World Music Performance Pieces: early childhood

I've been doing a school-wide International Music Festival, where every grade level performs music and dance from a different country, for a few years now, and it is probably my favorite performance event I've ever done but it is a lot to put together! Although for the most part each grade studies the same culture each year to fit in with the skills and concepts they are learning in general music, each year I change at least some of the pieces so it's never the exact same program. Here are the performance pieces I have used over the years with my youngest grades- each of these would work well as part of any concert, informance, or program on their own, or you can use this list to put together your own International Music Festival!

I'm listing the pieces by culture/ country below, with the grade level I used them with in parentheses. Obviously many of these could be done with different grades as well, not just the ones I use them with!

Native American (Kindergarten)

• Water Song (students play the steady beat on rhythm sticks and turn each of the 4 directions to sing it 4 times)
• Navajo Happy Song (students sit in rows with their feet under them and their knees touching to do the different patting patterns mentioned in the link while singing)
• Iroquois Ho Ho Watanay (students pretend to rock a baby on the beat while singing)
• Sioux Epanay (students do a basic intertribal step in a circle while a few students play the steady beat on a gathering drum in the middle of the circle)

Bolivia (1st grade)

• Mi Gallito (students face a partner and do a simple 3-beat clapping pattern while they sing- I have them clap their own hands, touch the backs of one hand with their partners', then palms of the same hands, then repeat with the other side)
• La Mariposa (students do a circle dance with a recording while each holding a scarf and singing along on the chorus- the link has a full explanation of the moves that they do with each part of the song as well as links to recordings)
• Carnavalito (students do the dance in rows with a recording)
• Boquita Colorada (I have done this 2 ways- 1) students do the line dance with the recording and sing with the "lai lai" section, or 2) students play simple ostinati on percussion instruments like shakers, rhythm sticks, guiros, and drums)

Colombia (1st grade)

• Vallenato (students play simple ostinati on percussion instruments like drums, guiros, and ridged rhythm sticks with the linked recording)
• Juguemos en el Bosque (students sing and play the circle game)

Syria (lower elementary self-contained special needs)

• Tiri Tiri Ya-as Fura (non-verbal students do motions to show the lyrics of the song with the steady beat of the recording)
• Fiane Sheschra (students play different ostinati for each section of the music on hand drums with the recording)

It would be too much to put everything in one post so check back for future posts with lists of performance pieces I use with older grades in my K-6 International Music Festival! If you have other songs or musical performances you've done representing these cultures, or other ways you've used these songs, I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below. And if you are thinking about putting together a similar program, you can find all the information on what I do and how I do it, from logistics to teaching to stage setup, in this post:

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Stretchy Band Songs and Activities for the End of the School Year

I have discovered a new favorite lesson activity to add to my list of things to do at the end of the school year, especially with the younger grades but honestly with the older ones too: the stretchy band! If you're looking for engaging activities to keep students from bouncing off the walls that can also be used to review musical concepts at the end of the school year, I highly recommend these.

I bought a stretchy band years ago with the intention of using it with my Kindergarten and self-contained classes, and then proceeded to leave it sitting in my classroom until this year. Every time I had the idea that maybe I would pull it out and use it, I just didn't feel confident that I had a clear idea of how to actually do it! If you're like me and haven't used a stretchy band in class before, I can assure you it is just as fun as they say it is and these activities are all beginner friendly. If you don't know what a stretchy band is, here is one you can get from Bear Paw Creek.

To get set up, I have students sit in a circle on the floor and tell everyone to keep their hands in their lap, then I get out the stretchy band and lay it out flat in a circle inside where they are sitting before having everyone grab the part in front of them with two hands and hold it down in their laps. I have 3 rules for using the stretchy band safely:

1) keep two hands on the band until I tell you to let go

2) don't jerk it around

3) stay sitting (not lying down) while holding it

1. Stretchy Band Song

For first time users I think this is the best one. The song explicitly tells you what to do with the band so you can focus on making sure students are using it correctly and not worry about remembering the words to the song or what comes next- just turn on the recording and follow along! It's also a great way for students to quickly experience the different ways you can use the band so it's a great way for them to practice using the stretchy band as well. Of course once they've learned the moves you can have everyone sing along as well. This activity is really a way to practice how to use the stretchy band and showing steady beat.

2. Put It In

This song is a good next step for younger students, and besides using the basic movements as the first song and continuing to review steady beat, it also gives students the opportunity to create and improvise by coming up with their own additional verses. I don't use a recording for this one- I sing while the students move when I first introduce it, then I teach students the song and we all sing together, stopping to choose new verses after each repetition of the chorus.

3. Show Form

Here is where I have really found the stretchy band to be versatile and effective for a broad range of ages: I've realized it's a fun and easy way to review form by doing different moves for different sections. I've done this with songs that we sang earlier in the school year, or with listening examples with older students. For example I used the stretchy band with "Shoemaker's Dance" with 1st grade to review same and different sections by having students wind, pull, and tap on their knees with the A section, and pass the band around the circle with the B section. I used it with "Sleigh Ride" with 5th grade to review Rondo form by having students move the band up, down, left, and right on the beat for the A section, move in and out on the beat for the B section, and tap on their knees with alternating hands and pull back for the whip, then pass around the circle for the C section. You can really do this with any form and it's a great way to mix it up at the end of the year.

