Issues

2. (28 points)  The paper by yours truly ("Houston, We've Got A Problem") discusses an important social/educational problem.  Music teachers can probably make their contributions as opportunities with students arise, rather than through formal curricular efforts such as a course or unit in a course.  They can also exercise their ideas as interested citizens.

Read the article, and then do these two things.  First, think of two actions that schools, and especially music teachers, might do to improve the situation.

Second, think of and describe two actions that local government or community groups can do to deal with the situation.  If you prefer tackling the matter at the state or national level, you may do so instead of confining your thoughts to your community.

• The deadline for this post is located in Due Dates. 
• View the Rubric used to assess your post.
• Submit your Reflection Post in the Assignments tool.

As a music teacher, you need to become responsible for your program.  While music educator organizations are great for providing resources for teachers, it is ultimately up to the individual music teacher to advocate for their school music program.  One thing a music teacher can do is to inform their Principal about the state of their program.  Dr. Charles R. Hoffer recommends that a music educator write a letter to the Principal addressing the state of their program once a year.  This letter will include information about what is being taught in the music program as well as what needs there are for the program and what it will take to fulfill those needs.  Even if there is no immediate action taken place after this letter is composed, it will show your interest in the program and help inform the Principal that the music program is a real class and not just a class that students attend when classroom teachers need a break.

In addition, the music teacher needs to keep the community informed about the educational offerings of the music class as well.  We walk a fine line between education and entertainment and it is very easy to edge towards the side of entertainment.  The entertainment factor brings applause and numbers to our concerts.  However it doesn't always bring support.  In order to garner support for the school music program, the parents must be informed about the goings-on off the music classroom.  They should see that their students know musical concepts.  They should see that their students are learning music.  In order to do this, we need to keep the education vs. entertainment balanced in the program.  We can choose entertaining pieces to perform for the parents, however, those pieces still need to have educational components as well.  Instead of performances, we should hold "informances" for the parents so that they are informed of what the students are learning in music.

In an effort to improve low academic performances in school, teachers, students, and parents all need to become involved.  One way to improve low academic performance by students would be to work with the parents to set aside an hour a day for the kids to do homework.  There are no distractors such as TV or video games.  Students work solely on homework and parents can sit down and help them.

Another way to improve low academic performance by students would be to partner with a local business to create a work-study program.  Students in this program would attend school for half the day and then work for the other half of the day.  This teaches things like responsibility in the work force, how to deal with other people, and more.  An experiment was done using this idea in Indiana and the students in this program ended up with higher scores than students who were not enrolled in this program. 

Community groups can also get involved with improving our school music programs.  If a band has a booster club, the booster club needs to spend only a small amount of time and money to send out letters to television news organizations, community organizations, and newspaper organizations to inform them of what the program is doing.   This can include spotlighting the groups or individual musicians, what the students might be learning in class, and the needs of the program.  This will greatly impact the program because it will help inform the community.  This will gather support for the program.

Lastly the local government and the school board can get involved as well to generate support for the music programs.  Unfortunately we don't always get the support we want and need from the local governments and the school boards because they generally give the funding to the "basic classroom programs."  However, if we went to the school board and the local government with information about what the students are learning, informances that demonstrate these skills, and a showing of community support, we could really generate a lot of support from the local government and the school board.  Once we have the local government and school board on board, they are more likely to help with any needs the program might have.  

All these ideas are there to help music educators.  We might not get a lot of support because we don't know how to ask for it.  With these ideas, we can start to get help with building the program, get support for the program, and ensure that it won't be the first program on the "chopping block" when there are budget cuts.  

Reflection of the course.

1. (46 points) This course has covered a lot of material.  You have had to learn much about the history of music education in America, philosophical positions, ideas on aesthetics, purposes of education, sociological and social psychological concepts, and several aspects of psychology in a short amount of time.  Now, let’s put that knowledge to use! 

Be sure to address all three items below with examples and support in a reflection post that connects what you've learned with how you will use it as a teacher in the future.

§  How will what you learned in this course about philosophy and aesthetics affect your teaching in the future?

§  How will what was covered in the parts on sociology, social psychology, or psychology affect your teaching in the future?

