Giving up on writing a new curriculum.

What I've realized is that designing a comprehensive K-4 Elementary Music Curriculum from scratch is like trying to design, code, and do graphics for your own computer game - there is no way for one single person to do a good job because of the amount of work that it takes. I've been working hard for several months trying to create my own elementary curriculum, but I have been met with limited success. I also am struggling to really properly design a coherent process or procedure that goes from Day One of kindergarten to the Last Day of fourth grade. It's too hard to figure out what to do first, next, etc., when I'm also having to teach the classes, keep up with paperwork, rehearse band and choir classes, plan concerts, and still try to have time for my life outside of work. It is exhausting, but it has not been fruitless.

Yes, I am giving up on writing my own curriculum from scratch. I plan on going back to the old curriculum that I used when I first started teaching, one that has elements of Dalcroze and Kodaly and Orff all mixed in. One that already has a large list of songs, poems, games, activities, and other materials ready for me to use. However, even though I am using an old curriculum, I am approaching it with a new perspective that I have gained from trying to design my own. I am not going to pursue it like I used to, but I am going to use it in a new way. I will still add extra materials here and there, and omit certain songs and activities, but I am planning on teaching my new curricular ideals through the old curriculum. In other words, I am planning to tweak each lesson to focus on the musical goals that I have chosen through much study and deliberation. Many lessons will not require much change. Some will only need a small change. The point is that now I have an understanding of the Big Picture, and that will guide my teaching.

Secondary Band and Choir Thoughts

In my school, our first concert is in the middle of October. That leaves about 8 weeks to get ready for it and then 9 weeks before the Christmas program. In other words, there's a first quarter concert and a second quarter concert. This post is about what I should be teaching the students during those first two quarters.

In Choir, I have been teaching the students how to sing using the Kenneth singing method. It is a sequential approach to getting them to sing well, and it covers the physical skill of singing with a good tone and with good technique. I have found this to be effective in giving them a foundation to putting on a good first concert - at least enabling them to do so because they will have a good sound.

TL;DR: Teach fundamental singing technique in the first quarter, then teach elements of sight-singing in the second quarter. Teach rhythm reading in band during the first quarter, then teach scales during the second; focus on tone and technique always. In both groups, begin heavy on the warm-up portion and then spend less and less time as performances approach (but always spend some time even if only one minute).

First units in Kindergarten: Focus on the right topics

How do you start a new year in kindergarten? My experience and my vision as a music teacher in a public school tell me that you have to start from the very beginning, from the most basic musical concepts, and approach curriculum and lesson planning as if the students might have zero knowledge about music. That means starting with concepts that are both foundational and easy to learn. With that in mind, I think that the first topics in kindergarten should cover Fast/Slow, Loud/Quiet, and then High/Low. Now, these may be interchangeable in order, but I think that all three should be covered before anything else.

Direct Instruction vs. Self-Directed Learning in Music

This essay is about using direct instruction in the music classroom, where the teacher takes full responsibility of presenting new information and also assessment, versus the use of self-directed learning, where the students take responsibility for what occurs.

As musicians, many would agree that the majority of our practice routine is self-directed. Even in rehearsals, where the conductor gives constant direct instruction, much of our performance is a result of self-directed playing because there are simply too many variables for the conductor to control all at the same time. Therefore, it is imperative that young students begin to learn about self-directed learning techniques early in their musical career.

In direct instruction, the teacher shows the students how to put the instruments together and goes along to check and make sure that they are correct. How would students go about the same task using self-directed learning? It is a simple thought process that occurs as a result of an implicit goal: "I want to play that instrument." Most young students do not need to be taught to want to play, it is natural for them to be eager to start playing. But right away, they run into a problem. How are they supposed to play when they don't know how to put the instrument together? The direct-instruction model requires a teacher to provide that information and feedback, but in self-directed learning, the student must search for their own answers. In this age, most of them would turn to the internet and search for 'how do i put a clarinet together' or something similar. That is the essence of self-directed learning: the students learn how to find their own solutions and apply them.