4. Show Rhythm

The stretchy band is also a fun way to review rhythms at the end of the year too- take any song that you used to introduce or practice new rhythm elements during the year (or teach them a new one) and add a specific motion with the band that shows that rhythm that you do every time you sing it. For example I reviewed half notes with 2nd grade with "Who's That" by having them slowly lift the band up and then down with each pair of half notes, I similarly had 3rd grade students lift the band slowly up and down with the pair of whole notes at the end of "I Got a Letter", and had 4th graders tap on their knees with alternating hands to show the sixteenth notes in "Ding Dong".

There are plenty more fun ways to use the stretchy band, but those are my favorite ways to use it with different grade levels at the end of the school year! If you're finishing out the school year right now like I am I hope this helps give you some fresh ideas to close out the year. 

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International Music Festival Teacher's Guide

I've been doing a school-wide International Music Festival, where every grade level performs music and dance from a different country, for a few years now, and it is probably my favorite performance event I've ever done. It's very rewarding and a lot of fun but it also took a lot to figure out how to put together a production where every student in the school is performing for each other, including singing, instruments, props, and more! If you would like to try doing something similar in your school, here's everything you need to know about how I do mine.

In this post I'm sharing an overview of all the pieces that come together to make this production a reality. I'll be putting together more detailed posts on specific steps in the process in the future, and I'll link those in the relevant sections below as they're published, so keep an eye out for those coming soon!

1. Program

The basic idea of the program is for each grade to share a couple of songs/ dances from a specific country/ people group. This idea came up initially because I have always done an in-depth unit in the spring on a specific culture's music in each grade- I choose the country of focus and the specific literature they learn based on the music curriculum goals. This blog post explains how I design those units, along with the specific lesson plans I use for each grade. Although I don't completely change the program each year, I do try to make sure I don't do the exact same program 2 years in a row- usually there are a few songs that stay the same and the rest of them are either a different culture altogether or different songs from the same culture.

2. Planning the logistics

The biggest puzzle for me was figuring out the logistics of how to manage all the instruments and equipment and set up the performance to flow smoothly between grade levels. I've found having everyone sit in the gym in a round, going in grade level order around the perimeter of the gym with everyone facing in, works best. Each grade sits in the formation of their first song to watch the grades before them so when it's their turn they are ready to go, and I leave the middle of the gym open for some songs/ dances that need more room.

To make that setup work, I try not to have any grades sharing instruments/ supplies. I write down the number of students in each grade and how many of each prop/ instrument I will need for their performances to make sure I have enough and figure out what instruments to use for the different grade levels' song arrangements. Some years I've borrowed instruments from my colleagues to make sure I have enough, and some years I've changed the instrumentation of a song (like using rhythm sticks instead of tone blocks, or using a different type of drum) so that there are enough to go around. 

3. Teaching

In the 4-6 week units leading up to the International Music Festival, students learn about a much bigger picture of the music and the culture itself (see this blog post for more details). But in terms of the actual performance literature, I always make sure I've figured out the logistics and supplies mentioned in the previous point before I start teaching, and plan instrumental arrangements and physical setup based on those logistics.

With entire grade levels performing, I usually try to have a few students from each class playing each instrument. I try to make my arrangements based on how many of each instrument I have, adding or changing parts to fit the number of students in that grade. If I don't have enough for the whole grade to play together, I'll have each class take turns playing, but I try to make it flow together in one cohesive performance by having students hand over to the other class one instrument at a time while the other instruments are playing etc. Whatever we're doing to put the classes together, I make sure to practice it that way in their music classes so they know what to do.

I also think through the physical setup based on the space they have in the gym, and have them practice performing in that setup, whether that's who is in which row, or who is partnered with who. I have found I can do things to save space (which is always at a premium with our average size gym) like having students perform a circle game or dance in concentric circles, so I always make sure to practice everything that way in class as well.

The other element I make sure to rehearse in class is the transition between songs and how to get ready to begin and end their performance. Depending on the grade level they are usually using different instruments/ props/ formations for their 2 songs, so it's important to talk through and practice actually moving between the 2 formations, switching props, etc, including where they will get everything from during the performance and where they'll put everything after they're done.

4. Setup

The most labor-intensive part of putting on the festival is physically setting up the space. I preset all the props and instruments in the gym the night before and morning of the festival so that when each grade walks in, they can go to their area, get their supplies/ instruments, and be ready to go. Obviously every year is a little different depending on what students are performing, but here's a view of what my setup looked like this year as an example:

5. Communication

Because of space I didn't invite families to come to the festival until last year, but it has been awesome to be able to invite families the last couple of years. We set up chairs all around the perimeter of the gym, up against the wall, and families sit in any of those seats so they're behind the students (I try to point out to them that they should probably sit on opposite side from their child so they can see their performance from the front). 