§  Choose any one of the previous seven units in the course, and explain how what you have learned will affect your teaching in the future.

§  The deadline for this post is located in your Due Dates. 

§  View the Rubric used to assess your post.

§  Submit your Reflection Post in the Assignments tool.

“Plato may be right, even in relation to a modern democracy, that changes in musical culture go hand in hand with changes in the laws, since changes in the laws so often reflect pressures from the culture” (Scruton 2010).  The culture of music education is constantly changing as we progress through time.  We have seen how the concepts taught to students have changed from the beginning of the 20^th century to the end of the 20^th century.  In the Silver Burdett textbook from the early 20^th century, the concepts taught to children included “melodies based upon the tonic chord,” “melodies progressing by intervals,” and “miscellaneous songs for sight reading.”  As time progressed, the concepts included in the Silver Burdett changed to include “melodies that move,” “texture in music,” and “rhythm – it’s clearly popular.”

There is a long history of music education in the United States.  “Just as it had done in the Middle Ages, the church in the early days of the United States became the chief dispenser of music education” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman p. 8).  Later, Lowell Mason fought to include music education in the schools.  Lowell Mason, known as the father of music education, was the supervisor of elementary vocal music in the Boston public schools.  Mason was a talented musician who could play a variety of instruments.  In order to garner support for teaching music to the Boston public schools, Mason worked as a music educator without pay.  He had so much support that the school board eventually put in on the pay roll. 

After the Civil War occurred, music education within American schools expanded.  The support for this came from a number of factors including the increasing number of private teachers, the increasing number of choral activities, and the formation of symphony orchestras. 

The period after World War I influenced bands to step up into the spotlight.  There were school bands prior to the war but there were many more bands created when the war had ended.  At this time instruction in music, including both vocal and instrumental, were becoming an acceptable part of a school curriculum. 

Unfortunately, during World War II, “cultural pursuits had to be held in abeyance for the duration” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman p. 19).  Most of the manpower went to the war and war efforts.  Because of the shortage of teachers, classroom teachers began take up the mantle of music teacher in addition to classroom teacher.  After the war ended, this trend continued until in 1972 when MENC published the paper titled “Teacher Education in Music: Final Report” that sought to include a music specialist in the schools once more. 

  As a teacher, I can see that the concepts of music education have changed.  If they have changed once, they may change again.  I must be prepared for whatever changes may come and to become a life-long learner in order to be able to teach the concepts.

According to our text book, there are three basic philosophical viewpoints: rationalism, empiricism, and pragmatism.  There are not the only three philosophical viewpoints but they are the most common.  Rationalism states that knowledge is a fixed body of truth.  This fixed body of truth is applied in all times and in all places.  This theory started with Socrates and Plato in ancient Greece.  Physical objects are imperfect versions of the thoughts they come from.  The roots of Empiricism reach back to Aristotle.  Aristotle was a student of Plato but he disagreed with a number of Plato’s thoughts and ideas.  He did not agree that physical objects were imperfect versions of thoughts.  Things are what they appear to be!  With Pragmatism, you can tract the roots to Heraclitus but it did not flower until the 19^th and 20^th century in America.  The logic of Pragmatism comes from the scientific method.  This helps them determine the truth. 

Every teacher has a point of view when it comes to their style of teaching.  I never thought that these points of views could be summed up into philosophical viewpoints.   Knowing your point of view, as a teacher, can help solidify your technique and your curriculum.  It will help you determine what to teacher and how to teach it.  It is very important for all teachers to know what their point of view is and where they stand.

The section of our text that spoke the most to me this course is the section on Aesthetics.  The statement that “Living is not the same as existing” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman, p. 65) is very powerful.  To exist, one must go through life and do what it takes to survive.  That would include eating and sleeping.  However, to live is an entirely different thing.  To live means to listen to music, play sports, and experience art.  We do not simply want to exist as humans.  We want to live.  It is important to remember that because it is easy to forget.  This is important for teachers because they are teaching aesthetics to their students.  You don’t necessarily need music to survive, but our students want and crave music all the same.  

