Self-Contained Music Lesson Outlines

It's no secret that routine, predictability, and structure are critical for self-contained music classes for students with special needs. One of the most helpful things I learned from observing other teachers and reading books on the topic of teaching adaptive music was finding some general lesson outlines that work well in these situations that I could adapt to use with my own classes. Once I found some outlines that worked, it made it so much easier to find lesson activities to use in each slot in the outline from week to week to help my students be successful! 

First of all I want to point out that having a general lesson routine in place- especially for the beginning and end of each class- is good for ALL learners. In fact, most of the practices that I have learned to help my students with special needs are helpful for all of my students! So if you don't already have some specific routines in place for all of your general music lessons, I encourage you to put something in place for the beginning and end of your classes. Here is how I start my early childhood/ Kindergarten lessons, here is how I start my 1st-6th grade lessons, and here is how I end all of my lessons.

For my self-contained classes, I develop a basic lesson flow for each class based on their energy levels at the beginning and end of the class (which can depend a lot on the time of day when I see them), what happens in the transitions to and from class, where I am teaching them (sometimes they are in my regular music classroom, and sometimes I need to teach them in their homerooms), and how the students respond to different types of activities and transitions between activities. It usually takes me some trial and error at the beginning of the year to find what works best for each class, but once I find the one that works I pretty much use the same template for every lesson the rest of the year! 

For example I had 2 different self-contained classes last year, and I had slightly different lesson outlines for each: 

Class A

drumming with a track

drumming exploration

movement activities

singing activities

instruments/ notation decoding

closing song

Class B

opening/ welcome song

singing activities

movement activities

instruments/ notation decoding

closing movement activity

You can see I have a lot of the same categories between the two classes, but the specific order, and the beginning and end of class, are different. The main reasons for that were class A was taught in the music room while class B was in their homeroom, class A tended to have students trickling into class while class B everyone was there at the beginning of the lesson, class A had more experience with instruments and equipment than class B, and class B was more verbal than class A.

Within each of those categories in the lesson outlines, I am targeting different musical skills and concepts, and making sure I am changing up the specific activities to help students learn and grow while also keeping some activities the same each time so they always have things that are familiar and comfortable. Generally I would maybe have 2-3 new songs/ activities each week while the rest of the lesson stayed the same, and I would usually repeat the same lesson for both of their 2 lessons per week before changing anything else. Obviously some categories in the outline like movement and singing activities often had more than one song/ activity within that category, so I might keep one familiar song and add in one new one, for example.

I hope this gives you some concrete ideas for structuring your self-contained music lessons, especially if you are new to this area like I was a few years ago! If you want to read more of my tips and resources for teaching students with special needs, click here to see all of my posts on the topic. I have learned so much from some music therapists and educators who have much more experience, training, and expertise in this area than I do, including several colleagues as well as some authors and content creators I highly recommend: the book Creative Miracles by Kelly Surette, and all of the online content from Music for Kiddos by Stephanie Leavell are my top 2 recommendations that have had the most significant impact on my own teaching practice. If you have any other resources to recommend, or questions about specific parts of my lesson outlines or other self-contained adaptive music lesson topics, please leave them in the comments below!

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Nonverbal Students in Elementary Music

The last few years I've had several nonverbal students and it has been amazing to learn how to better teach them as their music teacher and to see them make so much progress in both their musical and verbal skills through my class! Today I wanted to share a few tips I've picked up along the way through my experience working with non-verbal students in the elementary music classroom.

1. Nonverbal participation opportunities 

One of the great things about music class is that there are, in fact, so many nonverbal ways for students to fully participate in activities and communicate their learning. 

-If students are singing, include motions- preferably simplified sign language. If that's too complicated for some reason, at a minimum you can have them show the steady beat by patting on their laps with the music.

-If you are asking students to identify something, provide a way for students to answer nonverbally. Usually I use a simple gesture or hand signal for different response options, but sometimes I have cards with visuals that students can use. The great thing is that when you use a nonverbal response option, you can have all students give an answer at the same time instead of asking students to raise their hands and call on one student! So for example if I want them to tell me what instrument they heard, I give them cards with pictures of instruments and ask them to hold up the one they hear. If I'm asking them to identify the meter/ how many beats are in a measure, I have them show the number on their fingers. If I want them to identify if it's in major or minor (or any other multiple choice response), I tell them to hold up 1 finger for major, 2 for minor (etc). 