The biggest factor in making sure everything goes smoothly during the festival is letting all the staff know in advance what the setup will look like and what supplies/ formation each grade level will have. I set up a google doc with a map of where each class sits and a brief description of what they will be doing and what instruments/ equipment they need and when ("2nd grade will be sitting in 2 rows, each student facing 1 partner, with a pair of sticks in front of each student and a poi rope behind each student. Please help collect the sticks back in the box when students stand up and move to the center with their poi."). I include specific, concrete things staff can do or keep an eye out for so they know how to help. In our school all non-homeroom teaching staff are assigned to a homeroom to sit with and help with at all assemblies, so they stay with the same class for the festival as well. I try to make sure it's nothing staff need to feel like they're having to prepare for, but feel like they know how to help guide students correctly so it's not chaotic when there's only one of me to help get them set up in the beginning.

I hope this helps you think through your own production and maybe consider doing an International Music Festival yourself! I know other music teachers have done similar events, and I'd love to hear what you do and how you organize yours in the comments as well. I will be sharing more details in future posts but if you have any questions please leave those in the comments as well!

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New Ideas I Loved This Year

After teaching elementary music for almost 2 decades there are a lot of things that I can do on autopilot. I definitely have to think about a lot less things than I did my first year of teaching! But I also would get completely bored if I didn't mix things up, and of course every year bring fresh challenges and ever-changing students to teach. Here are the new things I did this school year that I loved. 

1. Djembe storage

I found myself with a very good problem this fall: I got one more set of the rainbow-colored djembes I love to use with my younger students to get a class set, and the storage setup I had been using no longer fit the extra instruments! My solution: by storing half of them upside down, they take up less shelf space and I can fit them all neatly in the same shelves.

2. Teaching passing games

I was so thrilled with this idea I already wrote an entire post on the topic but honestly, this has been maybe the most exciting new idea of the year for me. After years of struggling to get students to be successful with passing games, I realized that if I have them start in small groups and then gradually increase the group size until they are doing it with the full class, they are much more successful! Read about the full strategy and how I run it in my classes in the post below:

3. "Hip and Hop Don't Stop"

I excitedly bought this book several years ago knowing it would be perfect to teach fast and slow in place of the tired old tortoise and the hare story, and just never got my act together and it sat in my closet. This year I finally pulled it out and put some lessons together and they went just as well as I thought they would, PLUS I was able to bring some hip-hop skills into my Kindergarten curriculum in an authentic way. Click below to see the lesson plans I used:

4. Algonquin Water Song

Finding Native American music I can comfortably and confidently teach my students has always been challenging. When I came across this song that was specifically written to be sung by anyone, whether indigenous or not, that is also simple to learn, I was thrilled. I used it this year with Kindergarten, including for their performance in my annual International Music Festival, and it has been the perfect addition to our repertoire. Click below to learn more about the song:

5. "I Got a Letter"

This song is actually an old favorite from my first couple of years of teaching that I brought back, but the lesson plans I did to build community at the beginning of the year while introducing new rhythms to my 3rd graders were new, and they were so successful my students still talk about those lessons. Click below for the full lesson plans:

6. Taking personal days for myself

Some of you are probably going to shake your head in disbelief, and some of you are going to nod in understanding. This year, my 18th year of teaching, was the first time I took a personal day for myself. Don't get me wrong, I have used my personal days in the past, but only to take care of my kids when they've been sick or needed to go to the doctor. This year I felt myself getting pushed to the brink of burnout and I took a personal day to rest. I took another half personal day the afternoon after my morning concert to avoid pushing myself too much as well. I think this is a testament both to just how taxing this school year has been for me, but also to what I'm learning from the younger teachers entering the profession. I think there is definitely a balance we need to strike, but us "veterans" can learn a thing or two from the new teachers about keeping an eye on our own mental health and giving ourselves a break when we need one. 

Of course there are lots of other small things but that's a roundup of the highlights of new things I've tried this year in my classroom. What about you? If you haven't already, I encourage you to reflect on the new things you've tried this year, whether they were completely successful or not. It makes me feel proud to realize all the new things I've tried this year and now I'll remember to keep the successes for next year! Maybe you'll find some inspiration from my list to try in your classrooms next year. If you have any new ideas you've tried this year please leave them in the comments so we can all get fresh ideas from each other too!

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Favorite Lessons for Teaching Dotted Quarter / Single Eighth Notes

The last couple of years I have finally found some successful lesson plans for introducing and practicing dotted quarter - single eighth note rhythms I like using with my 6th graders. This is a pretty advanced rhythm pattern and it has taken me a long time to find lesson activities that help students successfully read and perform the rhythm while also having fun! Here is the lesson I use to introduce this rhythm pattern to my 6th graders in the fall that helps them be successful with it the rest of the school year.

By the time I introduce dotted quarter and single eighth notes in 6th grade, they already know quarter notes, eighth notes, the single eighth- quarter- eighth "syncopa" pattern, and dotted half notes, so they have all the building blocks to understand the concept. But I've found it's still quite challenging to get students to really be fluent with the rhythm and be able to decode it from notation as well.