In terms of sociological foundations in music education, there is a debate between nature vs. nurture.  Philosophers who stress nature believe that you are born with your abilities.   Philosophers who stress nurture believe that your environment shape who you are.  Again, teachers who know what they believe and take a stand.  If you believe that your abilities come from nature or nurture this will help shape your lesson plans and the methods you use to teacher the material to your students.  I believe that for me, my standpoint on nature vs. nurture as well as which philosophy I adhere to, will help me to solidify my existing lessons.  I can take my stance, go back through my lesson plans, and change things to fit my point of view.

Students are learning who they are as they go through school.  Teachers can have a heavy influence on shaping the self-image of their students.  Music educators can associate music with a positive and healthy self-image.  This will potentially motivate students to become more involved in music and to want to learn more about music.  In addition to self-image, students are battling conformity.  Adolescents have a tendency to want to conform to others.  They want verification that they are doing the right things and taking the right sides.   Teachers can use the want to conform to their advantage.  Music educators can motivate their students to enjoy music and those students will, in turn, motivate their friends to join music because they want to conform.   When students come out to musical performances to support their friends they might see that their friends are enjoying performing in the group and might join as well.  Conformity is powerful in a music program and friendship is incredibly important to adolescents.  As a music teacher, I can use this to my advantage when recruiting for my groups. 

Music teachers must be very careful to not let competition be the shining star of a music program.  Healthy competition can be good for developing musicians.  But if a program is all about “winning,” the students are more focused on that than learning.  When your program becomes about winning, there is no education.   With healthy competition we can build competence.  Competent musicians are more likely to continue in music as they grow older because they become independent musicians.  This builds self-confidence in the musicians. 

There are two theoretical positions in psychology of music education: behaviorism and cognitivism.  Behaviorists focus on simple learning situations and tend to believe that there is an association between a stimulus and a response.  An example of a behaviorist musical tendency is that listening to any brass instrument elicits the same response as just listening to a trumpet.  Cognitivists focus on more complex learning areas and include topics of information processing, concept formation, and problem solving.  They believe the mind is comprised of many sets of processes, not just one.  They are interested in ways that new knowledge is acquired and how it can be integrated with previously existing knowledge.

Once again, teachers need to be aware of what position they take.  Teachers need to determine if they are behaviorists or cognitivists.  This will help to shape their lesson plans, their curriculum, and their style of teaching.  As a music teacher, I need to evaluate my own philosophy of music education and determine what needs to change in my style in order to make it uniform.  As a new music teacher, I’m still discovering what my style is.  But as I have gone through this class I have discovered that having a set belief and style will aid not only me as a teacher but my students as well.  If my lessons are consistent, my students will know what to expect and they will learn easily.

In terms of sociological foundations in music education, there is a debate between nature vs. nurture.  Philosophers who stress nature believe that you are born with your abilities.   Philosophers who stress nurture believe that your environment shape who you are.  Again, teachers who know what they believe and take a stand.  If you believe that your abilities come from nature or nurture this will help shape your lesson plans and the methods you use to teacher the material to your students.  I believe that for me, my standpoint on nature vs. nurture as well as which philosophy I adhere to, will help me to solidify my existing lessons.  I can take my stance, go back through my lesson plans, and change things to fit my point of view.

Students are learning who they are as they go through school.  Teachers can have a heavy influence on shaping the self-image of their students.  Music educators can associate music with a positive and healthy self-image.  This will potentially motivate students to become more involved in music and to want to learn more about music.  In addition to self-image, students are battling conformity.  Adolescents have a tendency to want to conform to others.  They want verification that they are doing the right things and taking the right sides.   Teachers can use the want to conform to their advantage.  Music educators can motivate their students to enjoy music and those students will, in turn, motivate their friends to join music because they want to conform.   When students come out to musical performances to support their friends they might see that their friends are enjoying performing in the group and might join as well.  Conformity is powerful in a music program and friendship is incredibly important to adolescents.  As a music teacher, I can use this to my advantage when recruiting for my groups. 

Music teachers must be very careful to not let competition be the shining star of a music program.  Healthy competition can be good for developing musicians.  But if a program is all about “winning,” the students are more focused on that than learning.  When your program becomes about winning, there is no education.   With healthy competition we can build competence.  Competent musicians are more likely to continue in music as they grow older because they become independent musicians.  This builds self-confidence in the musicians. 

