March from the Nutcracker Stretchy Band Activity

 Yes, I love the Nutcracker! There is so much fun to play with that is also a ballet and.. CLASSICAL music that children have most likely heard before! 

Here is a fun stretchy band activity for you and your students to enjoy! 

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Enjoy!

Creepy Carrots

I struggle with all the Halloween themed things I used to do and no longer include as I have students who do not celebrate Halloween. I love spooky season and incorporate spiders, monsters, and other "Halloween-adjacent" activities into this time of year but always with a curricular focus. And if I don't have it, I make it. My third graders learn recorder every year and this year's group is just a wee bit behind other years, for whatever reason. Wonderful singers, and wonderful musicians, just not picking up on recorder as quickly as some other groups. So, I needed a quick piece to put together and have always loved the book, Creepy Carrots! Get the full slide set, with the animated book, here (free!). I wrote this yesterday and did the activity with two classes, who walked out the door singing the tune- love when that happens! Easy, accessible, and diversified for students who need to work on EG or BAG passages, or they can play everything, BAGE! 

Enjoy!

If You Find a Leaf

This is such a beautiful book by Aimee Sicuro! The slides are available (FREE!) here!

Alien Q and A

Improvisation is essentially spontaneous composition. The art and act of creating an expressive musical statement in real time adhering to some kind of structure.

 Question and Answer is a common improvisation technique in music.  In the world of Orff Schulwerk we begin with imitation and exploration of an idea or concept. Then we add label and improvise using that idea and concept. 

When students are ready to improvise, where do we begin? 

I like to begin with this:

Teach song and step the beat in place.

Sing and walk the beat. 

While singing, walk to face a partner.

Show 8 fingers and do a "countdown" demonstrating rhythmic alien language. 

Something like this:

With partner, decide who is going first (rock, paper, scissors to determine "winner"). Show fingers again, first partner improvises over the 8 beats using alien language. Second partner answers them with their 8 beats. Don't worry if they are not truly performing question and answer yet - it will come. 

Repeat several times before defining question and answer technique. 

Repeat game with question and answer technique.

Repeat activity with body percussion. Consider transferring to non-pitched percussion.

Hope you enjoy!

Candy! Candy! Rondo

 December is a month full of holidays and is a perfect month to talk about sugar! 

This is an International Candy Rondo idea focusing on first American candies and then involving the students in an exploration of international candies. Thanks to my friend Tammy for creating this idea- she created this as a Project-Based Learning activity with her students so you could easily have your students research a cultures candy and/or treats. 

Click here to make a copy of the google slides. 

Enjoy!

My Heart is Like a Zoo

 My friend Ardith is a lovely music educator with a passion for children and music education.  Many thanks to her for giving me permission to share this oh-so-lovely lesson today!  Perfect for Valentines Day! 

Read the book and insert the pages after every three animals. This is SO adorable! 

The full google slide is here.

Enjoy! 

Remote/Online/E-Learning and Hands -Off Dances

There are many reasons schools may choose to close to on-site learning and move to remote learning. In times of flu or illness running rampant through our petri dishes, um ... schools we need to be careful about hand holding, instrument sharing, and taking care of our physical health. At present, COVID - 19 is spreading around the world. 

Friends teaching overseas have already been teaching online for months as their schools closed in January.  Some school systems around the US are closed and others making preparations and plans for possible closings. Teachers are being asked to create lessons students can access from home to continue learning.  
This list is just a quick overview of some possibilities - many more exist and it has been amazing to see the camaraderie of music teachers joining together to help one another continue our students music education. Please add to the conversation - read on and you will see there are many places and spaces for you to join, ask questions, and find answers. If you are not on facebook and cannot access the groups, leave a comment here and I will post your question/comment on fb.  Stay healthy, everyone!

Some of us will stay teaching in our schools and the rules and restrictions around contact, sharing instruments, etc. will be important to consider, particularly in our classrooms where so much of what we do is movement related.