The biggest key to success has been finding a song that gets students to feel the beat while performing and hearing the rhythm pattern over and over, and for that I have found "Acitrón de un Fandango" (aka

"Al Citron") to be the key to success. If you haven't heard of this Mexican passing game song, you can read more about the song, including the various versions of the lyrics and translations, here. This is a clear recording by native speakers (although honestly I don't play any recordings with my 6th graders because they're more likely to roll their eyes if I do). The basic idea is to pass something around the circle on the beat until you get to the last 3 beats of the verse, where you tap back and forth before passing- here's a video showing the game:

As with most singing games with upper elementary/ middle school grades, I start by challenging them with the game first before I have them sing. First I have them practice passing bean bags or rhythm sticks around the circle on the beat while I sing. Once they can do that and they've heard the song a few times, I tell them to tap back and forth on "triqui triqui tran", and continue to have them focus on just passing. Once they can do that, we go back and I up the ante by telling them they have to be able to sing while doing the passing (this way they are less focused on being self conscious about singing and more focused on showing off that they can beat the challenge)- I teach them the song and then we add it back to the game. Obviously once they can do that then we repeat it and try to increase the speed, then we make it a game where if you mess up, you sit out, and the circle gets smaller until there are only 2 students left standing!

As a sidenote: I finally this school year figured out how to make this game, and all the other passing games I've used in the past, successful again after finding them frustratingly difficult post-pandemic. I wrote an entire post about my process here but basically I found that having them practice the passing game in smaller groups first and then gradually making the circles bigger works. Now I am enjoying teaching passing games like this one again! 

Once they have sung the song many times and felt the beat with it in their bodies, I ask students to tell me how many beats the word "un" is in the first line where we sing "un fandango". I have them pat the beat while I slowly sing it so they can see where the notes fall with the beat, and eventually they figure out that it is 1.5 beats long. Then I introduce the dotted quarter note, reminding them what they learned about how dotted notes work when they learned dotted half notes in 4th grade. From there it's an easy final step to figure out how many beats the next syllable is and recall the single eighth note they learned in 5th grade with the "syncopa" pattern.

Once they've been introduced to the notation and they've thought through how many beats each note is in the melody, I have half of the class pat the beat while the sing, while the other half of the class claps the rhythm while they sing. Once they can do that, we remove the singing so they are just clapping and patting. 

Over the next few lessons we practice the rhythm and notation more with other songs and with rhythm play-alongs that include the new rhythm. My favorite videos to use for this are:

Autumn Trail by Ready Go Music

Game On by Ready Go Music

Of course there are lots of other great songs with dotted quarter/ single eighth notes that we use to practice them throughout the year, but this is definitely my favorite song to use to introduce them and it has finally helped my students be successful with the new rhythm! What is your favorite song for introducing this tricky rhythm pattern? I'd love to hear more of your favorites in the comments below. And if you want to see my favorite lessons for teaching other specific rhythmic elements, you'll find them all in this post:

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Teaching Passing Games

Has anyone else found passing games harder and harder to teach the last 5 years or so? I don't remember it being this difficult for students to grasp when I started teaching, but the last several years it has been a struggle for my students to successfully do passing games and honestly, most of the time I've ended up having to move on without the class ever fully being able to do it correctly, which just leaves us all frustrated. This school year after talking to some of my elementary music colleagues I tried a new strategy to scaffold my instruction for passing games and it has been highly successful! I'm so relieved to have a way to make passing games fun and successful again. 

I have always loved including passing games as part of my elementary music lessons (I have a few of my favorites at the end of this post if you're interested). They are a great way to reinforce steady beat and meter, get older kids to sing while they're distracted with a different challenge, and foster teamwork. But the last several years I went from looking forward to teaching them to dreading them because every time it seemed like the lessons would end in frustration! My colleagues and I were commiserating about this back in the fall and together we came up with an idea to help students be more successful, and it has turned out to be genius.

I still start teaching passing games by showing them the movements/ song with all the students facing me and mirroring my movements. It's important for them to practice doing the movements and the song without the added confusion of having the people you're facing across the circle doing it "backwards", or the risk of the people next to you doing it wrong and messing you up!

The next step has been the key to my students' success: instead of moving to a circle with the full class to learn how to do it as a passing game, I have them get into small groups of 3-4 students (in my case, my color teams) and practice doing it in a tiny circle with just their small group. I am able to walk around and correct students without trying to correct the whole class at once, and once students in a group can all get it they can play without having to wait for the whole class to figure it out. 

I tell students when they start that they get to "level up" whenever they complete a level. Leveling up is just adding another group to theirs! So when I see 2 small groups are successfully doing the passing game, I tell one group to join the other to make a larger circle and try again. Adding the level of competition is definitely motivating for everyone, and the students who struggle are a lot less embarrassed and catch on more quickly because they don't have the entire class yelling at them for messing them up.

Because I can identify the students that are struggling more easily in small groups, I can not only help them more easily without correcting them in front of the whole class, but I can also strategically place myself next to them when they level up to the full class circle. I also have found the stronger students will do the same thing and intentionally put themselves next to the ones who are always late to pass etc to help keep them on the beat.

