Xylophone Carrying Case DIY

I teach in a small Christian elementary school and for every performance, we travel to our Upper Campus about 5 miles away.  The more Orffy I've become, the more xylophones I've been travelling with and the more nervous I get transporting the bars!  My mother is a seamstress and we've been brainstorming ways to safely travel with bars.  

Then I saw this post on Facebook by Jennifer Loomis!  
 
https://www.facebook.com/bassclarinets/videos/10153693791062777/

Jennifer used a towel and rolled it for protection. LOVE IT!  So I took her idea and ran with it!

I chose to use fleece (in school colors!) and put together a DIY with instructions and pictures. The dimensions of xylophones vary with size and brand, but here are my measurements for Sonor Meisterklasse Sop, Alto/Tenor, and Bass

Supplies:

Approx. 1yd Fleece per xylophone (56")

Finished Sizes: (w" x h")
Soprano: 31" x 24" (13 bars)
Alto/Tenor: 37" x 24" (15 bars)
Bass: 33" x 23" (13 bars)

Directions:

Step 1: Cut fleece to desired length
Step 2: Fold fleece in half and remove any selvage.

Step 3: Fold bottom (folded edge) up about 5.5 inches.  For longer bars, fold up more. Pin and sew three edges (left, top, right.  Bottom edge is a fold). I use a tight zig-zag stitch to top stitch rather than turn inside out.  Fleece doesn't fray and the zig-zag stitch is very strong through the two layers.  

I used my seam ripper to hold the bottom fold in place while I zig-zagged through the 4 layers of fleece where the fabric was folded.  It was a little tough on my little machine, but she made it through!

Step 4: (This step differs from Jennifer.  She suggested placing bars and pinning to know where to sew.  I tried this once but since it was such a short distance, the extra pins were a little tedious and once I removed a pin, I was flying blind.  Instead, I decided I'd rather have a line to follow.)
Measure and mark and sew 2.25 inches for bar pockets (Sop and Alto/Tenor) or 2.5 inches for bar pockets (Bass).

That's it! 

Cleaning up those Glockenspiels!

A local church called me up a few months ago saying they had some old Orff instruments that they would like to donate to my program.  I was ecstatic!  I saw the instruments and politely smiled with a Thank You!

They weren't kidding when they said they had some OLD instruments!  One of the instruments was a glockenspiel that included rust, tarnish, rubber band stickiness, and striped pegs.  It played in tune, but getting my students past the stains and discolorations was not a battle I wanted to fight.

Since it was donated, I was willing to try and fix it up, not knowing if I would accidentally ruin it.  Thankfully, a parent was working at school the day I tried fixing it up and she suggested baking soda and vinegar!  Seemed like a safer bet than chemicals so I gathered the supplies and tried!

  
Supplies
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Medium Cup
Soft Cloth (I used a disposable dish cloth)
Clean Water
Metal Oil (I used rotor oil because that's what I had)

Fill the cup about 1/2 full with vinegar and place a bar in the cup.  Slowly add about a teaspoon of baking soda.  WARNING: baking soda and vinegar volcano! (that's why we filled the cup only half way full!)  Soak the bar until the bubbles eat away all the grime.  You may have to add more baking soda to elicit more reaction.

As needed, soak the flip side of the bars as well.  Use a soft cloth to gently rub the bars.  Rinse the bars in clean water and wipe a small amount of oil on the bar with another cloth.

Before

 

After!

 

The rubber band stain didn't come off, and they don't particularly *shine* but the rust is off and they look much cleaner!  I put new rubber tubing on but am still waiting to buy new nails. Tuning is still spot on too!  I'm quite happy with how it turned out!

Back to School 2015!

I can't believe it's back to school already!  I just finished my Orff Level 2 certification and I'm super excited to head back and use all the new tools in my toolbox, but I also love summer just as much as the next teacher! 

I'm linking up with a bunch of music teachers (hosted by Mrs. Miracle and Music A La Abbott) in their Back to School Teachers Pay Teachers Sale Wish and Dish!  So here's one of my products, one music product I'm exited to buy, and one non-music item!

