Labels Labels Labels!

When I started in my classroom 5 years ago, I had very few "quality" percussion instruments.  I did, however, have a fairly large Music Fund that hadn't been touched in a few years!  With time, I've bought more and more instruments for classroom use with the hopes of eventually getting class sets of the basics (tambourines, triangles, hand drums, etc.)  

But with all my new toys, it's getting difficult to remember where I put things!  So I made myself great labels that I can print out on Avery Labels!  I made a set of small ones and a set of large ones.  Here's a link to where you can buy the Avery Labels to match! Small 14 per sheet or Large 8 per sheet

 Check out the whole products on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Small or Large

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!

MadPad for Timbre Exploration

MadPad

I'm such a YouTube addict and love showing videos to my upper elementary students.  When I found this video of the Smule App MadPad, I was hooked.

The MadPad App is a $2.99 app that's worth every penny.  Users are able to record their own video soundboard and then use that soundboard to record their own compositions.  

I use the MadPad app as an opportunity to discuss timbre, ostinati, and layering loops.  We discuss timbre as the characteristic of sound.  We also discuss music as the organization of sound. 

After exploring examples of non-traditional instruments creating music, I assign the same task to my students.

Students explore non-traditional instruments located around school and compose their own music.  

Here are a few examples of what my students came up with!

Recording Tips:

Use non-verbal cues to start recording.  

App will begin recording as soon as it hears sound.

Record single sounds, not patterns.  

Patterns and ostinati can be created later.

Record short examples

The soundboard will play through the entire recorded sample.  

          Long samples often “muddy the water.”

Plan samples for specific purposes.  

Can sounds be paired together?  What layers will be created?

Ready to get started?  Check out this great planning sheet to help students organize their information before getting started!  

Patriotic Ring-A-Long!

Patriotic songs are a MUST, in my humble opinion.  I already have a soap box I stand on regarding America's "cultural" music and the example of "good" music that the media shoves on our kids.  I feel it is my duty, as a music teacher in the United States, to do my very best to teach my students classic American songs that were written about our great country.

That being said, it's not the easiest task.  Students are unfamiliar with songs, lyrics are tricky to understand, and I don't know many play party games that coincide with Patriotic Songs.  I typically do a few Patriotic themed concerts every couple years, but I wanted a way to immerse my students in these traditional songs without the complaints or lack of focus.  

Enter my closet.  When I first started at my current school, I didn't know what I had just collecting dust in the closet!  A beautiful 3-octave set of Malmark Handchimes!  {Disclaimer: I am a professional handbell ringer with The Bell Amis Ensemble, so seeing those two boxes were like winning the lottery to me!}

I gathered up all my Patriotic Songs, found keys and chords and starting notes, and made for my group a set of Ring-A-Long books.  These books are intended to provide accompaniment for our little voices!  Here's what I love about them:

• Each book is unique to the chime and includes underlined words that tell the ringer when to start playing, and when to stop. 

• Students are reading lyrics while they sing and play so they are gaining literacy skills and SEEING the right lyrics.

• Playing instruments is super fun and motivating for students!  And there's no right or wrong time to "chime in" so long as the words are underlined!  

• Handchimes are a perfect instrument for little hands.  They are super durable and the physical motion is quite simple.  It takes one sentence to explain how the sound starts and how the sound stops.  

It sometimes amazes me how quickly young students can be successful with these Ring-A-Long books.  I start in 2nd grade when literacy is strong enough to not distract from the music.  Check out this FREE sample of Yankee Doodle ! 

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! 

Wixie in Kindergarten!

The number one program that kindergarteners learn in our computer classes is Wixie.  Our computer teacher loves Wixie and uses it for almost all her activities.  Writing fact vs. opinion, counting and number sentences, history timelines...why not music! 

Wixie is a subscription based program that my school uses entirely online. Students know their log-in names and can work on a project in the lab, in their classrooms, or on the iPads!  Teachers can create and assign projects too!

I am always looking for new projects to utilize my class iPads.  I spent spring break updating the iPads and started exploring Wixie a little.  Kindergarten had been singing the silly song Aiken Drum and I was trying to brainstorm a way of letting the students create their own Aiken Drum men.  I knew we could make a big one on the SmartBoard, but I wanted them to be creative and have freedom to create their own unique Aiken Drum-and in turn, compose their own version of the song!