One might take this to the extreme and only use self-directed instruction. For a young student, this could be dangerous for two reasons: one, the student doesn't always find the right information. In this case, it might end up in a damaged instrument. And two, the student doesn't always know if they are right, or in this case, whether or not they've put their instrument together correctly, resulting in further problems when the student begins to play.

That's where I would like to coin the term "self-directed learning assistant," or in other words, a teacher. Students should be encouraged to learn on their own, but also they should be encouraged to seek help from another person when the circumstances demand it. As the classroom music teacher, I need to teach the students how to be self-directed and then be available to assist them if they need help. Most classroom activities are teacher-led by nature, so I need to give extra consideration to finding the best opportunities to make self-directed learning a success.

Things That I Wish I Had Known My First Year - Part 1

This is the beginning of a series of posts for first year teachers about first year teaching. There is no substitute for experience, nor is there any pill you can take or book you can read that will give you experience. Beginning to teach with no experience is one of the most difficult things you will go through in life, especially if you do not have an experienced mentor to rely upon. However, by reading about the first year experience, you will have a better perception of what first year teaching will really be like.

What is the first thing I should do after I accept my new teaching position?

When I had accepted my first job offer, it was in March of 2011. I had about six months to get ready for teaching, so here is what I did: I spent about two weeks formulating ideas about how to teach K-12 Music, and then I spent the rest of the summer playing mind-numbing amounts of video games. Big mistake. I thought that I could spend about two weeks before the school year started getting my classroom together, and that was also a big mistake. As a new teacher, I really didn't understand how much stuff there was to go through: file cabinets, desk drawers, bookshelves full of mostly old music teaching books, bookshelves full of mostly old band music and choir music, containers of stuff that had been used in previous plays and music programs, shelves full of instruments in both good and bad conditions, closets full of really old uniforms... you get the idea. A lot more than I could handle in two weeks. So here's my suggestion: the first thing you should do when you accept a new job is to head there as soon as possible and start going through the stuff. Figure out what materials you need to organize right now (desk drawers, filing cabinets for important documents) and what materials you will most likely be using at the beginning of the school year (instruments, band and choir music, lesson plan or curriculum books, computers, etc.) and figure out where you can put all of these things so that they are readily available when you need them. Decide how you want the room to look and function, and then start working towards putting things where you think they should go. Also, decide which things are okay to just leave there for now - like that shelf full of Silver-Burdett books from the 1960's - and which things need to go in the trash can. BE VERY CAREFUL not to throw away things that shouldn't be thrown away. Most schools have a detailed process for throwing out old equipment or books. But a lot of times, there are cheap instruments that are simply beyond repair, file cabinets full of photocopied music, packets of home-made teaching materials that you probably won't ever use, and a variety of other junk that is just sitting around taking up space. Check with the principal, and then chuck it in the bin or send it away to the magical land of school storage. Depending on how long it's been since someone has done this, it might take a very long time to go through your room or it might be an afternoon project. Assume that it wasn't very high on the priority list of the teacher who left at the end of last year. Figuring out what you have and what you don't have sets you up for the next step: how are you going to manage day-to-day paperwork and what are your classroom rules going to be?

What is the goal of music education?

The goal is ultimately to put on a good concert. I mean, you can include things like music theory and composition and identifying world instruments and music appreciation, but all of those things culminate towards one goal: to put on a good performance. In a poorly oversimplified way, that is what any music program is all about: putting on a good concert.

The question then arises, what does it take to put on a good concert? 

One thing that matters is having the right repertoire. That detail mainly comes down to the foresight of the conductor (me), but also is limited by three factors: the ability level of the students, the instrumentation of the group, and the availability of the music.

The second thing that makes a good concert is the quality of the performance. A high-quality performance does not insult the ears. There are very few wrong notes, there is good balance and good tone quality and good intonation. Rhythm aligns with the beat, and the beat is the same from one musician to the next. In a good performance, the performers listen to one another and communicate with one another through their music.