This has been a complete game-changer and I'm so happy to bring the fun back to our passing games again! If you haven't done them before I highly recommend giving some of these a try with your upper elementary students- because they reinforce steady beat they are a great way to experience new meters and rhythms or just add some interest to a song you want them to sing.

Escatumbararibe

Bhombela

Al Citron

Take Five

I've done plenty of others but those are some of my top favorites! If you want to see the full lesson plans for these, you can find them in the Organized Chaos General Music Curriculum. If you have other favorite passing games, or teaching hacks that have helped your students learn them, please leave them in the comments!

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Dance Playlist 2025

I love finding upbeat, school-appropriate, modern songs to use in my music classes for dance parties, slideshows, field day, and general merriment, and these last few years it has felt especially important to share with all the stress and negativity we're all dealing with. Here are my new picks for this year- be sure to check out my posts from previous years to find more awesome music my students and I love linked at the end of this post! 

This year, along with other random songs I've picked up this year, I've also included some songs from the 2025 MIOSM® song bracket because my students young and older can't seem to get enough of them! Don't miss the playlist at the end of this post that includes these songs plus all of my picks from previous years' playlists (this is year 10 of me putting these together, so there are a lot)! Can you believe this is our 10 year anniversary of the Organized Chaos Dance Playlist?!?

 

To make it easier to find all my dance party playlist songs in one place, I've put together a YouTube playlist with all of the songs from all of my previous year's lists including this one! Here's the link to the playlist.

If you've missed my playlists from previous years you can see those posts below! Happy dancing :)

Dance Playlist 2024

Dance Playlist 2023

Dance Playlist 2022

Dance Playlist 2021

Dance Playlist 2020

Dance Playlist 2019

Dance Playlist 2018

Dance Playlist 2017

Dance Playlist 2016

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Teaching Sonata Form

I love teaching form. I didn't think much of it at the beginning of my teaching career, but it has become one of my favorite areas to explore with students because there are so many opportunities for creativity, and it's one of the easiest places to incorporate almost any genre of music. Today I want to share some of my favorite 5th grade lessons on Sonata form.

I actually introduce Sonata form with the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". This video actually shows each of the sections on the screen which is very helpful. Afterwards we review the order of the sections they saw/ heard, and I introduce the term Sonata. I like showing them a more modern example first so they immediately understand how this form has been used in so many different genres! Once they know what Sonata form is, I show them the very beginning of this visualization of Beethoven's Piano Sonata 29. My 5th graders learn basic piano, so they get excited to see a "legit piano song". Once we listen to the first part of it I pause the video and have them look at the colored sections to see the big picture and identify the Sonata form visually (if I had more class time we would listen to the whole thing- I usually post the link in Google Classroom so they can watch the rest later on their own!). 

Once they have heard a few different examples and identified what Sonata form is, I ask students to identify the sections aurally in "Blackbird" by the Beatles. Again, I like showing students examples of how the form is used in different genres in different time periods! I have them identify the sections as they hear them by showing them the sign language sign for A and B and have them hold up their hand with the corresponding letter when they hear each section.

Once students have identified the form, I show them how the beginning of the melody in Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is actually a mini Sonata in terms of phrase structure. I make sure to clarify that form does not really refer to phrases, and explain that we are simply using the shorter phrases to be like "sections" as a way to practice playing a Sonata in shortened form. They learn how to play the first 2 phrases on the piano, then they use the same 5 notes to create a B section phrase, which the notate in treble clef, and then perform it as a "mini Sonata".

It always surprises my students to find out how prevalent Sonata form is in different genres, and they love being able to "remix" Ode to Joy to play on piano! What lesson activities do you use to teach Sonata form? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments. You can get all of the detailed lesson plans, materials, and slides for these lessons in the Organized Chaos 5th grade curriculum! And if you want to see my general strategies and lesson ideas for teaching form, as well as my lesson plans for teaching other specific forms including theme and variations, rondo form, etc, head to this blog post.

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Teaching Rondo Form

After introducing the basic idea of form, same and contrasting sections, etc in the younger grades, I introduce specific forms from Western classical music in the upper grades, relating it to how it is used in modern music as well. I teach Rondo form in 5th grade, which is easy to relate to many contemporary musical genres and is a great way to have students respond to and create with 3 or more contrasting sections. Here is an overview of the lessons I use to teach Rondo form.

1. Identify Rondo

I introduce Rondo form by having students follow along with this simple cup routine to go with "Sleigh Ride". I always like to have students experience the form first, usually through some type of movement, and then have students recall what they did in what order to help them discover the order of the same and contrasting sections. Because the routine is so simple my 5th graders are able to quickly pick up the moves for each section and do it in one run-through so they get the idea without taking too much class time to rehearse anything, and because the song is familiar for many of them they can recall the order of the sections more easily afterwards. 

