Boots of Shining Leather: modern movement

I love using the song "Boots of Shining Leather" to introduce ti with my 4th graders. Last year my 4th graders were very challenging to engage, so I was determined to make the song, and the circle dance I've always had students do with it, feel a little more modern to get better buy in. And it worked! After teaching the same movement with the song again this year, I thought it was time to share for anyone else looking to update their lessons to make it more relevant.

I like using the song "Boots of Shining Leather" to teach ti for a lot of reasons, especially because it is perfect to use to review canon singing, which leads into learning partner singing, and I use it to also introduce accelerando and ritardando, which the song lends itself well to. But the different movement / folk dances I had seen used with the song felt very outdated and boring. I also found that the movements were often to similar in the different parts of the song, which makes it a bit counterproductive, because adding a movement component is really helpful for helping each group keep track of where they are when they sing in canon. And some of the movements don't really move with the beat, which doesn't work well when I'm using the song to practice tempo. 

So for those reasons I knew I wanted to update the movements, and last year this is what I came up with. It has been very successful 2 years in a row- in fact, my 4th graders told me last week that they had been singing and doing the dance outside at recess after we did it in class! That's always the ultimate sign of a win in my book, especially with the upper grades!

I hope you'll consider trying out this version, or even get inspired to add your own spin on movement for upper elementary students. It has not only been engaging and fun for my students but it has significantly improved their learning because of the more obvious beat, differentiated movements for each phrase, and motions that match the lyrics.

If you want to learn more about my lessons using the song, and how I introduce and practice the solfege, here is my post on that. And of course all of the details and materials for the lessons are in my 4th grade curriculum!

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Sonor Glockenspiel Mallet Solution

I have a very specific problem that I found a very specific but magical solution to, and I am so excited about it that I hope this is useful for other music teachers and students! If you have any of the barred instruments similar to the Sonor BWG Soprano Glockenspiel in Boomwhacker Colors, where the mallets go into a slot built into the side of the instrument, this hack is for you!

If you haven't heard me say this before, I am a big fan of the boomwhacker colored glockenspiels, and I definitely did not think I would be. Their sound quality is great, and most importantly, the colors have been an extremely effective teaching tool for every grade level Kindergarten through 6th- I use them so much more than I ever thought I would! But I have always had one bone to pick with them: the mallet holders.

I love how sturdy the construction is in general so they are easier for my youngest students to carry without all the bars falling off, and I love that the extra bars and mallets come attached to the instrument so I don't have to juggle extra things when we're getting them out to play. But my students always struggled to put them back in the slots correctly no matter how hard I tried to explain and show them how to do it properly, to the point that several of the mallets were completely snapped in half, and I resorted to telling my students not to try to put the mallets back in themselves because I was so afraid of breaking more mallets. 

Then a few weeks ago one of my 3rd graders taught me how to get my students to put them away properly, and their explanation has had a 100% success rate in making instant sense to all my students since I adopted their explanation! When I was trying to explain to the class that they need to put the stick side into the hole so the ball part can rest in the notch, my student casually raised their hand and said, 

"it's like putting a baby to bed!"

Don't worry, I didn't get it at first either. Upon further inquiry, she explained that the slot that the shaft slides into is the blanket, the mallet head is like the baby's head, and the notch is the pillow. 

You have to put the baby's head on the pillow.

I kid you not, the entire class (myself included) immediately let out a collective "oooooohhhhh" and suddenly I looked around and every single student was very easily putting the mallets in correctly. I was stunned. Since then I have used the baby explanation in every class that uses them, in all different grade levels, and it has worked instantly every time- even in Kindergarten. No more broken mallets! 

So I think there are a few morals to this story: 

1. Listen to your students. Sometimes they are the best teachers.

2. Just put the baby's head on the pillow.

If you're interested in hearing more about how I teach xylophones and other barred instruments in my elementary music lessons, check out this post. Have you gotten any mind blowing pearls of wisdom from your students? I'd love to hear them in the comments. 

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Ukulele Songs for Beginners

The best part of learning ukulele is being able to play harmonic accompaniment with so many familiar songs in different styles and genres! I teach ukulele in 6th grade general music so we don't have a ton of time to develop advanced skills beyond the first 4 chords. Here are some of my favorite songs to have students play in elementary music using just a few basic chords.