Now, let's consider how this applies to the Dutton/Brady music program.

A very large part of my job is to select the right music each year for each concert. I then design a series of exercises and assignments to be used throughout the rehearsal process. Rhythm and scales are foundational to all music, so they are a part of each day's lesson. If the goal is to put on a good concert, then I need to choose music that meets that goal according to the requirements listed above.

The quality of the performance is very much dependent on the musical ability of the students. They need to know how to work their instrument or voice in order to produce the required sound. They also need to know what the music should sound like: what their part should sound like and how it relates to the entire piece. Furthermore, they should be able to identify any errors in their own performance and practice so that they can play or sing everything correctly.

But what about elementary general music classes?

There are two ways to structure an elementary curriculum. The first way is to treat elementary music as if it were just a prerequisite for band and choir. In other words, the main goal of general music is to prepare students for junior high and high school. The focus should be on learning to read music and perform accurately on voice or instruments. In this approach, elementary music is the means to an end. The second way to structure elementary music is to make it an end within itself, or teaching the music for music's sake. This type of curriculum focuses on providing musical experiences that are appropriate for childhood in such a way that children learn to enjoy music. The goal of this type of program is to pass on our rich musical heritage to the younger generation lest it be forgotten.

To me, it is obvious that the goal of elementary music should be a balance between these two types of programs. Young students should be taught certain songs for music's sake and other certain songs for the sake of learning to read music and perform accurately. They should have some performance experience and gain a basic understanding of music theory and performance, but the daily activities and experiences in the classroom are equally important. Therefore, the goal of music education at the elementary level is both to prepare for junior high ensembles and to learn about the joys of music.

How Not to Arrange

I had a great idea to make my students in third and fourth grade come up with their own arrangement for Aura Lee to perform at the Spring Concert. On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. It meets the new standards for composing and it gives the students a project to work on as a class. There is probably a good way to go about planning a series of lessons that culminate in a good arrangement that is entirely student-made, but I definitely found the way NOT to present this project:

My students were doing a great job with singing Aura Lee and playing it on their recorder as well. However, a small group of students were not successful at playing on the recorder, including one student with disabilities. I didn't want to single anybody out on the "triangle part" (a part that I would have created to be as simple as possible so that students who couldn't play the recorder could still be successful), and I wanted to challenge the students and meet the new standards by allowing them to come up with their own arrangement. So far, this wasn't a bad idea.

When it came to creating new parts for the song, I should have followed the Orff Method more closely - that is, I should have had the students sing the song together and come up with an ostinato pattern using body percussion only. Then, after the students were able to perform the ostinato and sing successfully, I should have added one instrument in place of the body percussion. This would have been enough to satisfy both the challenge and the standards, or even a second ostinato and instrument could have been added.

Instead of following a logical plan like that, I chose a more chaotic route: I brought out all of the instruments at once, allowed students to choose any instrument that they wanted, and then I played Aura Lee on the piano and asked the students to improvise an accompaniment on their instrument. Now, the result was obviously a chaotic mess. I did accomplish one objective of getting students to improvise. Actually, accomplish is the wrong word. After the first chaotic attempt, the new task was to try and make the chaotic mess into an acceptable accompaniment, which so far has been unsuccessful. I feel bad having to tell certain students, "No, your part doesn't fit, sorry." It's just been a backwards process from the beginning.

How do I fix this mess before the concert in two weeks? I don't think that it would hurt to go back to the beginning and spend part of a period starting from scratch. I mean, have the students sing the song and create a body percussion ostinato, then add some drums and tambourines to it. I also don't think it would hurt to keep the triangle part that the students already worked on. Everything else, however, must go. I also think that the song form needs to be one of the "compositional parameters" that I assign, rather than have the students try to figure it out. I guess we'll try it on Thursday and see how it goes.