There are two theoretical positions in psychology of music education: behaviorism and cognitivism.  Behaviorists focus on simple learning situations and tend to believe that there is an association between a stimulus and a response.  An example of a behaviorist musical tendency is that listening to any brass instrument elicits the same response as just listening to a trumpet.  Cognitivists focus on more complex learning areas and include topics of information processing, concept formation, and problem solving.  They believe the mind is comprised of many sets of processes, not just one.  They are interested in ways that new knowledge is acquired and how it can be integrated with previously existing knowledge.

Once again, teachers need to be aware of what position they take.  Teachers need to determine if they are behaviorists or cognitivists.  This will help to shape their lesson plans, their curriculum, and their style of teaching.  As a music teacher, I need to evaluate my own philosophy of music education and determine what needs to change in my style in order to make it uniform.  As a new music teacher, I’m still discovering what my style is.  But as I have gone through this class I have discovered that having a set belief and style will aid not only me as a teacher but my students as well.  If my lessons are consistent, my students will know what to expect and they will learn easily

Musical Concepts.

3. (30 points) Teachers can set the stage for students to develop concepts about aspects of music.  For one of the music classes that you teach, describe four musical concepts that you want to students to acquire more fully.  In addition, describe what you as a teacher would do to promote the development of each of the concepts you listed.

Our textbook described a number of musical concepts and the order in which they should be learned: volume, timbre, tempo, duration, pitch, and harmony.  For this blog post, I will be discussing what concepts my class should learn and what I will do to promote the development of the concepts.  I will be talking about my Kindergarten class.

When my students come to me in the beginning of the year, some of the Kindergarten students may have had some musical exposure while in Pre-School and some may not have had any.  I treat the students as though they were a blank slate and none of them know any musical concepts.  My Kindergarten students first work on volume: loud or soft.  We use a number of lessons to teach loud vs. soft.  The students explore loud vs. soft with their voices when we discuss inside vs. outside voices, speaking vs. whispering, etc.  They will then learn songs and sing the song either loud or soft.  We then transfer that concept to instruments and students  can play drums either loud or soft and then wood blocks either loud or soft.

When I see students in the hallway or lunch room I make sure to compliment them on their "soft, indoor voices" and when I see them outside, screaming and having fun at recess, I compliment them on using a "loud, outdoor" voice outside.  

After we learn volume, we move onto timbre.  Students determine the differences in the sounds of different instruments.  We talk about how a drum sounds different than rhythm sticks because of their size, shape, and the material they are made from.  Students learn wood vs. skin vs. metal.  I love to play a game with the students where I hide behind the piano with a number of instruments.  I will play an instrument and students must raise their hands to tell me what instrument I played.  I also do metal vs. wood vs. skin.  Students must tell me what material they are hearing.

We then move onto tempo.  My students start out with slow vs. fast and to do this we feel the tempo in our bodies by moving to music.  In addition we do a unit using the tortoise and the hare.  Then we start to put labels to the tempo: presto vs. largo.  We add in more tempi as we go through the year and during the rest of their time in music class with me as well (as they progress through the grades).

The next thing we do is duration.  My Kindergarten students come to me not understanding short vs. long.  They will play a steady beat to a piece of music but not realize when it is appropriate to stop playing (at the end of a song).  I do a lot of "Freeze" with them on the instruments to get them to play short.  In addition, I use vocal exploration powerpoints.  There are lines or dots that the students must follow with their voices.  If it's made of dots, the students use short sounds.  If it is made of lines, the students use long sounds.  Students will then get to great their own vocal explorations and perform them for the class.  I do this with my Pre-K students as well and the pre-k teachers are now doing that in their own classrooms.  

Just like with the loud vs. soft, I try to compliment my students on all these concepts if I see them both in the music room and also in other areas of the school such as the hallway, lunch duty, and recess.  The students try to be good examples because they know they might get a compliment.  

Behavioral objectives.

2. (30 points) Write four behavioral objectives for a school music class or rehearsal.  Next, write how a teacher could assess in a behavioral way the extent to which the students have achieved each of the four objectives you listed.