-If you are working on a performance, incorporate an instrument or movement prop that they can use to add another element to the performance (and have the other students also play the instrument or use the movement prop as well).

The great thing is these strategies are beneficial for ALL students: multilanguage learners can figure out the English vocabulary through the nonverbal signals, adding more elements to a performance increases the level of challenge and musicality for every student, and everyone benefits from incorporating kinesthetic learning and being asked to answer every question instead of waiting for a classmate to raise their hand.

2. Repetition

I have seen so many of my nonverbal students begin to be able to sing along with songs because I repeat the same song over and over again! My most successful song is the one I use at the end of every lesson before we line up. I have been using the same song every day for 2 years now and students sing, play egg shakers, and move with the song. My nonverbal students of course can move and play their egg shakers, but after hearing the same song so many times, several of the students have started singing the words along with us, which has been so exciting! But even with songs I do for a few weeks I find often they will pick up a word here and there and approximate the sounds if the song is highly repetitive. Repetition is so important for developing verbal skills!

3. Simple choice opportunities

One of the reasons I use the song I do at the end of class with egg shakers is because I go around the room before we sing the song with my box of egg shakers and ask students what color shaker they want. This is a great opportunity to get them to use their communication devices because colors are generally already loaded into their devices, but because they are motivated and because it is, again, repetitive, I find many of my students learn how to approximate the sounds for their favorite color and can start verbalizing the color they want without the devices as well! I've even asked the speech-language pathologist what sounds they are working on and identified a color word that we think they can approximate and prompt the student to say it by modeling the word while pointing to that color shaker as well. 

4. Pointing to chin

I learned this from watching some expert teachers and speech language pathologists: pointing to your chin while you say a sound/ word and then pointing to their chin can be a good cue for getting them to try saying the sound. If I know they can say a word, when they try to point to something or use their device I will get their attention, point to my chin while I say the word, and then point to their chin. I use this cue a lot if I am doing an echo song as well, by pointing to my ear when we are listening and pointing to my chin when we are echoing. 

**selective mutism

I also have had a few students over the years with selective mutism, so I want to mention a quick note about that as an aside. In the case of selective mutism, I am primarily using the first strategy on this list of providing nonverbal response opportunities, including even having a dry erase board where they can write things if needed (especially in the older grades), not the other strategies that encourage verbalizing. With selective mutism, trying to get them to verbalize in the classroom setting can often backfire. Let them start talking if and when they're ready, but in the meantime provide ways for them to fully participate and learn so they feel comfortable in your classroom!

**communication devices

One more note about assistive communication devices, or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems: I used to put a lot more thought and time into incorporating the use of AAC devices in my lessons for students who had them, and if a student is just learning to use one and one of their primary learning goals is to become more comfortable using it, I still do. But I've found that my students love that they can fully participate in something without needing a device, and it's way less distracting- and more musical, because we (literally) don't miss a beat waiting for the device- when I can find strategies like these to get them involved without them. Then I also don't have to worry about if they remember to bring them to class, or if the device is charged and working!

There is so much more to say about this topic and I am BY NO MEANS an expert in this area- these are just some strategies that have worked for me. I hope this is helpful for other music teachers who may encounter the opportunity to teach nonverbal students for the first time, and I'd love to hear any other ideas you may have in the comments as well!

For general tips for teaching self-contained special education music classes, click here. For strategies for inclusion in the elementary music classroom for students with special needs, click here.

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Nowruz (Persian New Year) Chaharshanbeh Suri Song

Did you know the Persian New Year, Nowruz, begins on March 21st? The celebrations began last week in Iran, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and many other countries and are continuing this week. I recently learned a song about one of the Nowruz traditions in Iran called Chaharshanbeh Soori, or fire jumping, that has been perfect for exploring and identifying uncommon time signatures with my upper elementary students. I highly recommend this song and the lesson activities I used!