After doing the cup routine I have them tell me the order in which they did the different cup moves for each section, review how to label same and contrasting sections with alphabet letters, and identify the ABACABA form, and I introduce the term "Rondo". I explain at this point that Rondo form has the repeated A section interspersed with any combination of 2 or more contrasting sections. Once they have the basic idea of what a Rondo is, I show them another quick example, like this one.

2. Perform in Rondo

Once they have a basic understanding of what a Rondo is, I use this rhythm playalong video to have them practice actually performing a Rondo (I love this one for my 5th graders specifically because it includes the eighth/ sixteenth note combination rhythms they are learning as well!). I have them practice counting and clapping the rhythm patterns in each of the 3 sections, then I hand out 3 different instruments to each student (simple, small instruments that I have class sets of, like egg shakers, jingle bells, and rhythm sticks) and assign each instrument to one section. They set all the instruments down in front of them and I tell them they need to read the rhythms and also think ahead to know which instrument to play when! It keeps them thinking about Rondo form and helps them experience it more concretely. 

3. Create in Rondo: Class Composition

The next step with learning about any musical form is to create! I start in 2nd grade having students create contrasting sections for a given A section as an introduction to creating contrasting sections to arrange in a specific form, so I start with the same task here. I pick a short song and have them all learn it- I like to use something silly so the 5th graders aren't as self-conscious about singing, like my current favorite, the chorus from Jack Black's "Peaches" (which, bonus, ties in with the next composition project). Once they know the song, I have them work together to create 2 short, simple sections to use as the B and C for our Rondo. With the "Peaches" song for example, I have them list other Mario character names and we "rap" them on the beat for the B section, then they choose a few simple instruments and play the rhythm of one of the melodies from the Mario soundtrack for C. Once we have our 3 sections we review the order we need for a Rondo and perform it as a whole song.

4. Create in Rondo: Individual Composition

Once they understand how to create contrasting sections and arrange them in Rondo form, we jump into creating a Rondo from scratch. I actually use the video game composition project (get all the materials and directions for that project here) for this. Students come up with a concept for a game that has 3 scenes or levels, with one of them being the "home" or "main" scene that the player returns to and the other 2 being sort of "side quests". Then they create music that evokes the image of each of the 3 scenes, and put them together in Rondo form.

There are certainly a lot of other great lesson activities and examples I've used over the years to introduce Rondo form, but those are the lessons I'm currently using! If you want to see the detailed lesson plans along with all of the visuals and materials for the lessons, you can find them in the Organized Chaos 5th grade curriculum. What other lessons do you like to use to teach Rondo form? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments! And if you want to see my general strategies and lesson ideas for teaching form, as well as my lesson plans for teaching other specific forms including theme and variations, sonata form, etc, head to this blog post.

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"Hip and Hop Don't Stop" Music Lesson Plan

After having this book sitting in my closet for a few years I finally used it in my Kindergarten music classes last month and I'm so happy I did! If you're looking for a fun way to practice fast and slow in elementary music, or update your "tortoise and the hare" lessons like I did, this is a super fun one that worked out beautifully and ended up being a great way to introduce rap with my youngest learners!

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The story, "Hip & Hop, Don't Stop" is about a rabbit who raps fast and a turtle who rap slow who recognize each other's talent and end up becoming friends, and verses rapped by each character are sprinkled throughout the story. To be honest I don't remember how I came across this book but when I found it I knew it would be a perfect way to replace my old lessons in a modern way while also incorporating hip-hop music and rapping in my Kindergarten lessons, which is something I've been looking for more ways to do intentionally and authentically for a few years.

I introduced the lessons by reading the story and telling students to do the "DJ move" (one hand on their ear, the other hand "spinning" in front) on the steady beat every time one of the characters raps. As I read the story, I exaggerated the tempo of each verse to make the difference very obvious. After the story I asked them to tell me which character was fast and which was slow. Then I played the first part of two different tracks I found online (I found these without spending a lot of time looking around, so I'm sure there are better examples!): this one for fast, and this one for slow, and I told them to do the DJ move again while they listened and identify the tempo. I wasn't sure if they would be able to tell them apart easily, to be honest, because the difference in speed is not as exaggerated (the fast one is around 100bpm and the slow one is around 83bpm), but they got it right away. 

The next lesson we reviewed the story, then I told them we were going to rap like Hip and Hop. I copied one of the verses they each rap towards the end of the story on the board, and we practiced rapping each one, getting it up to speed to rap with their respective tracks. It took a while for them to be able to do the raps with the tracks, and a few kids said "wow, I didn't know rapping was hard!" (which is a wonderful concept for students to experience at a young age!). But they were motivated and did not get frustrated at all, and they were so proud of themselves when they got it. After the rapping I had them spread out around the room and told them to "hop like a bunny" when they heard the fast track and "crawl like a turtle" when they hear the slow one, and I switched back and forth between the two. 

After those lessons we moved on to some other lessons on fast and slow (you can see some of my favorites for that in this blog post), but I'm planning to use this as a jumping off point to have students create with fast and slow tempi by writing a rap for Hop and a rap for Hip and practice performing it with the tracks. I'm thinking I will pick one simple topic that's relevant at the end of the school year, like summer break plans or what it's like to be in Kindergarten, and ask them to think about what they think each character would rap about that topic and come up with a short verse for each of them together. It will also be a great way to start building in the concept of rap writing and rapping earlier on (you can read more about the lessons I do with my older students with rap, within the context of hip-hop in general, in this post).

