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…
Book Review – Jazz Baby
Book: Jazz Baby Author: Lisa Wheeler Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie Publisher: Harcourt, Inc., 2007 “Brother’s hands tap. Sister’s hands snap. Itty-bitty Baby’s hands CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!” Jazz Baby uses body percussion, singing, scatting, and dancing. The text mentions drummers and bass players, but we do not see any instruments, only a record player. The rhythm…
Simplify Concentric Circle Games
My classroom is rather spacious, but pull out the risers and a few instruments and suddenly the movement space dwindles. Here are a few ideas for implementing exciting lessons in small spaces. Tideo and John Kanaka both have concentric circles as part of the game formation. However, I teach Tideo…
Drumming
Yesterday two groups of music education students from the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor visited my elementary music classes to observe drumming lessons and they were great! In my district, we teach twelve 25-minute classes on Fridays and see half the school. I like to use these class times to reinforce…