If you are unfamiliar with how Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is celebrated in Iran (many other countries celebrate in similar ways as well), the beginning of this video is an excellent description that you could share with elementary aged students to learn about the holiday:

One of the traditions that's not mentioned in this video, though, is Chaharshanbe Suri, which is the "Red Wednesday" fire festival celebrated the last Tuesday night before the new year. This read-aloud is a great way to introduce the tradition to kids in a relatable way if you have the time, and the video below gives a nice quick explanation of both the fire jumping and the spoon hitting traditions (which is very similar to trick or treating so elementary aged students always enjoy learning about it) of Chaharshanbe Suri: 

The song I want to share today comes from this video, which demonstrates the song and explains a game and music lesson activities to go with it:

I wrote out the notation of the melody with a transliteration (pronunciation) of the lyrics below. As always I recommend listening to the native speaker in the video above to learn the proper pronunciation of the lyrics rather than reading them from the English letters below alone!

The lyrics are:

اسفند دونه دونه،چهارشنبه سوری مونده         

آتش داریمیه خرمن،میپریم روش باهم            

سرخیِ تو از من، زردیِ من از تو.               

Which roughly translates to:

Esfand (the last month of the Persian calendar) is over, it's Chaharshanbeh Soori (Red Wednesday)

Let's jump over the fire together

My yellowness is yours, your redness is mine

The last line, which is sung twice at the end of the song, is the phrase that people say as they jump over the fire, meaning they are giving their pale, yellow, sickly skin of winter to the fire, and taking the red, healthy, rosy skin from the fire as spring begins. 

This song is a perfect addition to my lessons on time signatures with 4th and 5th graders because of the interesting 5/8 time! First I had the students doing the clap/ pat pattern with the recording (I clipped just the part where she sings the song in my slides), then I introduced the holiday and fire jumping tradition and taught them the last repeated line and had them try to sing along while still doing the clap- pat pattern through the whole song. In the video the woman suggests having students play percussion instruments with the song and take turns jumping over a pretend fire, so I did something similar: I had half of the students either play a pattern on the djembe, playing the low bass tone in the center of the drum on the downbeat pat and the higher tone on the edge of the drum on the claps, or play steady eighth notes on a shaker. The other half of the class lined up in front of the plushy campfire I happen to have from doing campfire songs at the end of the school year (really you could use a red scarf, or anything small as the "fire"). While we sang the song, the students in line tried to jump on the claps and land on the pats. First I had them jump together in time with the beat while staying in place, then once they got it I had them take turns actually jumping over the fire plushy one at a time. We had to slow the song down but once they got it, it went really well and they loved trying to keep the jumping going through the whole song! Then I had them trade parts and do it again.

All the clapping, jumping, singing, and instrument playing in 5/8 really helped them internalize the pulse before I asked them to try to identify the time signature. Having the shaker playing eighth notes is definitely important for helping students figure out what the time signature is! It's the perfect way to get them to experience how the 5 eighth notes are often split into groups of 2 and 3.

You could certainly use this song for other concepts like same and different phrases, or do re mi fa solfege notes, and you could definitely add more pitched ostinati to create an ensemble piece with it as well, or even have students play the melody on xylophones or other barred instruments, but I think the clear pulse and simple melody, along with the fun movement game that even upper elementary students can get excited about, make this a perfect song to use to explore time signature/ meter, and it was an easy way to introduce students to a tradition from Iran that most had never heard of!

If you want to incorporate more simple songs from Iran in Farsi / Persian, this rain song is also perfect for spring (or really any time of year) and I used it primarily with my younger students. You can also find more songs from around the world and search by language or country/ region on this page, and see all my other lesson ideas for teaching meter (including tons more lessons to practice 5/4 time) in this post: 

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Arab American Musicians to Share with Students

April is Arab American Heritage Month and this year it feels more important than ever to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Arab American musicians! There are so many amazing people to highlight, but here are a few of my favorites to share with elementary students.

