183 | Is This Movement Song Appropriate? - HD 1080p
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[00:00:00] Bryson Tarbet: You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve.
[00:00:23] Bryson Tarbet: Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be [email protected].
[00:00:35] Bryson Tarbet: Welcome back to that music podcast. Today we are going to talk about the appropriateness of different songs that you might do a movement song to, and there's different ways that we can take the word, you know, appropriate. And I, first of all, I want to say that this is going to be VA. A lot of this will be very.
[00:00:52] Bryson Tarbet: Vague be not necessarily vague, but it's going to be very specific to you and your teaching situation, your student population, your [00:01:00] community understanding, your community connection, all these different things. But I think it's important for us to at least start this conversation, um, because I think there's a few different ways that you know that when, when we decide, all right, we're gonna use this song, um.
[00:01:12] Bryson Tarbet: To do a movement. I think there's a few questions we need to ask, or at least, you know, areas that we need to think about to make sure that we are selecting the appropriate repertoire. Um, because what, what's what's wonderful about being a teacher is we get to choose what we include. I. What's awful about that is when we are choosing to include something, I think Anne Moleski said this, you know, when we're choosing to include something, we're actually choosing to exclude everything else.
[00:01:36] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so it's a, it's a big task. We have to make sure that we're, we're, we're including things that are worth including. So let's talk about some of the different types of, you know, appropriateness. Um, if we're doing some sort of movement activity, and when I say movement activity, um, could be a, you know, a dance could be.
[00:01:54] Bryson Tarbet: Using scarfs or, you know, creative movement, anything like that. Any, any sort of activity that [00:02:00] involves movement, that you're gonna be having a song too. And the first thing that I think you need to be aware of is developmental appropriateness. So if you're using a pop song or you know, some sort of more modern song.
[00:02:10] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, being aware of the, the language that may or may not be in this song, it could be important. Um, being aware of, even if they don't necessarily say a word, the, the context and the content of that. Um, keeping aware of also your, your student population and the understanding of. Of what their music vernacular is, uh, but also thinking about the movements themself, right?
[00:02:31] Bryson Tarbet: Are the movements really, really, really simple and you're doing this with sixth grade and that you know that's not gonna work very well because it's gonna turn into this, well, this is baby-ish. Or if we are having, doing a movement activity with kindergartners and we're doing this super structured choreographed routine, that might be a little bit too advanced.
[00:02:49] Bryson Tarbet: It might not be, but it might be just some things to ask and to kind of. Understanding. Um, and then the big one, this is the huge one that I see, um, and I've made this mistake so many times, is the length [00:03:00] of the song. If you are gonna do a movement activity of any, any real type, if you just being aware of the attention span that your students are gonna have, um, and making sure that you're setting them up for success, right?
[00:03:14] Bryson Tarbet: If we're gonna have this seven minute movement activity with kindergartners, and it's all high level the whole time. It's gonna devolve into chaos. Three minutes in. So making sure that the length of the song is appropriate, um, you know, within the piece. You know, are there times where we can bring the energy down to that can kind of give us a little bit more wiggle room of how long we can use it.
[00:03:35] Bryson Tarbet: But just being aware of that. Um, so making sure that we're being aware of the types of movements that, that are in the activity. Making sure that there are, um, it's not too baby-ish or too complex. Um, and then being aware of the actual music that we're using, um, can be really helpful as well. This doesn't need to happen all the time, but I think whenever possible, if there is singing going on in this movement activity, I.
[00:03:59] Bryson Tarbet: Our students should be [00:04:00] doing the same. And I think this is one of those things where we can get into kind of some of the troubles we saw in, you know, the, the, the, the developmental appropriateness we talked about earlier. Um, but making sure not only is it, you know, a, an appropriate vocal range, just not super, super large of a range, um, for, you know, younger students.
[00:04:18] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but also that we are aware of the content and things like that. Um, but I also think we really wanna give them an opportunity to hear something that they might not necessarily. Normally hear, right? So mix it up. Don't just do the same types of music every single time. Give them a, an opportunity for. To hear something different and to try, try to see things and, and experience music through it, through movement in a little bit of a different context.
[00:04:44] Bryson Tarbet: Another consideration that I think we don't talk about enough is physical safety. And this might sound a little bit dramatic, um, but there are some game, you know, I was, I was. I was incredibly blessed when I was in the classroom because I had massive classrooms with very little furniture in 'em. I was basically had these [00:05:00] big empty rooms.