Like I said, I just finished my Orff Level 2 certification and was super inspired by my amazing teacher, Cyndee Giebler.  She taught us about Discrete Combinatorial System Improvisation.  Sounds complicated, right!?  Nope!  Similar to a menu style activity, students choose one from column A, one from column B, and play column C! Students pick which notes they want (from a teacher given pitch set), which rhythm they want (from a teacher given rhythm set) and then play within the constructs given!  As someone who is not very comfortable improvising, I was totally comfortable doing this!  I picked what I wanted, then played confidently.  (I know, it's a little more "composition" than it is "improvisation" but students are making decisions quickly rather than writing melodies).  I was so inspired by this activity that I went home and jumped on the computer!  Here is a file that includes a Discrete Combinatorial System for Do, Re, Sol, and La modes in C, G, and F pentatonic, in both duple and triple meters.  Simply decide what mode/key/meter you'll be working on and let the kids explore!  Super easy!

Cherie Herring is my idol (I think I've said this before!) and I love everything she makes! She is a SMART certified teacher and really uses her technology to engage students!  I use many of her activities as sub plans where students are musically engaged and thinking, but subs just have to know how to use the smartboard.  Can't wait to try this new one!   

In addition to general music and band, I also teach 6th grade math at my school.  I LOVE interactive notebooks and purchased a huge set of them last year for the year.  This year, I am super excited for project based learning activities from 21st Century Math Projects.  I have a small class of less than 5 students so we have plenty of time to learn the material; now we can really USE the material in our projects!  Can't wait!! 

(I know I'm only supposed to say 1 non-music thing I'm buying, but my wishlist is so full...I've got to share another!)

I love this!!  Yoga aside, breathing and stretching is so great for the body and for learning focus!  I'm not allowed to use the word YOGA in my school, but even if I have to wait until I have my own kids, I am buying this!  It is a story that includes poses for children, coloring pictures, posters, flashcards!  I REALLY hope I can adapt it to use at school!

So that's some of the things in my wish list!  But you know what??? Even though everything is on sale, I'm still not going to pay full price!  TPT offers credits towards purchases IF you leave feedback on paid purchases!  So I'll be heading back into My Purchases to make sure I've left all my feedback (valuable feedback!) before I buy more!

Starlight, Starbright: A Calming Sound Story

I have been singing this song since my own kindergarten class way back when.  Every time I look up at the starry sky this melody runs through my head.

Notation from Beth's Notes

I took my Orff Level 1 classes last summer and received a huge binder full of activities-some we used, others we didn't.  But looking through that binder 8 months later was like digging through a treasure chest!  I found a familiar melody that made for beautiful calming music by my kindergarteners.

Actually, kindergarteners CAN certainly make beautiful, calming music if they are sequenced correctly and with the right atmosphere.

I've been using my stretchy band a lot with Kindergarten lately so we processed through the original melody with high and low sounds.  Hands up are high, hands down is low.  Can't get any simpler for a kindergartener!

My next step was different for me as a music teacher, but my kindergarten aid LOVED it.  I added snaps and had the students figure out that I was snapping on the rhyming words.  I'm learning that Orff often uses patterns from the lyrics to inspire the music.  We practiced snapping (or light tapping for those who couldn't snap yet) on the rhyming words a ton.  You'll notice (as my kindergarten aid did) that it's not as easy as it sounds!

We then transferred our snaps to triangles and it was super smooth.  Starting with speech then moving to body percussion and percussion instruments is the main philosophy of Orff that I have begun to develop this year. Unfortunately, I don't have enough triangles for everyone so we would "air triangle" as the instruments got passed around.

As students became comfortable with the triangles on the rhyming words, I added in handchimes to help with our high/low pitches.  My students have working with handchimes in the past as chordal accompaniments in Christmas Carols or train whistle clusters in the spring concert.  We figured out which sound was higher and which sound was lower, then decided which one went first.  The chimes aren't necessarily playing the rhythms, just the steady beat (which happens to alternate sol-mi).  The kindergarteners were surprisingly quick to keep the steady beat and alternate sol-mi.  But even if they played at the wrong time with the chimes, it sounded quite beautiful!  