I'm going to write as though I were working on the same lesson plan I wrote about last week:

The first lesson plan is called "I Kissed a Frog" which utilizes a poem created by Jack Prelutsky.  (You can visit jackprelutsky.com to see his work!  He has really creative an imaginative poems).  For copyright reasons, I cannot list the poem for you but I ended up setting the poem "A Princess Laments" to music and created the following lesson plan:

¯   Students echo Do, Re, Mi, Sol patterns in order to set up the pattern of the melody.

¯   Students gradually build up to the melody of “I kissed a frog.”

¯   Students transfer to words.

¯   Students discuss the story and what movie recently portrayed the story (Answer = The Princess and the Frog).

¯   Students sing the song with good posture.

¯   Students discuss an instrument that would be appropriate to add to the rests – vibraslap, guiro, or hand drum that sounds like a frog!

¯   Teacher has one Student add the instrument on the rest to portray the croaking of the frog.

¯   Students learn the ostinato pattern on the Orff instruments.

¯   Students review allegro vs. andante.

¯   Students determine whether or not the song sounds better allegro or andante.

¯   Students decode the 5 rhythm patterns on the powerpoint:

¯   Students break in pairs and are handed a baggy containing the 5 pattern cards.Students are then tasked to create an 8 beat pattern using 4 of the patterns.

¯   Students practice saying their patterns together.

¯   Students speak their patterns as the B section to the song and perform AB (all groups at the same time) A.

¯   Students add 2 levels of body percussion (snaps, claps, stomps, taps, etc) to their patterns.

¯   Students perform ABACADA (each contrasting section is 1 partnership with body percussion) – create a rondo.

¯   Students have to work together as a class to help the princess turn back into a human - game.

¯   S play the interactive powerpoint game:

This lesson promotes creativity by having students create their own body percussion patterns using a structured environment.  They are given specific instructions with some creative freedom and the class created a rondo form.

I will make four behavioral objectives for this lesson plan.  To do this, I am going to make sure that each objective lists a condition under which the behavior will be performed, a behavior, and a criteria for how well they met the behavior.

The Student will be able to: The student will:

1) Distinguish between allegro and andante, perform the song at both tempos, determine which of the tempos better suits the song, and plan for further testing and development of tempo.

2) Discuss how to extend the form of the song, create their own contrasting B section for the song, perform their contrasting sections individually and as a class, and provide self-evaluation on how well their contrasting section worked.

3) Discuss Rondo Form, create a rondo form using their contrasting compositions, and provide class feedback to others on how well their contrasting sections worked.

4) Review rhythm syllables using Ta and Ti, successfully read rhythm cards with 100% accuracy, and determine what they need to improve for the next rhythm reading.

To assess the behavioral objectives, I will use a number of evaluation techniques.  I will definitely utilize self-evaluation as well as the student evaluating each other (using a set of criteria of course).  In addition, I will use formal observation of the students, written evaluation of their understanding of tempo and form, and extension of the ideas to further lesson planning to determine if they have successfully grasped the material.  

For the first objective, I would utilize first a oral evaluation.  Students will discuss the tempo and teacher will determine whether or not they grasped the material.  In addition, a written evaluation will be used in the future after more experience with the tempo.  And the students will need to utilize tempo in further musical activities with success.

For the second objective, I would utilize formal observation to determine whether or not their contrasting sections met a set of criteria.  In addition, I would have the students self-evaluate their contrasting sections.

For the third objective, I would once again use formal observation to determine if their section met the criteria.  This time I would have the rest of the class provide feedback on their contrasting sections using a set of criteria on how to judge a piece of music.

For the fourth objective, I would do oral evaluation to determine if each student can read with 100% accuracy the rhythm card they were given and determine what needs to be worked on individually as well as a class.

Cognitivist

1. (30 points) Study and listen to the opening 16 measures of the second movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata.  Write two relatively brief posts.  In the first post describe how you would teach a student to play the work using the behaviorist/stimulus response approach.  In the second post describe how you would  teach a student to play the work using the cognitivist/gestalt approach.