I have used the Aesop fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare", since my first year of teaching to practice fast and slow with my Kindergartners. I've used different variations over the years, but the basic idea is to have the students sing a bunny song fast while moving their hands like bunny ears on the beat every time I mention the hare, and sing a turtle song slowly while moving their hands like turtle feet every time I mention the tortoise. Besides being great for having them repeatedly practice singing and moving on the beat with the two contrasting tempi, and incorporating a familiar story, I also like being able to use the bunny ears and turtle feet as cues to have students play/ sing/ move fast or slow in subsequent lessons. But truth be told I have been ready for a change for years now- most of my students already know the story from preschool so it's not as exciting as the other stories I use in my lessons. So this has turned out to be the perfect replacement that keeps the things I loved about my old lessons while updating it to something more engaging that adds a new element to my curriculum as well.

Have you ever used this book in your lessons? You can see all of my lesson plans using books in this post. What other lessons do you use to teach fast and slow in Kindergarten music? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

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Benefits of Daytime Concerts

I switched to doing all of my school concerts and performances in the morning about a decade ago, and I don't think I will ever go back to evening concerts- at least not in my current school community. After some online comments on the topic of evening vs daytime concerts made the rounds on social media last week I thought it was time to share my reasoning here- if you are considering whether to make the switch, or hoping to convince your school principal or community that it's the right idea, I hope this post will help.

After singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson said on a podcast recently that she didn't understand why her children's school held their concerts at 10am instead of in the evening because it conflicted with her work schedule, I posted a video response on Instagram (you can see that on IG here). In this post I want to expand on my reasoning more completely, since I can't say everything I want to say in a social media reel! So here is why daytime concerts work better for my school community than evening concerts.

Elementary-aged children can't all come to school at night

The most fundamental aspect everyone needs to understand about this question is that elementary school students cannot all come to school in the evenings. There are lots of reasons that vary from family to family, community to community, whether it's needing to take care of younger siblings, having no transportation, having a busy extracurricular schedule with soccer games and piano lessons that happen after school, etc. But no matter what night I pick, there will be students that can't come to school at night.

There are certainly ways to help combat this issue, and my first few years of teaching I, with the help of my school principal, did them all: communicate the date and time months in advance, provide childcare and food for students after school, make sure students and their families understand the importance of attending, etc. But there never was, and never will be, a way to ensure every student can be there outside of school hours. 

Concerts are important educational opportunities

The second thing to fundamentally understand is that the reason we have concerts in the first place is for students to have the opportunity to practice, and learn how to, perform. It's part of the music curriculum that I teach, and it's embedded in the national standards for music education. If I want to ensure equal access for all of my students to all of the educational opportunities I am providing, I can't do my concerts outside of school hours. 

Most performances depend on all members

Besides the individual students who miss out on the experience of performing if they can't be there for the concert, their absence negatively effects the rest of the students' performance experience as well. The type of concerts we're talking about here is ensemble performance- choir, band, orchestra, etc- where students are performing together in a group. Missing voices and instruments means even the students who are there will not be able to perform their best, and their experience will not be as positive.

Most kids perform better in the morning

Maybe a less obvious switch I made was from afternoon to morning concerts. I used to do dress rehearsals and sound checks in the morning and have the concert in the afternoon, and it was always frustrating to see them so often do better in the rehearsal than they did in the performance because they were tired later in the day. You also have the added hassle of either trying to keep their concert clothes clean and their hairdos intact all through classes, recess, and lunch, or needing to change clothes in the middle of the day at school. And anything that happens in the morning can throw students off their game, whether they're frustrated by a difficult math test, or hurt because a classmate didn't want to play with them at recess. It's hard enough for adults to set all of that aside and put on a great performance, but it's even more challenging for children. Doing the concerts in the morning ensures more students are fresh, alert, happy, and calm, and they don't have to stress about keeping their clothes clean all day.

Teachers perform better in the morning too

Just like the students, I am definitely much fresher in the morning! As the conductor of the music and coordinator of all the logistics, I have to be at my best to make sure I can make the concert a positive experience for my students. When I used to do evening concerts it was so much more difficult for me to perform at my best because I was so exhausted from a full day of teaching on top of preparing for the concert.

Not every working parent works during the day

The other factor that convinced me that evening concerts were not worth the trouble was finding out how many of my students' families work in the evenings. Of course it's important for my students to be able to have their families and loved ones there to support them! But I did not find that more families came when I had concerts in the evenings- I actually have a bigger parent audience now that I do my concerts during the day. Family members all work at different times of day, and I find the ones with daytime work hours seem to have an easier time getting time off, or adjusting their work schedule, to be able attend than the ones with evening work hours.

