How to Attend a School Concert

We're entering school concert season and administrators, colleagues, families, and random strangers on the internet always seem to have a lot of opinions about school concerts. If you're attending a school performance in the near future, or are getting ready to comment or post online about school musical performances, here are some things to know from your friendly local music teacher.

1. The primary purpose of school concerts is for the student performers

Remember this is a school. Schools are for learning. The primary purpose of everything we do is ultimately for student learning- even when we do something fun, the reason we do fun things is to build community so students can learn better. Concerts and musical performances are no different. Students are learning how to perform. They are also learning musical skills and sharing those publicly. That means they may perform music you as an adult find boring or unappealing. There may be times that, especially at the elementary level, a student who may not have the same level of musical skill in a particular area compared to your own child will get a turn to perform. There may be parts of the performance that aren't performed perfectly, and there may be times when the teacher/ conductor/ director has to intervene to help the performers do something correctly. The performance may be at a time that's not very convenient for your work schedule, but is convenient for the performers (see the entire post I wrote explaining the educational benefits of daytime performances here). Before you criticize a teacher's choice, ask yourself what the students might be learning because of what happened. 

2. Your job as an audience member is to support and encourage

When students are learning how to perform, they shouldn't have to overcome distractions or discouragement from the audience in order to do so. We want them to have positive experiences with performing to encourage them to continue their musical learning and foster confidence in public performances of any kind. No matter what you may actually think about the performance overall or your student/child's performance specifically, the only thing that should be coming out of your mouth to everyone involved is praise. Here are some examples of things you can say regardless of the performance:

• I loved watching you perform!
• You must have worked so hard! I loved it!
• I can't wait for the next one!
• I especially loved the part where you____.
• That was awesome! I'm so glad I got to see it!

There is literally never a time when it is helpful to criticize a school performance to the people involved in performing (students and teachers) unless you think there may be a discipline issue that you can help the director address. If you think your child/ student may have been misbehaving on stage, ask the teacher if it was unintentional distraction due to nerves or deliberate misbehavior and ask them how you can reinforce appropriate stage behavior going forward.

Other than that one rare exception, always praise.

3. Waving at or communicating with a student from the audience is distracting

I've had so many well-meaning parents and homeroom teachers try to get a student's attention to tell them to sing louder, remind them to smile, or just wave to let them know they are there. I appreciate the sentiment behind all of those efforts, but they hurt more than they help when it's during the performance. The priority is for the performers to be watching and taking their cues from the director, so let them handle those kinds of things during or after the show. If there is a time before or after their performance when they are waiting on stage, that's a great time to try to get their attention and let them know you're there by waving/ giving them a thumbs up/ remind them to smile/ etc. But never during the performance (even if they are not actively performing in that moment- they should be paying attention to the show, not you, so they don't miss their turn!).

4. Directors get way less praise than you think, so take a second to thank them

Colleagues, administrators, and family members very rarely actually tell the director they enjoyed the performance or thank them for all their hard work (it is always a lot of work to put yourself and your students out there publicly, no matter how simple or short the performance may seem), and it is incredibly demoralizing. Often, especially if a teacher has been at a school for a long time, you just don't think you need to say "good job" again when you already told them at the last concert. Or you just get busy and forget. Take a minute to give them a thumbs up from across the room on your way out, stop and tell them how much you appreciate their hard work, or send them a quick message (feel free to use the examples above). 

Don't forget, right after the concert is not a time for any sort of critique, even in the form of questions, even if you are the director's evaluator or administrator. If you aren't the evaluating administrator, there is literally never a time when you should offer any negative feedback, constructive or otherwise. If you are, any negative feedback should be saved to discuss constructively at least several days, if not more, after the last performance is over and they have had a chance to recover from the stress and adrenaline of performing. Trying to offer constructive criticism, or offer suggestions for improvement, while the director is still coming down from the heightened emotions of performance, will never be productive.

I hope this helps anyone heading into a school concert to better support your child/ student in their musical and performance development! If you are a music teacher, feel free to pass this along to your colleagues/ families. If you are not, feel free to comment with any questions about "why did my music teacher do this", "what should I do in this situation", or any other questions about how to support your local school concerts and I'll do my best to help! 