Paula Abdul

As I was thinking about this list I realized I don't highlight dancers and choreographers enough in my classroom- Paula Abdul is an Emmy and Grammy award winning singer and dancer, and many students still recognize her from her time as a judge on American Idol. She has Syrian Jewish heritage. This video shows her singing and dancing with a song that elementary students can enjoy and even has a shot of the original American Idol judges at the end:

Amir Elsaffar

Amir Elsaffar is an Iraqi-American composer, singer, and trumpet and santur player. He combines jazz, Western classical, and Iraqi Maqam styles in his music. The beginning of this video shows his song "Hemayoun" where he starts off playing the santur and then switches to trumpet:

DJ Khaled

Of all the people on this list, students are most likely to recognize DJ Khaled, a Palestinian-American DJ and producer. My favorite song to share with my students is this one from the "Wrinkle in Time" movie with Demi Lovato- it's a great song with a great message, and of course includes his signature phrase, "another one" at the beginning:

Kareem Roustom

Kareem Roustom is a Syrian-American-Canadian oud player, director, and Emmy-nominated composer. He has written film scores, arranged for pop singers like Tina Turner and Shakira, and worked with many well-known classical musicians including Daniel Barenboim and the Kronos Quartet. I had a hard time picking just one video to share that represents his work, so here are two! The first is one of his more widely-performed pieces called Dabke, performed by a youth orchestra:

And here he is performing on oud:

I hope this gives you some new people and music to share with your students during Arab American Heritage Month and of course, all year long! They aren't US American but if you are looking for more musicians with Arab heritage to share with your students, here is my list of Contemporary Palestinian Musicians with lots of fantastic examples my students love! 

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Iranian Rain Song: چک چک باران (Check Check Baran)

I love using different songs with similar themes to compare and contrast specific musical elements- I find using songs with lyrics that are about the same topic makes it easier to draw young students' attention to the musical aspects of the songs. One of my favorite themes to do this with, especially in the spring, is rain! I have found so many lovely rain songs from all over the world over the years, and today I have another to share with you from Iran that is so very versatile for so many musical concepts, you're sure to find a way to use it in your classroom!

This is a children's song from Iran called چک چک باران which means "Drip Drop Rain". The word for the "drip drop" sound of raindrops in the title is "check check", which is also repeated several times in the song. I found several videos of children in Iran singing the song (including this video of students performing the song in a school concert with recorders), playing it as a beginning piano song like this video, and even this video of a music teacher teaching how to play the melody on a glockenspiel, and when I asked one Iranian person they recognized the tune and said it was an old song- I wasn't able to get much specific background on its origins but clearly it is commonly known and used in schools in Iran as well.

Here are the lyrics in their original Persian (Farsi), the roman letter transliteration (pronunciation- please listen and mimic the actual pronunciation rather than just trying to read this transliteration, it's just there as a guide!), and the English translation:

چک چک باران از توو آسمان      check checke baran az tu aseman           Raindrops check check from the sky
می باره نم نم روی درختان          mi bareh kam kam ruye derahktan         It's drizzling on the trees
چک چک باران از توو آسمان      check checke baran az tu aseman           Raindrops check check from the sky
می باره نم نم روی درختان          mi bareh kam kam ruye derahktan         It's drizzling on the trees

قطره های آب تازه و شاداب        ghatrehaye ab tazeh oh shadab                Fresh and refreshing drops of water
رنگین کمان شد تو نور آفتاب      rangin kaman shod tu nure aftab              It became a rainbow in the sunlight
چک چک باران از توو آسمان    check checke baran az tu aseman             Raindrops check check from the sky
می باره نم نم روی درختان        mi bareh kam kam ruye derahktan           It's drizzling on the trees

And here is a notation of the melody (I've notated it with quarter notes and paired eighth notes, but you can see how it can be notated with quarter notes and half notes in the music teacher's glockenspiel tutorial video linked above):

There are quite a few concepts that students could learn and practice with this song, including AABA form/ phrase structure, duple/ simple meter, low sol, rhythm, instrumental ensembles/ orffestrations, or even recorder playing. 

The AABA phrase structure is a great way to have students practicing same and different identify the repeating and contrasting phrases, and relate that to AABA form, or just to identify musical phrases. I have students do this by drawing a long arced line in the air, starting a new line for each phrase, and then ask them to tell me which phrases were the same and which were different. Listening to the song to identify the phrases also gives them the opportunity to hear the song a few times before I have them practice singing it, which makes it easier for them to learn as well.

