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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

 

Doesn’t matter what the calendar says, somewhere deep inside, I know the year begins in September with school starting. The holiday schedule, staff meetings, the now familiar class rearranging due to enrollment, lists of students and curriculum goals may look the same on paper, but I’m different every year and that can make everything have new possibilities. Take a minute or two to consider how you have changed in the past year and its possible effects on teaching.

Same thing for students. This year each one will be reading and exploring science, doing sums and running races in different ways from last year. There are the “me” things like growing taller, or not; friends changing; family dynamics affecting who I am now. There are the school things like new teachers, class rooms and class room expectations.

September music can be a safe haven in the midst of change. Even more than stories, good songs may be sung again and again. Since we’re different, what the songs mean to us may change some, but the feelings that go with them will be there somewhere. So add a few new songs this September, but include some familiar music as well. It can be a touchstone in the midst of constant change.

There was a time when I knew 25-30 phone numbers by heart. I suspect it came by dialing them again and again and again. No matter where I went, I had those phone numbers with me, ready when needed.

No longer. Today phone numbers are stored in our phones instead of in our memories. Maybe that’s good, maybe not. With so much accessible on phones, on line, the part of the brain given to storage, and the lines of connection to that storage aren’t being exercised.

Creativity may be sparked by new ideas or research, but it grows through sparking connections between ideas or knowledge. Singing songs regularly in school life offers a great opportunity to stretch our gray matter. Fire off those synapses by digging out songs in our memory.

Teach/learn songs by rote, then post the words as a memory aid and for reading practice. After a week or two, take the written words away sometimes and rely on memory or “figuring it out’ to provide words. You’ll be exercising the brain, as well as giving your students songs that will be with them, wherever they go. You might pick up a few to keep you company as well.

Peace

Lesley

 

Can Do Music is a gift.  No ads, no log-ins, no email list  –just some things to help you make music in your classroom (if you’re a teacher), or to sing-a-long with (if you’re young in years or heart).

Pop around the website exploring.   Download songs for a road trip.  Browse the lessons for ideas about how to present music elements  –and basic info like:  What is the difference between beat and rhythm?

Music, dance and art pull me out of darkness and into light.
Making music with children brings me delight.

May it be that way for you.

Lesley