Here is what is going on in my classroom this week:
This week and last week have been a little crazy around here. We had an in-service day, a snow day and several 2-hour delays. All of that plays havoc with the entire building schedule and has resulted in a lot of make-up lesson scheduling for me. I am mostly playing catch-up with my students, by making sure that every student has each piece of new music. I have a few additions to my teaching schedule (a really fabulous flute player who also plays violin and an oboeist that I have not yet met) and some adjustments, which is taking a little getting used-to for everyone.
In lessons, I am trying to get into the “Accent On…” exercises that are in the back of each student’s lesson book. I really enjoy teaching from Alfred Publishing’s Accent on Achievement series, one of my favorite elements of the series are the “Accent On…” exercises. Throughout the book are ones for theory, creativity and history as well as ones that focus on instrument-specific skills. In the back of the book are two pages of these such exercises and I find that I can always make a good warm-up out of a line. Then, I can push a little further and focus on some alternate fingering or some tricky lip-slurs. I would love for each of my students to be proficient on each of the exercises before finishing the book, but honestly, it is challenging to find time to do that. This week, I am making time for it and having each student play 2-3 of them and we check them off in their book (and shower them with praise!).
I am gradually moving my percussion students into a Mel-Bay book that does a good job of rudiments and rhythm-drilling. I actually like a couple other books better, but some of the private teachers in the area use them, and I do not like to step on their toes and work from the same text.
On Friday, my Select Band will start playing from a set of Essential Elements Jazz books that I bought this year. I would like to make a better, and more focused effort, to teach improvisation in my classroom. So, I am using this set as a chance to work on this. Most beginning band lesson books have a couple improvisation exercises, but they are mostly just giving the students a pile of notes that are safe to play. I would like to work more on developing their ears and am hoping to do that with this series.
Finally, I am working on my “Petting Zoo”. I am setting up an area in the back of my room with grass (green paper) and all of the instruments that I teach. A music student teacher in the building is working with me, and I think he is planning to make signs for each instrument (genus! species! habits!). I am going to make some signs that say not to feed the animals, but that it is okay to pet them. I probably will have some 5th graders come down and put some final touches in like make other plants (tissue paper and more green paper, I assume). Then, the 3rd graders will come in and visit my zoo. I have worked it out with the general music teacher in the building and she is excited about this. March is when she focuses on the instruments of the orchestra, so this will be nice for the kids to have a chance to see them and touch them.
Well, they will be seeing and touching the band instruments… I do not do orchestra.