This would also be a great song to pair with the Japanese rain song "Amefuri" (see my blog post on that song here) to learn about simple vs compound meter. This Iranian song is very clearly in simple, duple meter, while the Japanese song is in compound meter. My favorite way to have students learn and experience the difference is to have them march around the room with the simple meter and skip with the compound meter. Even my youngest students can feel the difference immediately! I don't get into the weeds with compound vs simple meter too much beyond explaining to my older students (3rd grade and up) that the "skippy" song splits the beat in 3 (we practice counting 123 123 with the song to hear it) and the "marchy" song splits the beat in 2 (this one is easy to feel because of the paired eighth notes). 

This is also a great song for practicing reading, notating, identifying, and singing low sol, because the first repeated phrase begins with a clear low sol going to do. When I am introducing low sol with songs like this I actually start with the last measure of the first phrase and work backwards one measure at a time to establish where do is first and then get students to figure out that the sol note is lower, and have them count down (visually and aurally) from do to figure out that it's sol. 

Depending on how you notate the melody (see the eighth note version above and the half note version- just notated at "half speed"- in the glockenspiel video linked in the first paragraph), this song is a perfect for practicing reading, notating, identifying, and singing quarter notes and either paired eighth notes or half notes. Because the rhythm pattern repeats in each measure, it's an easy way for students to aurally identify the rhythms. I have students first learn the song, then pat the beat while singing it, then clap with the rhythm of the words while singing again, then clap the rhythm without singing. Once they can do that, I give them rhythm cards (here is how I made mine) and have them notate the rhythm with the cards together in small groups.

This is also a great song to add some simple pitched and unpitched percussion accompaniment because it really just sticks with the tonic and dominant chords the entire song! Any simple ostinati using D and G would fit together well with the melody, and it lends itself nicely to adding a simple groove with some drums and a few other simple classroom instruments (as they've done in the recording in the video above). Even students as young as 2nd grade can put together a simple instrumental accompaniment to play while they sing the melody!

I'm planning to use the song with my 3rd graders for recorder. Instead of using "Old MacDonald" to teach low D, I'm going to use the first section of the song to introduce low D. So much more exciting than a nursery rhyme! I might even bring it back later when they are learning high C and D and put the whole song together... we'll see! But the melody is simple enough that it's perfect for introducing those new notes and practicing reading and playing them on recorder.

I hope this gives you some ideas to use this song in your classroom with your students! It's such an easy way to introduce students to a song from Iran and get them singing in Persian/ Farsi, and it's a great melody to use for so many fundamental concepts. I am so excited to be adding this to my collection of rain songs from around the world this spring- you can see all of the rain songs I've shared, including all the lesson plans to go with them, in this post:

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Black Female Composers to Share with Students

As Black History Month comes to a close and Women's History Month begins, today I'm sharing some of my favorite Black female composers from a variety of genres and time periods that I'm excited to share with my elementary students. 

I realized a few years ago that the majority of the female musicians I was sharing with my students were singers. There are so many fantastic singers to share but I certainly don't want my students to internalize the idea that girls can only be singers in music! As I have started to search more intentionally I have been thrilled to rediscover some composers I had forgotten about as well as learn about many amazing female composers who are completely new to me. 

Florence Price (1887-1953)

I'm sure many music teachers will, like me, recall learning about Florence Price in college. She was, to quote Wikipedia, "the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra. Price composed over 300 works: four symphonies, four concertos, as well as choral works, art songs, chamber music, and music for solo instruments". Learn more about her on her website. I like sharing her Piano Concerto in One Movement with my elementary students:

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981)

How did I not learn about this woman until recently?!? Mary Lou Williams was "an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records... Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie" (source). Amazing! Learn more about her on her website, and use this short preview of the documentary about her to share who she is with students:

Micki Grant (1929-2021)

Micki Grant was a "multi-award-winning lyricist, composer, writer, director, actress and singer, revered as a trailblazer for African Americans in theater, television and music for over six decades...She was the first woman to win a Grammy Award for the score of a Broadway musical, winning Best Score for Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope in 1973. She was also the first woman to earn Tony nominations for all three musical theatre writing disciplines: book, music and lyrics" (source). Learn more about her here, and hear the full cast recording of "Don't Bother Me" here. This video is completely unrelated in many ways but it shows her acting in a scene where she's talking about music, and shows a lot of her personality:

Sylvia Robinson (1925-2011)

Sylvia Robinson is another musician that I can't believe I didn't learn about until recently. She is known as the "Mother of Hip Hop" and founded the label Sugar Hill Records. She co-wrote and produced Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five! She also wrote "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" for Ike and Tina Turner, among many others. You can read more about her here, and I like showing students the song she wrote and sang, "Sunday", alongside the Moby song "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)", which samples Sylvia's recording, from 2003. I wouldn't show it to elementary students, but this video is a great summary of her and her work:

Chanda Dancy (1978-)

Chanda Dancy is a film and TV soundtrack composer. She has written the scores for "Blink Twice", "Devotion", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", "Swiped", and "Lawmen: Bass Reeves", which won her an Emmy nomination. Her background as a strings player is always really interesting for my students to learn about! Learn more about her on her website here. I like using this video to introduce her and her work:

I hope this gives you some fresh ideas of musicians to share with your students! It has been so much fun for me to learn about these composers myself and share them with my students. What other Black female composers have you shared with your elementary students? Help us all add to our lists by sharing your favorites in the comments! If you are looking for more female musicians, you can see my first list here and my second list here. You can also see all my previous posts on Black musicians in this post here.

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Bad Bunny in Elementary Music

At this point I think most of us are aware of Bad Bunny's halftime performance at the 2026 Superbowl! And many of our students, especially upper elementary and older, will be aware of him now if they weren't already. Although most of his music isn't appropriate for elementary classroom use, I found the perfect song that is not only school appropriate but also can be used to teach and practice so many important skills and concepts I teach in elementary general music lessons!

Bad Bunny's halftime performance has brought new excitement and attention to Puerto Rico and its music and culture, and to Spanish language as well, which has been absolutely amazing. But it's hard to reference his music directly in elementary school because most of his music is made for adults, not children, and in a school setting especially would not be appropriate to share with students. But of course I was determined to find a way to feed off the energy of his performance! 

If you're looking for a song you can comfortably share with elementary students in its original form, I think "El Mundo Es Mío" is the one- the lyrics are not only school appropriate, but the message is empowering and the refrain is simple and easy for elementary students to learn even if they don't speak Spanish. 

Here are a few ideas for using this song in elementary music lessons:

1. Steady beat

Use the song as a track to practice showing steady beat through movement or instruments! With Kindergarten and 1st grade I love doing a game I call "follow the leader", where I call out each student's name throughout the song and that student becomes the new leader to come up with a steady beat move for the rest of the class to follow. With older students I will also review classroom instrument names playing techniques by handing out a few different instruments, then calling out a name of an instrument for only those students to play on the steady beat.

2. Rhythm practice

Use the song as a track to have students play rhythms with: they could practice reading rhythms from notation and then play it with the beat of the song, take turns improvising rhythms, or split up into groups and play different rhythms as ostinato patterns, with body percussion or with instruments (bonus points for instruments that are a part of Puerto Rican music, like guiros, maracas, or hand drums!).

3. Solfege

Ask students to identify the solfege in the refrain (la-re-do, la-re-do-ti). This is perfect if you are working on presenting or practicing low la and low ti. Once they have aurally identified the solfege, practice singing the refrain with Curwen hand signs, or have students notate it on the staff. I like using mini erasers and other small manipulatives as note heads for students to practice notating solfege, and I think my bunny mini erasers will be perfect for this!

4. Rap writing

Teach students the brief refrain, "el mundo es mio, el mundo es tuyo". Ask students to think of something that they're proud of about themselves, and then figure out how to say it with the beat in an 8-beat phrase. Have a few students take turns saying their line about something they are proud of, then have the whole class sing the refrain, then a few more students say their line. You could even use a karaoke track of the song to do it with. This could tie into or lead into more lessons to practice developing "flow" in rapping: here are some lesson ideas for teaching rap skills in elementary music.

Of course this is also the perfect opportunity to explore the music of Puerto Rico more broadly as well! Here is a lesson plan for Ambos A Dos, a Puerto Rican game song I love using with Kindergarten, and another set of lessons for El Coqui, a frog song from Puerto Rico I use with 2nd grade. You can search for all my blog posts on Puerto Rico, or on Spanish language songs, on this page. This would also be a great time to explore Puerto Rican musical styles like Reggaeton, Plena, or Bomba... more on that to come. 