3 chord songs (C, F, Am)

I always teach C major, F major, and A minor chords in one 25-minute lesson- they are all pretty easy to learn and students get them pretty quickly! Once we spend the first lesson just practicing each chord on its own, the second lesson is focused on getting more comfortable with those 3 chords and practicing switching between chords. Here are a few songs I like to use to give them a chance to practice switching between C, F, and Am chords with music that my 12 year old students don't groan about (usually):

4 chord songs (C, F, G, Am)

Once students are comfortable with C, F, and Am, it's time to add G. Learning a G chord is always a bit frustrating for students because it's much more difficult than the first 3, but they quickly realize how many more songs they can play and they get used to it after a few lessons of practice! Here are some of my favorite songs using those 4 chords for my 6th graders:

I hope this gives you some fresh material to use with what I know can often be a difficult to please age group! If you want to learn more about how I teach ukulele, including basic ideas about what instruments to purchase, storage tips, and more, here is my post on all things ukulele. You'll also find all of my sequenced lesson plans and materials incorporated into my 6th grade general music curriculum here. 

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What To Do With Those Triangles

I'm always shocked at how popular the triangle is. I have had multiple experiences with 6th graders telling me the one instrument they want to play most before they leave my class is the triangle! There's definitely something magical about them. If you're looking for some fresh ways to use triangles in your classroom, or strategies for using them more effectively, this post is for you.

1. Storage

If you haven't tried my storage "hack" that I figured out years ago then you are definitely missing out. I use a jewelry organizer/ necklace hanger so I can hang the triangles from the hooks and keep the beaters in the bottom. Not only does it prevent the triangles from getting tangled up with each other, but it makes it easier to grab the triangle by the holder to keep them from falling off when you pick it up, and it makes the beaters easy to find and grab as well. You can use any shape you can find that has hooks on top and a base wide enough for triangle beaters- this is just the one I happened to find at the store on clearance years ago:

2. Management and Playing Technique

The biggest game changer that I will never go without again is rubber triangle holders (like these). I don't know why they are so hard to find, because no other triangle holder comes close to being as sturdy and easy for small hands to hold, and most importantly, keeps the triangle stable instead of spinning endlessly in circles every time they strike it. 

For students to be able to avoid "playing before I say", I always point out specifically- especially for younger students- that they should keep the beater away from the triangle if they are holding it and waiting. If they are sitting on the floor they can put them down with some distance between them, or if they are sitting in chairs they can hold the triangle on one leg with one hand and the beater in the other hand on the other leg. 

I always start off by showing students how to tap on the bottom side (the "base" of the triangle) while holding it just by the holder, making sure nothing is touching the triangle. When students learn half notes in second grade, I show them how to go back and forth in the bottom corner without the gap to play "sustained" notes, which they always think is super fun. 

3. Lesson Ideas

Preschool/ Kindergarten: My favorite way to introduce triangles is with the song, "Twinkle Twinkle". I have half the students students play on the last word of each line while the other half sing and do the motions. 

1st grade: In 1st grade students notate their own 4-beat rhythm composition for the first time, and after they write the rhythms I have them choose an instrument out of a few choices, including the triangle, to perform their rhythm with. 

2nd/ 3rd grade: In 2nd grade students learn half notes and in 3rd grade they learn whole notes, and I show them that only certain classroom instruments can be used to play sustained notes. The triangle is one of the first instruments (along with egg shakers) that I show them how to use to practice playing sustained note rhythms, so we use triangles a lot for rhythm notation reading practice at this age.

4th-6th grade: The triangle is a go-to instrument for 2 basic categories of lesson activities for my older students: soundscapes/ sound effects, and instrumental ensemble arrangements of lyrical pieces. I have a lot of lessons where I create a quick orff arrangement of a song for students to sing and play to practice a specific musical element, whether that's tonality, or a specific rhythm or pitch element, in the upper grades. The triangle is an easy instrument to add as a "color instrument", usually playing on the last beat of each measure or something like that, when the song is more peaceful/ calm, and the students all beg to be the ones to play the triangle! For soundscapes/ sound effects, I find students gravitate to the triangle for any type of "dinging" sound, so it gets used a lot in the videogame composition project, movie music foley project, and soundscape lessons.

I hope this gives you some fresh ideas for using triangles in your classroom! If you want to see how all of these strategies and lesson ideas are incorporated into a fully sequenced curriculum, with all the complete lesson plans and materials to teach them, you can find them in the Organized Chaos K-6 Curriculum. I'd love to hear your favorite ways to use triangles in the comments below as well! 

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