Hands Off Dances/Movement

Click this link for a playlist of many no-touch dances. Please let me know what others you have and I will add them to the playlist. As of right now there are 35 videos. 

For others, we will move to remote/online/e-learning formats where our students will be home and we will be using a platform to teach from. Our school uses Powerschool, and if we go to a remote format, we will direct students and parents to Powerschool and to our existing pages where we can record videos, add documents, and add links to Seesaw, youtube, etc.
Some teachers will use existing subscriptions (such as Musicplayonline.com, Seesaw, etc.) and others will be able to access some new ones - check out this googledoc of Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions Due To School Closings.

Remote/Online/E-Learning

So, how to teach elementary music online?  

• First look at what is already done you might be able to use.  

Google doc with  FREE General Music Distance Learning Resources & Activities

Short, Sweet, Specific
This is the message from many teacher friends overseas who have been remote/online/E-Learning for months. Will students receive lessons in an email or online platform your school uses, will you need paper/pencil activities or online activities? Lots of things to think about here:
Resources for Teaching Online (Not Music Education Specific)

Facebook Groups - Ask Questions, Get Answers, Info, Comments

• Music Educators Creating Online Learning
• E-Learning in Music Education (includes 10-minute Master Classes on specific elements of remote/e-learning)
• Feierabend Fundaments Virtual Schooling Resources Google Doc

Ways to Create Lessons with "Active" Teaching (Students See Your Face)

• Video yourself teaching a lesson, upload to:

YouTube (free) Playlist of  Ted-Ed Music for students here.
Vimeo (free)
Seesaw, (also ready made lessons by music teachers) 
Google Classroom (free)
Edpuzzle "Make Any Video Your Lesson" (free)
Flipgrid (free) article here on 20 Ways to Use Flipgrid in Music Education

• Create screen recordings - "how to" activities and websites. 

Screencast-o-matic, free
Tutorial:

Screencastify free up to 5 minutes of video, Chrome Extension (Use chrome web browser) 
Tutorial:

Other Sites to Look At/Make Plans/Activities/Lessons:

• Chrome Music Lab 

Tutorial for Elementary Aged Students:

• Incredibox  Free lesson here from Midnight Music.

• Looper App - Superlooper

Sample Lessons or Lessons YOU Can Use

• Online Lesson using Children's Literature

My friend, Kathy, teaches at Seisen International School in Tokyo and while her school has been out she has continued the learning. She happily shares a very successful lesson we can model using A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.

  

Her school uses Seesaw but anyone can see this. I love how everything is included right in the Seesaw app!  This could also be done as a youtube or vimeo video with a link to materials in a google doc. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Let's Make a Seashell Ostinato Activity

The New Victory Theater in NYC 

This amazing theater has canceled it's amazing line up of shows, but is bringing lessons for ages 6-12 direct to us at home. The first week (March 16-20) is Percussion Week complete with Body Percussion, stepping, and a bucket or two! Their videos are very kid-friendly:

Teaching Music Digital Learning

Looking for something by grade levels to see what someone else does? Check out this great resource by David Row of Make Moments Matter. 

Music Teacher youtube Videos

Laura and Daniel are music teachers in Hong Kong and are experts now at remote learning. They have a HUGE selection of videos to choose from and they are so clever!  They deliver content through the home learning section of their music blog. 
 Here are two of their videos.:

Brahms Storm

Loose Tooth Music Note Reading

Mariana teaches in Tokyo, here is a link to her many videos.  Here are a couple of her wonderful videos:

Grade 1 Lesson 5:  Rhythm and Movement

Grade 4 Recorder Lullaby

Krista teaches in Hong Kong and she has several videos students can watch and write a response to - here are a couple:

Instrument Game Show - Do You Know Your Instrument Sounds? 