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Six - Seven Trendy Music Lessons

In the year 2025, nothing has taken over our students' brains quite as much as the phrase "six seven". The world of social media trends is just wild! I am a huge fan of bringing references to things my students are thinking and talking about into my lessons, and I have loved the different ideas I've seen other teachers sharing for how they are including the phrase in their classrooms! Today I'm sharing my collection of six (to seven) ideas for incorporating 6 7 into music lessons of all types, with my suggestions for the best age ranges for general music and the best ones to use with choir, orchestra, and band classes as well.

1. Solfege games (5th-12th grade, choirs)

Have students sing a major scale on numbers 1-8, but

a) skip (audiate) 6 and 7 (la and ti)

b) say 6 and 7 in the traditional exaggerated speaking voice while singing the rest of the scale

Either way it really forces students to hear the notes in their heads. You can also apply the same concept to one of my favorite warmups where students add a note to the scale each time they go up and down (1, 121, 12321, 1234321, etc) if you want to up the challenge level.

2. Rhythm practice (1st-12th grade, choral or instrumental ensembles)

Use 6 7 along with other slang to practice rhythm reading. Conveniently "forty one" has also been added to the trend lately, so for older students practicing sixteenth/ eighth note combinations you can use both numbers to practice both combinations. For younger students just use quarter notes and eighth notes instead and do the same thing! Here are a few ideas but obviously there are plenty more you can use with 6 7 to work on the specific rhythms you want to practice with a specific grade:

 

To up the challenge level and really test their understanding of different rhythms, give students a rhythm and ask them to come up with a slang term/ phrase that matches that rhythm!

3. Steady beat movement (K-2nd grade)

My youngest students think it's hilarious to do the 6 7 hand motion (where alternating hands go up and down) when I ask them to come up with a movement to do with the steady beat of the music. It's an easy reference to throw in with any age.

4. Half and whole rests (3rd-5th grade)

This is another simple idea using the hand motion but it has instantly increased engagement with my 3rd graders who are learning whole and half rests and practicing reading and clapping rhythms with those rests in them a lot. Normally I have my students show rests by pulsing their hands with their palms up to show the number of beats, so it's a very simple swap to change it to the 6 7 motion by having them move alternating hands higher and lower to show the beats for longer rests.

5. Beat counting (3rd-12th grade, instrumental ensembles)

Give students a notated 8-beat rhythm (or pick out a phrase from your band or orchestra literature/ method book), and have them mark where beats 6 and 7 are in the phrase. This is a really great way to test whether students know their note values! You can also have them write in the measure line(s) in a given time signature in the same activity to get in a little more practice with the same concept.

For a different spin on the same idea, which works well for younger students practicing maintaining a steady pulse or when students are first learning a new rhythm element, have students listen to a piece of music/ rhythm and do the 6 7 hand motion on the 6th and 7th bears with the music.

6. Vocal Timbre (Kindergarten)

Test students' knowledge of the 4 or 5 voices (speaking/ singing/ calling/ whisper/ thinking) by naming a voice and asking them to perform "6 7" in that voice. This actually works well for incorporating the 5th "thinking voice" because there is a gesture attached to the phrase. 

Bonus (7): Use a combination of these ideas throughout your lessons/ rehearsals specifically on the 67th day of school without telling them why, and see how long it takes them to catch on! 

I have already used some of these ideas in my classroom, and I can't wait to incorporate the others later this year! Throwing references to slang and youth culture into your lessons can be such an easy way to foster a sense of belonging, build connections, and boost engagement for students. If you have other ideas for incorporating 6 7 in the music classroom please leave a comment!

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24 Low-Effort Christmas Activities with Teens

One of our most treasured family traditions is our advent calendar. Since my daughters were 2, I've been putting together an advent calendar with a small holiday-related activity to do each day leading up to Christmas. I never thought it would become such an important part of our lives but now, with my girls about to turn 14, they start asking about the calendar several months in advance! Now that my daughters are teenagers our list of activities looks a little different than it did a decade ago- here's what I'm planning to do this year (and you can too with very little prep work).