Students and teachers can attend

I know it's a bummer for family members who can't come to their child's school concerts, and it's sad for the students who can't have their family there. I've definitely had to console students who were discouraged seeing their classmates' families cheering them on while they had nobody there from their family. But that will happen even if the concert is in the evening, and when it's during the day time the rest of the school is there to cheer on all of the students, so I know every student has someone they know that can cheer for them, whether it's their other teachers, their classmates, or siblings in other grades. The audience is so much bigger at daytime concerts not only because more families come but because the rest of the school is there to watch as well! And as an extra benefit, the students who are not performing have the added educational opportunity to hear the music, attend a concert, and practice being an audience member. 

In my mind, there is no contest: for elementary school concerts, daytime wins. 

To see all of my posts on concerts, click here. For my posts on teaching elementary choir, click here. Have thoughts or questions to share? Please leave a comment below!

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3 Ways to Teach Fast and Slow

One of the main focuses in Kindergarten and preschool music is musical contrasts, including fast and slow. I have done so many fun lesson activities over the years to introduce and practice fast and slow, but here are some of my current favorites to use with Kindergarten!

1. Little Red Caboose

I'm pretty sure I've been using this since my first year of teaching but it's still one of my favorites! I teach students the song by having them move their arms like the train wheels on the beat while they listen to me sing, then sing along with me. Once they can sing it while moving their arms on the beat we form a "train" and walk on the beat while still singing and moving our arms, and then we gradually speed up until we are practically running around the room! 

2. Fast and Slow Identification

I make the connection with the story of the tortoise and the hare, and then use tracks that switch back and forth abruptly between fast and slow to have students identify which one they hear by moving "turtle hands" on the beat if it's slow, and "bunny ears" on the beat if it's fast. You can obviously use any music that switches back and forth between the two speeds, but I have successfully used this one, this longer one, and of course Hungarian Dance No. 5 is a classic.

3. Encanto soundtrack

The obsession with Encanto has certainly died down a bit since the initial craze but I find my younger students especially still love any reference to the film, and it's fun to use the soundtrack by Gremaine Franco, not just the songs everyone knows by Lin Manuel Miranda, as examples in lessons! I use this after students are comfortable with the concept of fast and slow, because the beat is not as simple for them to hear in these tracks, but I use Meet La Familia (slow) and El Camino de Mirabel (fast). First I have them listen to the first part of each track while patting the beat they hear to decide which is fast and which is slow. Then I hand out a few different types of small hand percussion instruments and have students play along. 

*BONUS: Moana play-along

This one is a challenge for Kindergarten but it's a fun one to use at the end of the year to review both fast and slow and reading quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes with an easy activity that is engaging for students and low prep for me :) 

Of course we practice fast and slow all throughout the year with tons of other lesson activities but these are some of my favorites that really focus on the concept and help solidify it for students! If you want to see some of my other teaching strategies for tempo, including for older students, check out this post:

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"Joy" Theme Elementary Choral Program

If there's one thing students and teachers could use more of right now, joy is definitely at the top of the list. I am so excited about my spring elementary choral program this year, and it has made our weekly chorus rehearsals even more of a highlight of the week because it brings (literal) joy to the day! If you're looking for a fun elementary choir program, or even just a song to add to yours, that includes simple part singing and a range of genres and opportunities for musicality, I highly recommend these pieces!

For context, I have one elementary chorus that meets once a week during the school day as a pullout class with 5th and 6th graders. I have around 65 students in the group in the group this year, and they are such a great group! Ever since finding one of the songs about joy last summer I've been hoping to do a joy-themed program, and I am so excited with the way it has turned out.

Here are the songs I chose:

Joy Revolution I love that the two singer-songwriters who created and performed this song are women of color, the range is perfect, and it's an easy song to do in 2-part parallel harmony and include some featured soloists.

Joy This song was the original inspiration for this program- the first time I saw the linked arrangement with The Choir Room, I got chills! It is the perfect way to give younger students the opportunity to sing a gospel-style song without specific religious references, and it has opportunities for parallel harmony and a 3-part layered ostinato section that is so cool. It is definitely my students' favorite too!

I've Got Joy I stumbled on this song while scouring the internet for one more joy-themed song to complete my program and was thrilled to stumble on this one by Otto Gross and co! This is another great one for teaching part-singing and it's the only one on this list with an actual written octavo.

The great thing about this theme is it was super easy to tie in the orchestra and band- everyone has an easy arrangement of "Ode to Joy" they can pull together! So this will be the first time we have every ensemble performing something related to the concert theme.

I used to say I'm not a concert theme person but after doing 4 themed concerts in the last few years I don't think I can say that anymore! I still think that the priority for me is finding good songs the students will love that incorporate the choral and vocal skills I want to teach them with a variety of genres, styles, tonalities, and languages is the highest priority for selecting elementary choir concert pieces, but when a theme naturally emerges in the process that is a cool bonus! You can see all of the themed elementary choral programs I've put together in this post if you're looking for more great songs:

And if you want to see all of my posts related to teaching elementary choir, from rehearsal techniques to my favorite songs, arranging pieces for elementary choir to my favorite warmups, you can see them all here.

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