Each Monday evening at 8PM EST, music teachers get together and share ideas about important topics within music education. It’s a great chance to interact directly with educators from all over the world and to get new tips and tricks to help you succeed in the classroom. The entire #musedchat discussion is organized and moderated by Joe Guarr.
Welcome to #musedchat! Our topic this evening: Preventing stagnation in our classrooms. Be sure to introduce yourself.
Post your favorite October-related GIF. #musiced
A1: During the marching band season, it hits in the middle of September when you're cleaning drill. Then usually about late February/early March. Kids got restless. I got restless.
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R1: after concerts is an obvious answer but I try to incorporate team building as much as possible in the spring when I feel a group is getting tired of working with each other #musedchat
A1: I think the performance cycle lends itself to pretty natural changes in the routine. However, a change can also be good coming in close to a performance w/ music we've been working up for a while. #musedchat
A1: I agree with this. The concert cycle is a great time to revamp as needed. I try to add in some mini in-school performances in March/April to help get through the slow season for elementary band as well. #musedchat
I feel like we space performances well (not too much time in between), but in general having school everyday with nothing to really break things up can get the kids too
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And I know I sometimes forget that the kids aren't always as well-equipped to repeatedly dig into details as we are. That can really feel like a grind from their perspective. #musedchat
A2: I liked to use flexible seating to get them listening and watching differently. I should have used it more often!
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A2: I'm starting to use @Flipgrid Portfolios this year & at the end of every month, Ss will record a selection they've been working on to track their growth and progress. Given limited time, I think once a month will make this something to look forward to! #musedchat
A2-2: Or having other students conduct, going conductor-less. February was our solo/ensemble time, so rehearsals could be broken up with that. May was a student-led ensemble project
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I haven’t had a ton of success with it, even at the HS level. All students have to be extremely disciplined for it to work. If you try it let me know how it goes! #musedchat
A2-3: For 1 piece per concert cycle this last year, I used a flex band piece to split students up from into non-homogenous groups. Taught rehearsal strategies and let them rehearse themselves
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A2: great idea from one of my students - free seat Friday within your section. Also have a wide variety of fundamental exercises like from Essential Musicianship or Habits is Successful MS so you have ways to switch #musedchat
A2- changing seats, movement activity, breathing for 5 counts, taking advantage of a teachable moment; playing a game or singing a fav song; also flipgrid, breakout Edu, and even hybrid approach (requires training) #musedchat
Ever tried bring percussiontonthe frot right next to you but facing the winds? The get to hear what they are supposed to hear and I don’t do this often enough! #MusEdchat
A2: I sectioned off my beginners today, and picked up a saxophone mouthpiece for demonstration. I played sax most of the rest of the day, and it honestly helped w/ classroom management. #musedchat
A3: Tried to have kids write a story to accompany a piece we were writing. One sentence per kid going around the room. Kids wanted to play and got waaaay to goofy with it. #musedchat
R3: I like to think my kids are very forgiving when we try new things. If it doesn’t work, at least we learned one way not to accomplish our goals. #musedchat
A3.1: It could go better, but I think I needed to approach it differently and give it a little more set up. My attempt to be unstructured led to chaos instead of creativity. #musedchat
Same thing for me with chamber music. Some kids do really, really well. Some just aren’t ready to play a part alone (or even with a friend). Neat thing is this is an easy place for differentiation #musedchat
A3: when I was teaching HS percussion I tried “everyone is required to attend solo and ensemble festival on mallet, snare, and timpani solos” sorry OVHS #musedchat
Chamber music was so important to me as a young musician it has taken many attempts to find my groove with getting Ss inspired in the same ways. #musedchat
R4: the ultimate goal is that students listen better, watch better, and generally play better. But if they have fun playing their instrument, that’s a success too. #musedchat
You know you want to present at a conference with performers like these kids — The Ch33rios at MTSU this past summer.
APME National Conference: New York University, June 12-15, 2019. Call for papers is live. See you there! #popmused#musedchathttps://t.co/hBqIqGr8Ur
A4: #GeniusHour is my favorite. We use it following our Spring Concert. Students get a lot of freedom and never cease to amaze with the cool projects they come up with. #musedchat
A4: The second one would be the Swing Dance we did as a jazz band fundraiser. All 8-12 jazz bands play, bring a potluck item. First 30 minutes is learning how to swing dance, rest of the night is kids playing for kids dancing.
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A4 not sure i had one great success, but have had to change things on the fly often n am honest w Ss about it, they learn to be flexible by being included in the experience #MusEdchat
You know you want to present at a conference with performers like these kids — The Ch33rios at MTSU this past summer.
APME National Conference: New York University, June 12-15, 2019. See you there! #popmused#musedchat
A4: Started sending small groups out around the school after our winter concert to play some carols a few years ago. That's been the biggest success so far. Gets kids excited for chamber music. #musedchat
