Blog
No matter where you go or who you talk to, music class is synonymous with performances and concerts. Whether it’s the whole school winter concert or a school assembly performance, opportunities to perform in front of an audience are part of most music class...
Whether you have a self-contained class of exceptional learners or a few are part of the general population of your classes, having strategies on hand to help these students will help them (and you!) in the long run. The great thing about these strategies is that they will...
If you’ve followed That Music Teacher for a while now, you’ve likely heard the term “Exceptional Learners.” My school refers to this population as “Students with Learning Differences.” There are many names for these amazing students...
As a specialist and quite possibly the only music and/or content area teacher in your school building, collaboration with other teachers is important. This helps you build relationships with other teachers, which is fantastic, because being a specialist can be...
Have you ever encountered a situation where you stood back and said, “Woah, no one prepared me for this”? Well, many music teachers I have conversations with tell me this when they are told they have to teach music to self-contained...
For better or for worse, most states' music teacher licensure includes certification in Kindergarten through high school. While this can be incredibly helpful when it comes to job security, it comes at a cost.
For obvious reasons, most...
One of the hardest things about teaching is trying to make the most out of the instructional time we have with our students. One of the easiest ways to do this in a meaningful way is to create a scope and sequence for each grade.
Starting...
I love using folk songs in my classroom, for SO many reasons! There are so many fantastic songs with great games that I use in my classroom, but I also like using these folk songs to improve music literacy.
Even if it is only projecting the melodic...
Across the United States there are music educators that are teaching students with varying levels of exceptional needs. One of the sub-sets within this student population are students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Just as ASD itself lies upon...
Performance is obviously a large part of what music is and how it is taught in the public schools these days. The thing is, sometimes we as music educators get too focused on the final product and forget about the musical moments along the way. While I personally think...
Thank you for listening to this episode of That Music Podcast. This week I’m sharing my personal philosophy on performances in the elementary music classroom.
Whether you love it or hate it, performances are a huge part of our...
Looking back at my own musical upbringing, I was never the poster child of someone even remotely comfortable with improvisation and composition. At the time, I was very rigid with how I viewed music. I read the music on the page, and sang it. That was that....