While students practiced chimes, I started playing the bass xylo open bordun and then hand selected students who I knew were usually successful keeping a steady beat.  Not all students got a turn on the xylo (I don't have the patience for that!) and that wasn't my objective.

Oops!  Did I forget the random ringing of triangles?  We explored the word random and learned that it meant "with no pattern".  I demonstrated random ringing, being sure to demonstrate a lot of SLOW random ringing.  I certainly knew they knew how to randomly ring loud and fast!

So the whole picture was random ringing, song (with triangles on rhyming words and chimes) then random ringing again.    A student asked if we could use the windchimes too so we added that at the beginning and end.

When do we see stars?  Are the loud? Do they twinkle in patterns?  How many stars do you see?  These are all questions that we explored to set the mood.  It wasn't long before a little hand raised and asked if we could turn the lights off.  (I LOVE when students have better ideas than me!)

So obviously, I didn't do this all in one day; it was split up over about 4 classes. Here's a breakdown of what I did each class:

 I was really pleased with the product put out by kindergarteners.  I can't wait to see what a few more years of musiking with these students will create! 

Five Favorite Pins of February Linky Party!

Many thanks to Aileen from Mrs. Miracle's Music Room for hosting a Linky Party!

I LOVE Pinterest!  If only I could get credit toward my Professional Development hours for all the time I've spent learning from fantastic teachers!  Here are my (current) Five Favorite Pins!

#1 Daily 5 Check In

My school has been focusing on Math and Writing workshops lately which mean students are getting accustomed to working in small groups without a teacher.  I started looking into Learning Contracts as part of my Differentiation Instruction goal and love the possibilities for Recorder and iPad projects.  This has become a great tool for me to know what students are working on and how many students are allowed to do each activity at a time.  I can also preassign students as necessary!

#2 Cherie Herring's 18 Music Activities for Small Children (SMARTBoard)

Anytime I need a sub, I pull up Cherie Herring's SMARTBoard files. They are great for non-musical subs but are extremely musically engaging for the students.  Each page is interactive and she has tons of little sound file surprises that the kids just love!

#3 Make Your Own Tubanos

I haven't tried this yet but I really really want to!  Just gotta figure out where to get those tubes!

#4 Catch a Falling Star

So beautiful! This is my dream for my students.  They are more than capable musicians, I just have to become a better teacher!

#5  Lapbook Templates/Glue Sponges

I couldn't pick just one more-but these two go together!  I love lapbooks!  Lots of information but all contained together.  I made a lapbook for my recorder kids to take home so they always have the information they need.  And Glue Sponges!  OMG!  Best idea in the entire interactive notebook/lapbook world.  If you ever use glue in your classroom, you MUST try this! (really, 1353 pins on this glue sponge post!!)

Don't forget to check out other posts as part of Mrs.  Miracle's Linky Party!  

Favorite Things Linky!

I'm new to the Linky thing, but thrilled to join tons of great teachers and bloggers! Teaching Trio is hosting a Linky Party this month-click on the image above to see what more bloggers love!

 

Here's a link to my Jump Bands DIY blog post to make your own for under $10 a set!

 

Orff Orff Orff!

Just finished a 2 week intensive Orff training!  I'm flabbergasted with the amount of resources I gained and am itching to get back to school!

Orff is all about hands on!  Hands on rhythm, hands on instruments, hands on melodies, improvisation and more!  I'm so excited to watch my students dive deeper into our musical concepts and expand through creativity!

One of my most favorite parts of the Orff approach is taking children's literature and allowing students to add sound effects, movement, interpretation, melodies, etc!  My next project, then, is going to be scanning a few books into my computer and creating presentations that I can read from, but the students have a better view of pictures/details.  Plus, then I'll have free hands to add my own background music while we read!  I can't wait for the kids to come back!!!