Notes From the Music Room

Armed with a thick binder, chock-full of state learning standards, I have created my own curriculum for teaching music to my students at the Primary School this year. And I have to say that so far, things are going even better than I had hoped.

My overall approach is to divide each 45-minute class period into at least three parts. The first part always involves singing. The second usually involves playing or learning about instruments. And the third part typically involves watching videos of live musical performances and/or dancing to musical selections.

Through the first six weeks of school, students in kindergarten, first, and second grades have made music with their hands and feet, with plastic tubes called “Boomwhackers” that make a musical note when they strike the ground, and with drums. They’ve also been able to see and hear a violin, a trumpet, a trombone, and a homemade harp that I brought from home.

While learning about these and other instruments, the kids have watched video clips of African drums, baroque music, classical music, and music from Japan, China, and India. They’ve listened to masterpieces from Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven and a fantastic jazz recording by my good friend Matt Kane, an incredibly talented percussionist.

While listening to these great works and playing various instruments, the kids have learned about musical concepts such as rhythm, tempo, pitch, and dynamics. Starting tomorrow, they will get the opportunity to show off what they have learned so far. As an ensemble, they will be playing instruments such as xylophones, drums, and other assorted rhythm instruments.

The school’s first assembly of the year took place last Friday, and after weeks of rehearsing our school song, the kids finally got their chance to shine. And shine they did. Several teachers later told me that it was the best performance of the school song they had ever heard. I was extremely proud of my kids, and they were pretty proud of themselves, too.

My second graders have also been hard at work learning five songs for their concert in November. They are singing the music of Mister Rogers, including a version of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” that I wrote with lyrics about the Primary School.

In the coming days, weeks, and months, we will sing holiday songs, patriotic songs, and more Mister Rogers songs. We will learn about melody and harmony, notation, and composition. We will listen to examples of blues, jazz, country, rock, soul, reggae, R & B, zydeco, disco, funk, hard rock, alternative, and many other genres covering the history of music in America and other parts of the world. We will also learn about (and play) homemade and conventional instruments.

Kindergartners will prepare for their winter concert, first graders will rehearse for their spring musical, and everyone will continue to sing, dance, play instruments, and have a whole lot of fun, all the way through to the end of the school year.

While all of this is going on, I’ll also be spending my evenings and weekends working towards earning a master’s degree in education. Eventually, I hope to add a music certification to my credentials so that I can teach music permanently.

In the meantime, I plan on enjoying every single day of this school year. It is the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to share my love of music with 460 of my closest friends, and I don’t want to waste a minute of it worrying about the future.