When tinkering with Wixie over spring break, I found the "cloner" option which makes any object infinite!  This is exactly the same as the infinite cloner in Smart Notebook.  I picked out all the fruit and veggies (and a few extras) from the sticker library (saving lots of time and whining kindergarteners) and created a little template.   

Since kindergarteners already know how to use the basic tools of Wixie, we did a quick 2 minute explanation of how the touch screen is different than the iPad (duh, Mrs. Cabello, we know that!) and they were off!  They came up with quite the silly Aiken Drums!

But...

This isn't computer class or art class, this is music class!  Where is the music!!  Well Wixie has a nifty little record button on the main page that lets the user record audio and attach it to the page!  BAM!  Music class!

Once students finished making their own Aiken Drum character, I moved them to a quiet spot behind my desk or piano so they could SING their unique songs that they composed!  I let it be pure kindergarten voices with very little help from me.  (We had made class characters at least twice and sang the tune over and over and over so I was sure they were prepped for success.  It was also a great way for me to assess singing voice!)

Here's one of my favorite songs from kindergarten.  The best part is that they can't always remember what the names of the fruits are!  Don't worry, they eventually remember!




 

Stretchy Band DIY

 I'm on spring break right now...aka I'm bored!  We just finished our 4th/5th grade musical before break and even though my husband and I spent tons of time at school rearranging my room and switching out a bulletin board, I was still itching for a project.

I've always wanted a stretchy band, but could never force myself to spend the money for one thinking it would only be used a few times in the year.  I had some fabric from the musical left over and decided to make one for myself!  Final price: $19.06

The big question:  WHAT'S INSIDE????

I asked some other music teachers on facebook and the consensus was something stretchy!  Here were the possibilities:

1: 2" elastic
2: bungee cord
3: surgical tubing
4: fitness resistance tubing

Elastic sounded too easy to me so I asked my sewing expert mother who agreed it wouldn't be the sturdiest choice.

So off to the hardware store I went hoping to buy bungee cord by the foot.  Alas, I can only dream.  It didn't seem right to link the bungees together so I went back to the drawing board.

After researching medical supply stores in my area, I learned that I could buy surgical tubing at the hardware store!  Aisle 7 to be exact!

I bought 10 feet, which is just a little too small for my classes of 15-20 students. I can use this test stretchy band for my small preschool class of only 5-6 students.  

So here are my DIY instructions!

Supplies

Surgical Tubing (10ft per 8-10 students)

Cotton Fabric (multiple colors)

3 Zip Ties

Directions

1. Cut fabric stripes into 20"x5" strips. 

In order to get the "scrunch" you will need approximately 2.5x casing per tubing.  (example: 10ft. tubing = 25ft. casing)

 

2. Sew short ends together to form one long piece.  

Remember "right sides together" and keep all your seams on the same side.  I also made a point to back stitch the ends for durability.  Kids will be pulling and stretching!

3. Fold in half and sew down long side.

Remember, "right sides together!"

4.  Turn
(I hate this part.  Absolute torture.  Thankfully, my husband was willing to help so we tag-teamed it, but still, awful!)  My mother always says to use a safety pin to help.  Here are some pinterest links that might work too! Ribbon Technique  Saftey Pin Technique

5.  Insert tubing into casing

You'll start to see the "scrunch" here!

6.  Zip tie tubing together 

Overlap the tubing about an inch and place 3 zip ties on overlapping sections starting with the middle.  Pull VERY tight and snip off ends.

EDIT:The zip tie idea worked great when my husband and I pulled, but the stress of a kindergarten class was a different story.  My friend Sally Utley from Sally's Sea of Songs told me that the REAL stretchy bands are simply tied together with a square knot.  (Left over right, right over left)  So far that has worked better!

7.  Hand stitch casing together

Fold both ends in to create finished edge.  Insert one color into the other and hand stitched closed.

 Voila!

My husband and I have pulled and stretched as hard as we could and everything bounced back!  I'm excited to try this with my preschoolers!

Btw: I just ordered a 50ft roll from Amazon and I'll be making a much larger one for my whole class next week!