes once a week. Students have the opportunity to perform a variety of pieces and experience musical training beyond the classroom. Program selections…