[00:05:01] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so movement activities for me were really simple because there wasn't really anything to run into, and we had plenty of room. Now if that is not the case for you, um, and which was, you know, when I, when we started teaching during COVID where we were all in different spaces all the time, I had to kind of adjust some of my, my, my teaching here, being aware of the types of.
[00:05:23] Bryson Tarbet: Of games and activities and, and movement activities that you're having in your, in your classroom, because we wanna make sure that we are not going against the, the realistic stuff of the space that we're in. For example, um, when I was doing my junior placement, uh, I was observing a teacher, this is an undergrad I was observing a teacher.
[00:05:42] Bryson Tarbet: She had another, well, she also had a massive room. It was great. A lot of room for movement. And then when I went to do student teaching, I was in a classroom that was considerably smaller and I tried to teach the same. Kind of activity. Um, and there was just not enough room. It was not, it was not safe. Um, there [00:06:00] may have been a student that got stitches, um, because they, they fell and they hit their head on a cabinet because there was just not enough space.
[00:06:07] Bryson Tarbet: That was one of the biggest learning experiences in my life, I have to say, um, of just understanding that the space that you teach in, although we don't necessarily have the control over it, we do have a control over what we do in that classroom or how we do it or how we modify it. So sometimes you might have to modify an activity from the quote unquote, the real way, um, or something like that to make it a little bit more, more safe.
[00:06:28] Bryson Tarbet: Or maybe only have half of the students do once, uh, do it at one time so that there's more room. Um, so just be aware of that. Be aware of tripping hazards. Be aware of. You know, where, what, what is going around, around the room? Are there any things that are kind of jutting out? Um, are there TVs that are hanging down from the ceiling that could become an issue?
[00:06:45] Bryson Tarbet: Whatever, whatever. Just to, to be aware of. Um, for, for one, for me in my classroom is, you know, whenever we would do parachute again, I was also lucky because I had a massively tall room. Um, but if we used the parachute, and it was a really big parachute, used to be in the gym. I, I [00:07:00] inherited it because it was broken.
[00:07:01] Bryson Tarbet: Um, if we were to go up and down with the parachute, there was a very. Small but non-zero chance that we would hit the sprinkler on the ceiling. And I did not want to deal, I did not wanna find out what happened if we hit a sprinkler with a parachute. So in my classroom, um, we never went up and down all the way up and down.
[00:07:20] Bryson Tarbet: You know, we might go really fast, you know, on the floor, but we're not gonna do the big bubble or anything like that because again, I don't wanna know what happens when you hit. A fire sprinkler with a parachute. So just being aware of the space you're in, um, and you know, you might have to adapt it, and that's okay.
[00:07:35] Bryson Tarbet: And I think the biggest thing that we need to ask ourselves, especially if we are kind of in the realm of, you know, folk dances and things like that, is, is this culture culturally appropriate? Are we, um, the, the big, the big one is if we're saying something is from this culture, is it really. And are we allowed to share it?
[00:07:54] Bryson Tarbet: You know, there are some cultures that sharing music is a very, uh, sacred thing that can only be done within that community. [00:08:00] Uh, so being aware of that, um, you know, being aware of cultural appropriation. There are some things that are out in the world that say they're from this culture or, you know, this is this traditional dance from wherever.
[00:08:12] Bryson Tarbet: But it's not, it, it kind of ended, it ended up in a textbook. It was like composed and, and just kind of created it ended up in a textbook and it just kept, you know, this game of telephone, um, where it kind of turned into this thing. So just being aware of that as well, um, and making sure that we're. We're being appropriate.
[00:08:27] Bryson Tarbet: Um, we're, when we're, um, when we're choosing the repertoire, when we're choosing the, the song, the dance, the activity, whatever, making sure that we are keeping things as accurate and authentic as we can. Um, and sometimes you'll do something for years and then realize that. Oh, that, this isn't what I thought it was.
[00:08:43] Bryson Tarbet: And that brings us back to, you know, as we've talked about before, uh, when you know better, do better and kind of go from there. I hope you enjoyed this short, sweet episode of that music podcast. If you have not left this review on iTunes, YouTube, wherever you are listening or watching, it would mean the world to us.
[00:08:58] Bryson Tarbet: If you were to go in [00:09:00] and leave us a review, let us know what you're liking, what do you want more of, what do you want less of? Um, that really helps us not only just figure out what what's. What you're vibing with, but also helps us get in front of new teachers to get them this, this kind of bite-sized PD that they need.
[00:09:12] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, with that being said, thank you so much for joining us in case nobody has told you lately, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that we teach.