Because I am all about low-maintenance, especially as a music teacher in December (if you know you know), most of the things are things that might normally be considered "chores", like decorating and sending cards, but now they are fun family activities! It's a great way to really focus on the small joys of the holiday. Here is a list of what we're doing this year:

1. Put up and decorate the tree

2. Make wish lists

3. Hang Christmas lights

4. Make lists of what to give

5. Make cookie dough and put it in the fridge

6. Bake and decorate cookies

7. Put up the rest of the Christmas decor around the house

8. Walk around a town with lots of lights

9. Shop for presents

10. Decorate the front door (we have a wreath, window clings, and flag)

11. Make Christmas cards (my girls love giving handmade cards)

12. Wear matching new Christmas socks

13. Make roasted nuts and peppermint bark

14. Strawberry matcha overnight oats for breakfast

15. Christmas song karaoke with their grandparents

16. Put together teacher gifts

17. Hot cocoa with breakfast (everyone adds their own favorite flavors/ toppings)

18. Hang the stockings

19. Wrap gifts

20. Family secret santa gift exchange

21. Make gingerbread houses

22. Christmas party with the girls' friends (cookies, Christmas movie, Christmas tree pizzas)

23. Play Christmas games (Christmas UNO: sing a Christmas song for every green card you play, eat a marshmallow for every red card, Christmas Categories, Moose Match Mayhem)

24. Put out cookies for Santa

This kind of Christmas countdown / advent activity calendar is so easy to set up because the activities are low-prep, low-mess, quick activities, most of which are things families celebrating Christmas would do anyway. If you want to do something similar this year but don't have time to make a calendar, all you really have to do is write down each activity on a piece of paper and fold it up with the number for the date you want to do it on the outside. Then open a paper each day to reveal that day's activity!

Here is how I made the calendar we use every year (so easy if you have the supplies)- click the image to see the tutorial:

And you can see how my list of activities has evolved over the years as my daughters get older in these posts from previous years: my list for 11 year olds, for 9 year olds, for 7 year olds, for 6 year olds, for 5 year olds, for 4 year olds, and for 3 year olds.

If you're looking for ways to add a little cheer without a lot of effort I hope these ideas will help! 

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My Favorite Partner Songs

I've realized I have a bit of an obsession with partner songs. I think it's so cool to figure out songs that sound good together, and when my students are able to sing them successfully it is so exciting! Today I'm sharing some of my favorite partner songs to use in my elementary music lessons.

I've written before about my entire step-by-step process for introducing partner songs for the very first time, including the song I use for their first time singing a partner song, in this post, but here are some more favorites I use to practice partner singing (mostly in 4th grade).

1. No One/ Waka Waka

I love this combination because it uses more modern music and the 2 songs are so different, but they fit together so well! Sing the chorus of "No One" by Alicia Keys (0:53-1:15 in this video) with the chorus of Shakira's "Waka Waka" (sing 0:51-0:59 in this video two times). I definitely date myself with these songs- these days my students are not really familiar with the songs- but they usually know the artists so that keeps it interesting for my 4th graders.

2. This Train/ Swing Low/ O When the Saints

I don't know what it is about these songs but my students always enjoy singing these 3 together, and if you are looking to incorporate some spirituals this is an easy and accessible way to do it. This video is a great demonstration that includes "I'm Gonna Sing", which I don't use because it's a little too overtly religious for me to feel comfortable using it, but you can see how they all fit together.

3. I Love the Mountains/ Heart and Soul

I love using "I Love the Mountains" to teach canon singing in 3rd grade so when I realized that the melody for "Heart and Soul" worked as a partner song I knew I wanted to use it with my 4th graders! The trouble is the lyrics for "Heart and Soul" are way too lovey dovey for my students to want to sing, so I changed the lyrics to go along with the words from "I Love the Mountains":

Where I live there's lots of sidewalks and

Houses too and maybe some little gardens

At least I'm here with you

And you and you and you!

I'd love to hear your favorite partner songs to use with your students- I know there are a lot more I've enjoyed over the years, these are just the ones that are in my current rotation! And if you want to see the full lesson plans for these songs, and how I build up to singing partner songs so my 4th graders can do it successfully, you can find my full curriculum materials here.

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