2017 Mill Road Carol Sing

Welcome to 2018!  At the close of the 2017 school year, the 3rd graders at Mill Road Elementary shared a mini-musical called "Shiver Me Timbers" at the annual Carol Sing.  Each third grade class learned two songs that were sung through out the script.  Additionally this year, we had a group of 9 students who came to before school rehearsals and shared two of the songs that they worked on.  

The before school Orff Ensemble set the mood as they opened the show with a piece called "Ere the Waters of the Deep" by Teresa Jennings, with an orff ensemble arrangement that I created.

Nearly 30 students volunteered several lunch recesses to rehearse speaking parts for our musical.  "Shiver Me Timbers" told the story of a pirate crew who was on their way to their annual pirate get-a-way in Hawaii when their ship ran off course and they ended up in the North Pole.  The crew was very surprised when they saw white mounds of snow instead of white sandy beaches! Mrs. Burkett's class performed "Wintertime" by David and Ann Ellsworth. Students added boomwhackers, boom tubes and glockenspiels to challenge their performance skills.

In the story, the elves at the North Pole were just as surprised to see three rowboats full of pirates coming ashore.  Mrs. Burkett's class performed the traditional Christmas tune "I Saw Three Ships" arranged by John Riggio.

The elves were frightened to see these strangers at the North Pole, because as everyone knows pirates are terribly mean!  They quickly learn that they shouldn't have prejudged their visitors.  The pirates turn out to be very friendly and the elves and pirates bond over a carol sing-a-long!  Students, faculty and nearly 130 visitors participated in the traditional sing-a-long.

After the sing-a-long, the before school Orff Ensemble shared a piece I wrote called "As You're Walking" which was based on a speech piece by BethAnn Hepburn.  After learning the piece, the students practice honing their improvisation skills.  We performed the piece in Rondo form in which the A section kept coming back and the intermediary sections were performed as student improvisation.

Mrs. Tuell's class shared the song "Talk Like A Pirate Day" by David and Ann Ellsworth after Santa declared the day "Talk like a Pirate Day" in honor of the friendly pirates.

The 3rd graders of Mrs. Tuell's class closed the show with the song "Hawaiian Christmas" by Karl Hitzemann to celebrate the Pirate's final arrival in Hawaii with the help of Santa and his elves.  We watched an instructional video on basic hula dance moves and the class created their own hula for the song.

Class Discussion and Critique Language

This year I am focusing on cultivating intentional discussion and self assessment in our music class. That began with the introduction of our discussion starter posters (seen below). Students are encouraged to use this language whenever they would like to contribute to discussion. For example, students can use the "I Notice..." poster any time we are discussing what music looks or sounds like and how it connects to what we already know. Students might say, "I noticed that this song has a pattern in the rhythms" or "I noticed that every phrase ends with a rest."

This is also a great way for students to use supportive language when critiquing others, while being specific and direct. Students might praise others by saying "I noticed that John remembered to go to rest position when he was done playing." When giving constructive criticism, "I noticed that Mary didn't bounce her mallets, which is why her xylophone did not sound right," sounds a lot kinder than "Mary doesn't know how to play her xylophone the correct way."

 The "I Predict..." poster will help students think ahead about their performance or make a hypothesis about what a piece of music might sound like. 

 

 The "I Value..." poster helps students voice their opinion and connect to something they observe that they really like or enjoy about a piece of music or a peer's performance. I will be using this language to help students understand what I am looking for in a thoughtful performance or as a way to praise students for taking an academic risk. 

 Finally, the "I Wonder..." poster will encourage students to share their confusions, questions or "out-of-the-box" thinking. The phrase "I wonder" allows students to share their ideas while not feeling like they are being judged on whether they are right or wrong. 

Another goal I have for the year is to have students mindfully use self critique when dealing with performance tasks. We are using a three point critique system (explained below). During class, there will be times when we quickly show a 1, 2, or 3 with our fingers so students can express their comfort level with a new skill. Other times we may fill out critique forms. When using the forms, I am able to write notes to the students, such as helpful hints or words of encouragement to help them grow as musicians.

We all start as beginners, but some students are able to master concepts and skills at a faster rate. A number 1 or Beginner level means the student needs help from the teacher or a friend to be successful. Beginners may be given the option of performing a skill that fits the music but is on a level under the given task in order to have them experience success.  

Sometimes we don't need help but we do need more practice at a skill or concept. A number 2 means students are on their way to mastering a skill or concept, but have not arrived at Independence.

 Independent students have mastered skills or concepts. Students who are a "3" do not need help or practice. Independent students may be given challenges, such as adding another layer to the song's harmony.

Musical Pen Pals 5

Today, Mrs. Tuell's class finished their musical pen pal video to send to Donegal Primary School.  They selected "Fast Dance," an Orff instrument arrangement from Music for Children: Vol. 2 (American Edition).  Our journey with this piece of music started as a form review.  The original piece is performed as ABA form, however, we only learned the A section of the song for our performance.  The students also used this piece to review contours and harmony.

After the entire class learned the melody, we worked on adding two different simple ostinati as our harmony.  I helped the students to identify parts that they were successful with and we determined who would play each part.  The students were also challenged to add movement to this piece and body percussion was agreed upon.  After designing the body percussion movement, several students volunteered to be in movers instead of instrumentalists for our performance.  We video taped several times and discussed our progress in our videos.  A final form was decided (intro, A section with movement, A section with glockenspiel harmony added, coda) and we are excited to be sending out our final performance today.