Are you planning to talk about Bad Bunny with your students at all? Have you found other ways to incorporate his music in your elementary music lessons? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments. 

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Making the "Other" Familiar

I believe one of the most important roles we play as music teachers is bringing the world to our students- giving them a language to connect with more people, and giving them experiences that make the "other" less foreign, more familiar. I think most music teachers agree, but many struggle with how to do so effectively, or feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. Here are some of my thoughts on how to make your classroom a place that fosters empathy through opportunities to connect with a broader range of perspectives.

First a little about me, because my background has definitely shaped my perspective on this. I grew up across 3 continents, mostly living outside my passport country until college, spent the better part of the first decade of my teaching career in international schools, and since then have taught as a white teacher in a primarily non-white, low-income population school in the US. I became a music teacher because of my experience moving to schools as a child where I did not speak the language, and finding a place where I could participate in the music room. 

Normalize, not exoticize.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind that will be the difference between sharing unfamiliar music in a way that is harmful vs helpful is to remember the goal is to normalize, not exoticize. Exploring new perspectives and ideas should be exciting, but we should present them as new to us, not new to the world, different from us, not unusual or different from the "standard". I've written an entire post on how to do this concretely here, especially as it relates to cultures around the world, but I think the most important aspect of this practice is to both use songs from a wide range of cultures, languages, and genres in your everyday lessons when the background of the song is not the main point of the lesson, and also spend time doing a deep dive into some specific genres, cultures, and perspectives to give students a deeper understanding of the context.

Watch your language.

Be careful with the word "we/ us". Who is "we"? And this may seem obvious but be very careful with the word "normal/ standard". What is "normal"? This is really at the heart of how students understand what is "other". No matter how positively it is presented, if a genre, culture, or people group are presented as "unusual" or "not us", it is by definition being "othered". Instead of presenting a new idea or perspective in a "we vs them" or "normal vs unusual" way, present it as additional information. Instead of "we use the violin but China uses the erhu", try "we learned about the violin last year, and today we're going to learn about another instrument called the erhu", for example.

Focus on transferable skills.

One of the biggest setbacks for teachers I talk to is feeling like to do it right, they need to make sure to include every culture, every perspective, equally. While broadening our materials by adding more different perspectives is definitely important, it's also important to remember that the skills students gain from interacting with a new perspective will transfer. The same way that teaching students to read and perform one song with quarter notes will allow them to learn more songs with quarter notes, the skills of cultural navigation and empathy will transfer to new perspectives and cultures they encounter outside your classroom. So focus on giving students the opportunity to interact with and understand new perspectives rather than making sure you include every perspective that exists.

Learn from the source.

Hopefully this goes without saying but you can't expect to learn about Japanese music from a Kodaly song collection compiled by a white American who "learned it from their levels instructor" (it makes me angry just typing that because I've heard it so often). Certainly those types of resources can serve as starting points, but before you present it to students it's important to trace it back to a native source. The same goes for anything on my website! I try, when it is not something from my own personal background, to include my native sources in the articles I share. I encourage you to go back to those and learn from those sources, not just directly from me- that is the point! If you see a song that is labeled as "from" a certain country but you can't find any source from that country referencing the song, there's a good chance it's not from there. Here are a few examples of commonly circulated songs that are actually American, not from the cultures many books and presenters claim they are from. Learning directly from a native source will also give you important context that you will most likely miss out on otherwise. I have been learning a lot about hip-hop since moving to the US, but it wasn't until I had the opportunity to speak with hip-hop artists themselves, and share with them the lesson ideas I was working on, that I gained an understanding of important context that I needed to include in my lessons. Even when people are sharing directly from culture bearers themselves, they are sharing the parts that they learned, not the entire picture. You need to always go back to the source.

There is certainly a lot more to be said on this topic but these are the most important points I think to keep in mind to move further down the path of creating an equitable, inclusive classroom that brings the world to our students. If you are looking for a place to learn more about how to do this effectively, and find materials, ideas, and resources from culture bearers to add to your teaching, I've created a page on my website called Music Education Equity Resources where you can search by country, language, genre, and more topics to find resources to use in your classroom. And if you want to see a (regularly updated) full curriculum that seeks to put these ideas into practice, I've published my K-6 general music curriculum here.