Singing with Solfege -"Hey, Hey! Look at Me!" (Mi-So Edition)

Other Possibilities 

Che Che Koolay - folk song (traditional) from Ghana

Students learn the song and then can play along with various parts - this would need short directions such as, "Find something at home that makes a shaking sound and play the shaker part when you see the four ta (quarter)notes." Or, "Find two pencils or wooden spoons to try playing the rhythm stick part when you see the rhythm rest titi rest ta."

Have students make connections to Ghana in this short video - chocolate, gold, and poisonous snakes - COOL!! Start the video at 1:00 (advertising before that).

Can Music Bring Joy When Times are Tough? Watch, Listen, and Respond

Check out this googledoc of a sample watch/listen/respond using google forms. Easy to recreate and so perfect for upper elementary to help them deal with the uncomfortable emotions surrounding the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Let's Dance

Play along using a fitball (students could use a pillow on a chair and wooden spoons or chopsticks instead of drum sticks)

Hello Echo Rhythm Song

More from Kathy in Tokyo

Jump, Jump, Everyone:

Kye Kye Kule Movement and Song:

What other ideas do you have?  Please join the conversation and let's all help each other continue to make music with our kiddos.

Goings On

Hi everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week - we stayed in our pajamas all day, watched the Thanksgiving Parade, played games and watched movies! It was so fun and relaxing and my family loved it - I did, too!
Week before that I was in Salt Lake City at the National American Orff Schulwerk Association's (AOSA) Conference which was amazing!  Truly love these peeps and the creativity and collegiality is very special and heart-warming. I attended some incredible sessions and loved reconnecting with folks I took Levels courses with and those who I have taught at Chapter workshops and State Conferences. This is also the one time of the year I see my editor face to face - Brent Holl of Beatin' Path Publications is a friend and amazing musician! Working on a new book can be stressful - and the editing process is difficult and full of discussions about which way to present material and what to leave out and what to include but Brent makes it easy!

One of my favorite finds at conference were the new musical sit spots!  There are several packs but I can see using this one the most frequently. For a quick assessment, lay them out on the floor and as students come in direct each student to stand on a specific note - Josiah, stand on a quarter note, etc.

Outside the conference center there were these amazing signs- so fun

and meaningful! 

We were also invited to attend a free open rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Singing with this group would completely ruin anyone for singing with a small choir ever again. Full orchestra and seating for 90,000 in the hall. AMAZING!

This morning on my fb site - @o for tuna orff I posted a video with a cup game to Trepak from Nutcracker. Click on the picture to go to the video. There is also a book/song/activity to use for Hanukkah season as well called "Shabbat Shalom".

Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

New Years - 26 Hours Long?!

Do you know there are 38 different local times in use around the world?  Therefore it takes 26 hours for the New Year to actually be celebrated by all on Earth! 

Did you also know that New Year's is not always January 1?  Chinese New Year is celebrated not by calendar year but by the cycle of the new moon.  Buddhists in Thailand celebrate a three day water festival called Songkran in April.  In the Middle Ages in Europe the new year began on March 25.  The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the new year on January 14, Persian New Year on March 21, and one Hindu celebration in India occurs in April or May.  Read more here. 
The idea for this lesson came first from my Chinese New Year song called, "Xin Nian Kuai Le".  Check out this post with the song and additional activities to use for January and February to go with Chinese New Year.  My daughter was adopted from China, and so the idea of New Year not occurring on January 1 is not new to me as we celebrate Chinese New Year in our family and also at my school. I began to think of New Year celebrations our students might celebrate and wanted to have something to be inclusive of all students.  This also provides a wonderful opportunity to talk about differences while including everyone in the conversation about culture and celebrations. 

The movement idea I first imagined was something like this, only with dancers lying on sides or kneeling on floor, something simple and synchronized  with clock like movements.

I hope you enjoy, and be sure to drop me a line to let me know what you did with it!

As always, if you want the full pdf of the above, send an email to me at musicquilt@hotmail.com.

Happy New Year!