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And this year, April is very different. Physical distancing is the norm, and socializing is done by texting or internet. Classrooms and homes have become one and the same.

In the midst of all the confusion and angst, I love the many ways ordinary people are reaching out to each other with music. Some of its in tune, some of it not so much —-but its being given with empathy and hope and it helps.

Music pulls us together in times such as this … so keep singing.

If you are a teacher creating lessons  to go out over the internet, remember that everything on this site is free to download, copy, and use as you will. You don’t need to direct students to this site, you can put the songs and resources on whatever lesson software you are using. Many of the song videos have been done to re-enforce reading skills in French, English and Music  …   and learning music is known to add to math skills.

If you’re a parent, take a break from tv to gather with your children around a tablet, phone or laptop. Take turns choosing a song to try. Listen to it once together, then play it again and EVERYBODY SING!   When face-timing with grandparents, invite them to choose a song and sing it with them.  On the weekend, take a laptop out on the front yard and invite the neighbours to an “at a distance” singsong. Turn it into a “campfire” by adding a few candles.

Stay safe,

Lesley

In like a lion and out like a lamb  –or is it the other way around this year?   March winds and March Break conspire to keep restlessness in the classroom high this month.

Wear out some of that restlessness with rousing action songs (Napoleon and The Grand Old Duke of York) that remember two of our founding nations.

Get ready for seasonal sweetness with “Maple Syrup”.  Even though “Pancake Tuesday” is past,  it still works well teamed with Maple Syrup.

 

Note:  This year, a reminder of the cold and flu rules is timely.   You may want to pull out “Cold and Flu Season” to keep those rules in focus.

 

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

 W.H. Auden

With only 28(29?) days, February is stuffed full of special music.

Winter Carnivals in Quebec ring with Bonhomme!

Valentine’s Day offers a chance to try out  music reading skills, step by step in the video for Valentine, Red and Blue.

Black History Month is full of music possibilities.   Follow history from Spirituals to Jazz.   (All Night, All Day;  Ha Ha This-A-Way;  Chay Chay Cool-eh)

And, this year, the last week of February with  Mardi Gras and Pancake Tuesday are the last hurrah before the austerity of Lent (a Christian season of prayer and penitence) begins.

And then, of course, even without snow, it’s winter and  Hockey Hockey!

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.”

Leo Tolstoy

January usually seems like a long month.   Maybe its the droop after December festivities are over, and the dearth of January holidays.     Unless, of course, you celebrate the Chinese New Year,  or are Scottish and roast Robbie Burns.

Long months are good blocks for teaching.   Students and teachers know how to work with each other now; past concepts have been reviewed so on to the new!

Even if you tried very hard, it would be difficult NOT to meet at least one or two music curriculum expectations (performance, music and culture, listening, etc.) in December.    Holidays wouldn’t be the same without music:  dance, concerts,  movies, ballet, community singing, old favourites and new offerings.

Maybe one of your music lessons this month could be offering students a taste of your favourite holiday music.  Make it into a story

—-How did you come to enjoy this music?  Where are you?

—-Who is there when the music is made?

—-What is your role in the music making?

Then, invite students to tell their own holiday music story  … or draw it and record the story to make a slide-audio show.

November music begins quietly with peace songs and then seems to rush the holiday season with rehearsals beginning for special music and concerts. Even though I wince at ever earlier store displays of decorations and gifts, I acknowledge that early starts at rehearsal, especially with children, means smoother performances.

Part of performance is getting into formation, posture and attention. Begin rehearsing for concerts by practicing these things with “ordinary” songs. Then, closer to the concert date, teach and practice performance songs.

For tips on performance

click:   “for educators”   then   “performance”

October music tastes the richness of this time of year  —Autumn, Thanksgiving and Harvest, Hallowe’en.  Themes of harvest and death are the focus of special days in many cultures   e.g. China’s New Moon where families gather and share a meal;  Mexico’s Day of the Dead where death is both mocked, feared and the dead are honoured.

So many ways to make music:

*grace, worship, dinner music

*highs and lows with spooky sounds, music mood

*sound effects,  night time animal noises

*changing voices to match a costume

How will you invite the season into music?

“Music is a moral law.  It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind,  flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”   Plato

 

 

Classroom music in September is an opportunity to relax and have fun, getting on with the work of becoming a community. Since good songs are meant to be sung again and again, pull out some “oldie goldies” likely to have been sung by your new students in their past school or camp experiences.

Think back to when you were young. What were your favourite songs? Where did you learn them? Who taught them to you?

What about favourite songs gives them “staying” quality?

Music time will have some “teaching songs”, but be sure to include a few with that “staying” quality. And sing them often just because.

my favourite September songs  …

Mama Don’t ‘Low No Singing;   Bonjour Mes Amis;  Chay Chay Cool-Eh;  Follow the Leader;  Head and Shoulders;  In Canada;  John the Rabbit;  The Bear Went Over the Mountain;  The More We Get Together;  The Wheels on the Bus

 

Welcome to winter of 2019. Used to be we could count on snow by January. When I lived in Yellowknife, when I lived in New Brunswick, snow was reliable. There are still places in our world where global warming can be ignored during the winter, but not in southern Ontario.

Check out the new winter song on offer to meet today’s weather. Yes, the tune is familiar and will link later to a lesson on opera. The pedantic, demanding mood just felt so right for after holiday demand of children in most of Canada. Music without mood is like chewing on a stale biscuit.

So choose a “snow is here” song, or try out the “where is it” option, add a dose of mood and launch into the new year with gusto!

 

It’s C-c-c-c Cold
It’s Cold Outside
Snow, Snow, Snow
I Want To Go Outside
and remember
Jingle Bells is a winter song!

I started September planning to keep up with putting all the resources for Can Do 3 on this site in time for each month as it came. I’m not keeping up with my plans. Life keeps getting in the way!

Maybe that happens to you once in a while in the classroom?
There’s science and math, language arts, assemblies and maybe even a snow day or two. Classroom teachers have huge curriculum expectations to meet as well as personal goals.

Even when you don’t see all the up-to-date resources for Can Do 3 on the site, I’m working at it, just one bit at a time.
Classroom music sometimes needs a “one bit at a time” approach.   Just choose one song or one dance or one warm-up … and do that! If there’s music time left, sing through favourite parts of the repertoire, play the instruments in a rollicking cacophony, relax to the strains of quiet instrumental music … all this meets the most important part of including music in ordinary class life…

… so that students will be able to find in music
a lifelong source
of enjoyment and personal satisfaction

Walter Pitman
Learning the Arts in an Age of Uncertainty
Ontario Curriculum Purpose