A cognitivist teacher attempting to organize the same exact lesson would approach it differently.  A cognitivist teacher tends to focus on more complex learning areas than behaviorist teachers do.  These teachers are interested in how the new knowledge is acquired by the student.  There are two different approaches to the cognitivist thought: 1) the student plays an active role in organizing the material that is to be learned and 2) the teacher organizes the material that is to be learned.

A cognitivist teacher who follows Bruner's process and is teaching the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique might give the students options regarding the piece.  The student might chose where to start in the piece and how fast or slow they wish to take it (within reason).  They might chose a from a few different listening examples of the piece, which listening example they would like to imitate the most.  

Behaviorist

1. (30 points) Study and listen to the opening 16 measures of the second movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata.  Write two relatively brief posts.  In the first post describe how you would teach a student to play the work using the behaviorist/stimulus response approach.  In the second post describe how you would  teach a student to play the work using the cognitivist/gestalt approach.

Beethoven Pathetique Sonata

Beethoven Pathetique Music

A behaviorist teacher tends to focus on simple learning situations.  They also think that behavior changes are due to the manipulation of environmental factors.  They believe that learning is a "bond" between a stimulus and a behavior.  A behaviorist teacher who is teaching the second movement to Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata would keep these things in mind as they develop their lesson plan.  

The behaviorist teacher would compare the features of this piece to a piece that the student already knows.  The students might already know correct fingerings to another one of Beethoven's pieces.  They will then learn this piece that might use the same notes but utilize a different fingering for the piece.  The student might still wish to draw upon the fingering techniques of the old piece.  

The behaviorist teacher might use a listening example for the students.  The listening example of the second movement of the Pathetique Sonata would be the environmental stimulus and how the student takes that listening example and utilizes it within their performance would be the response to the stimulus.  

Creative Lessons

2. (30 points) Create a reflection post describing at least five ways and situations for involving students in making creative choices in music. 

• First, decide whether your activities apply to elementary school general music classes or to rehearsals of performing ensembles at the middle and high school level.
• Second, describe each creative activity in enough detail so that your instructor (that’s me) will have a clear idea how you plan to teach the creative experience.  In other words, it will not be enough to write, “I will hand out Orff instruments and we’ll make up a rondo,” or “Each student in the band will improvise four measures of music.”   Instead, describe in detail the procedures that you plan to use and how the students will be involved in making and applying creative decisions.
• Submit your Reflection Post in the Assignments tool.
• View the Rubric uses to score your post.

1) I have gathered five lesson plans that encourage creativity in the general elementary music classroom.  The first lesson plan is called "I Kissed a Frog" which utilizes a poem created by Jack Prelutsky.  (You can visit jackprelutsky.com to see his work!  He has really creative an imaginative poems).  For copyright reasons, I cannot list the poem for you but I ended up setting the poem "A Princess Laments" to music and created the following lesson plan:

¯   Students echo Do, Re, Mi, Sol patterns in order to set up the pattern of the melody.

¯   Students gradually build up to the melody of “I kissed a frog.”

¯   Students transfer to words.

¯   Students discuss the story and what movie recently portrayed the story (Answer = The Princess and the Frog).

¯   Students sing the song with good posture.

¯   Students discuss an instrument that would be appropriate to add to the rests – vibraslap, guiro, or hand drum that sounds like a frog!

¯   Teacher has one Student add the instrument on the rest to portray the croaking of the frog.

¯   Students learn the ostinato pattern on the Orff instruments.

¯   Students review allegro vs. andante.

¯   Students determine whether or not the song sounds better allegro or andante.

¯   Students decode the 5 rhythm patterns on the powerpoint:

¯   Students break in pairs and are handed a baggy containing the 5 pattern cards.Students are then tasked to create an 8 beat pattern using 4 of the patterns.

¯   Students practice saying their patterns together.

¯   Students speak their patterns as the B section to the song and perform AB (all groups at the same time) A.

¯   Students add 2 levels of body percussion (snaps, claps, stomps, taps, etc) to their patterns.

¯   Students perform ABACADA (each contrasting section is 1 partnership with body percussion) – create a rondo.

¯   Students have to work together as a class to help the princess turn back into a human - game.

¯   S play the interactive powerpoint game:

This lesson promotes creativity by having students create their own body percussion patterns using a structured environment.  They are given specific instructions with some creative freedom and the class created a rondo form.

