Year: 2019

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!