Take a look at what Mrs. Tuell's class created:

Musical Pen Pals 4

Recently, Mrs. Melvin's 2nd grade class at Bainbridge Elementary finished their video for our musical pen pals at Donegal Primary School.  Mrs. Melvin's group picked the song "Hunt the Cows," which they learned to highlight AB form, and the note "do".  The song already had a great movement game to show the form of the song. The students had to create some instrumental parts to add to our performance to make it more interesting for our viewers and more challenging for the performers.

The students added a chordal accompaniment using C, D and G boomwhackers.  Of course, what would "Hunt the Cows" be with out a little cow bell?  The students decided to use the cow bell only during the B section, every time we sang the note "do", which highlighted the movement of the game.  The students also designed the spoken introduction that you will see in the video.

I invited our Principal, Mr. Kiehl to help us out with the video.  Mr. Kiehl knows the principal at DPS and we are hoping that their principal, Mr. Miller, will take part in the videos too!  The students voted on which part Mr. Kiehl should play and taught him how to play his part.

Before taping the students watched a preliminary taping of their performance and discussed ways to make their performance even more successful.  Take a look at what they created:

What is your box?

So many times I hear educators say, "I want to get my kids to think outside the box," and yet so many times I have also overheard the same teachers listing the many restrictions that make out-of-the-box thinking impossible. Or so they think!  I recently read a new book by George Couros: The Innovator's Mindset, that has really changed my thinking about innovation and problem solving.

As much as thinking outside the box is regarded as an important learning goal for the 21st century, sometimes it is more important to grow learners that can use the restrictions of their "box" to solve problems or be creative.  In his book, Couros focuses on nurturing "problem finders": students who are able to identify problems in their community, school or classroom and then create and implement a plan to solve those problems.

In other words, as educators, we don't have any excuses!  Innovation can happen anywhere and in any "box."  However, we will never teach our students how to be problem finders or solvers until the adults in their life, primarily educators, model what it means to have an innovator's mindset. 

So what is your "box?" Many educators list time, funding, or lack of support from administrators and parents as the "walls" that are boxing them in.  However, by taking on an innovator's mindset, what educators would realize is that those "walls" may actually be the inspiration for many innovative ways to reach their students.  

I recently presented with the educationcloset.com 2017 Winter Connectivity Conference where George Couros was one of the keynote speakers.  Phil Hansen, another Keynote speaker at the conference shared his view on creating within limitations.  His message was very inspiring and powerful. Take a look:

Creating within limitations requires innovators to recognize opportunities and follow the paths that are created out of opportunity.  I don't know if I can consider myself an innovator yet, but I certainly have been following some opportunities that I never would have imagined.  Each opportunity leads me down a new path and connects me to some very amazing people in the world of education. In The Innovator's Mindset, Couros talks about this concept as the "adjacent possible."

I'm going to keep working on building my "palace."

Thanks @gcouros and the #IMMOOC crew for allowing me to join you down many inspiring pathways!

Up Beat! 2nd Session

I am so happy to be meeting with my Up Beat! preschoolers again!  Our 2nd 10 week session of our preschool music program started on February 14th.  Naturally, many of our activities were Valentine's Day and love themed!

With a few new faces in our group, we started with or regular "Hello" song and then introduced all of the children with the song "Do You Know My Valentine" (sung to the tune of "Muffin Man").  We sang the song "Time for Music" and pointed to 8 valentine hearts to show our steady beat.

The children also love showing their steady beat with movement scarves and I was overjoyed when several of our new friends echoed some of the melodic patterns we were working on!  

The children loved guessing who I loved during the song "Love Somebody".  Let's see if you can guess one:  The one I love is red, with black spots and has 6 legs.... Love my ladybug, yes I do!

We read the books "The Ballad of Valentine" by Alison Jackson and "Skidamarink" by Jacqueline East, all before our "Good Bye" song.

This week the weatherman and I did not coordinate well, but I'm not going to complain!  The preschoolers engaged in many snow related activities including reading "When Winter Comes" by Nancy Van Laan and "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen.  We danced and froze like snowflakes and even built a snowman out of musical instruments!  After "melting" our snowman, we used the instruments to work on our steady beat to the song "Snowman Drum" (aka "Aiken Drum").

Our favorite part of this week's lesson was using our new stretchy band!  The kids had so much fun showing steady beat motions and pulling back on the reins of our horse.  Woah!!!

Musical Pen Pal 3

Continuing on our Music Pen Pal journey, Mrs. Chroshinski's 2nd grade recently sent Donegal Primary another video!  I loved the creative process of designing this performance with the kids.  The students identified one of their favorite songs so far from this school year: Ghost of Tom.  I then challenged them to add harmony and movement to the song.  The students suggested using scarves to imitate ghostly motions and we turned a simple rhythmic ostinato into chordal harmony.  The pattern the students used for their harmony is known as a i-VII shift (1-7 shift).

The students gave suggestions for movements that were then combined into a choreographed piece.  We initially performed our chordal harmony on the xylophones, but the students suggested using boomwhackers instead and it really worked out well!

After practicing, taping, critiquing and re-taping, Mrs. C's class was ready to share the following video:

The students were very excited to get a video back from a 1st grade at DPS.  In the video, the students from DPS showed their knowledge of Call and Response form through the song "Down By The Bay."  Bainbridge and Mill Road students loved seeing that other schools sing the same songs we do.  Watching the video also reminded the students about the work we have done on Call and Response form.