2) The second lesson I am sharing today is one that gets Kindergarten students to create.  We do a lot of vocal explorations in Kindergarten. For example:

Students will follow the line with their voices using whatever vowel I ask them to use, such as an "oo" vowel.  We talk a lot about high versus low.  This gets the students comfortable with their voices.  In order to add creating to the classroom, I have students create their own vocal explorations.  That particular example was from a pirate themed vocal exploration that I created.  We talked about what sounds pirate might make, what items a pirate might have, and what a pirate might wear.  Then, after completely the vocal explorations, students are given a piece of paper with a pirate in one corner and a red "X" in another corner.  Students then have to create their own vocal exploration connecting the pirate to the red "X" so he can find his treasure.  

3) The next lesson I am going to share that utilizes creativity in the music class is one for recorders.  I follow the recorder karate curriculum.  Students learn a song, pass the song, and earn a "colored belt" for their recorder.  Last year I had many students pass the black belt long before their classmates did.  In order to give them something to do, I thought of new belts that went beyond Black Belt.  One of them was a silver belt.  The students had to compose their own song using certain parameters and then perform it for their classmates in order to earn their Silver Belt.

We also did other composition activities throughout the semester they spend learning recorder.  We did one for groundhogs day, valentines day, and more.

Here is the lesson plan from the Valentine's Day composition:

¯   Students will be given a Valentine’s Day poem written out with the rhythmic notation written above it.

¯   Students will read the poem using rhythm syllables - Ta’s and Ti’s.

¯   Students will then read the poem on words.

¯   Students will be tasked with composing a melody for the poem using the notes B, A, G, and E on the recorder.

¯   Students will need to know the note names, the proper fingerings, and which line or space the notes are on in the treble clef staff.

¯   Students will notate the melody on the given staff using the proper rhythmic markings in addition to the note names.

¯   Students will play their melody for the class.

All students had the same poem with the same rhythms.  That way, the entire class knew the parameters of the meter and the rhythm.  However, students could be creative by choosing their own melody using the pitches they had learned so far: B, A, G, and E.  

4) The following lesson plan I did not create.  I went to a workshop this past year by Randy and Jeff who do the Game Plan curriculum.  I'm not going to share all the details on it since it is not my lesson to give.  But it's very cute.  They created a poem called "N-E-W-S" that stands for "North, East, West, South."  It's a two measure poem that utilizes a syncopated rhythm in the second measure.  The teacher presents rhythm cards with the rhythms from poem to the students who then speak them on rhythm syllables in different combinations.  The teacher then refines them to the rhythm of the poem: Ta, Ta, Ta, Ta: Syn-co-pa, Ti-Ti, Ta!  Afterwards, the students add the text.

Students then pat the rhythm and transfer the rhythm to the barred instruments that are set in any pentatonic key.  After the students get the hang of playing the rhythm while speaking the poem, students stop speaking the poem aloud and only play the rhythm.  

Students then extend to a 2-part canon at 4 beat intervals by breaking up into woods vs. metals.  

The remaining students who are not on the barred instruments form groups of 4 or 5.  They each choose a card with either North, East, West, or South on it.  The groups decide how to spell their word exactly two times.  It can be done simply or more complex but they have only 2 measures to do it.  After they get that down and practice the rhythms, they add body percussion to their creations.  

Students perform this as a rondo - the A section being the poem played on the barred instruments and the other sections being the created patterns by the different groups.

This worked really well with my students who had a ball coming up with ways to say the different directions!

5)The last lesson I am sharing today is a lesson that is simple.  Students in the lower grades complete a class composition using a grid.  There is a grid on the board and students come up with symbols to represent the different instruments (a circle for a hand drum, a bell for a cow bell, etc).  Students create a class composition emphasizing the use of patterns.  Students are then broken into groups to play the instruments on the grid.  It is a steady beat composition and students play their instrument when the squares arrive.

Students are broken into pairs or trios and given a grid (the grid can be anywhere from 3 by 3 squares to 5 by 5 squares).   The students create their own composition using the same symbols that were created earlier.  Students then practice the composition with their groups and then present it to class.  This is a great way to get the students to compose without having to worry about the notation!