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"Jingle Bells" in Music Class and Winter Concerts

If you're still using Jingle Bells in your music class, you're missing out. 

In case you haven't heard, the song "Jingle Bells" was written for a minstrel show. And as prevalent as the song has somehow become all over the world since it was likely first performed in 1857, it's long past time we moved on. I know how hard it can be to change old habits, so in this post I've compiled some easy ways to replace the song regardless of what you're using it for in your music lessons.

1. Fun Children's Songs About Jingle Bells 

I think for most people, Jingle Bells is just a fun, easy song that feels "festive" without being directly connected to a holiday (although let's be honest, whether it was written for it or not, everyone associates the song with Christmas), and it's a fun song to break out the jingle bells with the little ones and sing with gusto! If that's what you're looking for, I'd venture to say these 2 songs are far superior: Jingle Jangle Everybody Sing by Charissa Duncanson, and Jingle All the Way by Stephanie Leavell. They're both written by music teachers for young children and they have both been huge hits with my students!

The great thing is both of these songs work great for common concepts we are often practicing in general music lessons:

• Steady beat
• Same and different sections/ A and B sections/ form
• Opportunities for composition/ improvisation
• Fast/ slow, loud/ quiet

2. Easy Beginning Instrumental Songs

"Jingle Bells" is a common song for beginning band and orchestra winter concerts or even for classroom instruments like recorder and orff ensemble, but there are so many better options out there this one should not be hard to replace. "We Will Rock You" is similar in the sense that the rhythm can be easily simplified, it has a limited range, and it's instantly recognizable so it feels legit (and you can find lots of arrangements for beginning band, beginning orchestra, recorder play-alongs, etc). "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle Twinkle" are other simple melodies that can swap in as another well-known tune.

For specifically wintery songs, it's easy to search by level on most sheet music sites and even TeachersPayTeachers to find some great pieces that fit the bill and will honestly be more appealing to upper elementary students who tend to find songs like "Jingle Bells" to be a little childish. 

If you haven't checked out the sheet music available on TPT, I think you'll be surprised at how much you can get for the price, and there is a lot of great quality literature available that is developmentally appropriate for every stage of learning because there are so many written by beginning instrumental teachers! Here are just a few examples:

Winter Music Bundle for Beginning Band by Classroom Composers

Beginning Orchestra Winter Concert Bundle by Motivational Music Classroom

"Winter's Here" Recorder Orff Song by Hutzel House of Music

3. Sing-Along Songs

I've written extensively about how I am working to continue teaching students about holidays, which are an important part of cultures around the world, while avoiding students feeling excluded in the process as much as I can. Jingle Bells is commonly used in sing-alongs as a non-religious holiday song, but obviously based on its racist origins doesn't fit the bill for non-exclusionary. For a full list of songs I have been using for many years now in my sing-along including songs for Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year, and Eid, with all the fun movement and other activities I include with the songs, head to this post. Another great idea that uses a simple prop (cups) with a wintery, festive, non-religious song that would be great for a sing-along is this simplified cup routine for Sleigh Ride:

I hope this helps provide some concrete suggestions for ways we can remove a problematic song from our music classrooms and programs while injecting more fun music that is engaging, perfect for the winter season, and accessible for beginners and young learners! If you want to see all of the music lessons that I teach in the month of December for every grade K-6 general music lessons, here is my full curriculum (also available in individual months and grade levels). What else is stopping you from removing the song from your music lessons and programs? If you have other ways you use this song that I can help find a replacement for, please send me an email or leave a comment and I'd be happy to help!

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Songs and Dances from Around the World for Every Grade

Over the last few weeks I've been sharing the songs and dances my K-6 elementary students have performed in our annual International Music Festival, and today I'm compiling them all for easy reference! If you're looking for something to add to your concert, informance, or your general music classes, I highly recommend all of these!

In each of these lists I've noted the specific grade level I use each piece with as well as a brief description of what students do/ how I arrange the song, but obviously these can be adapted for different grade levels, equipment/ instruments, etc so I highly recommend looking through all of them to see what might fit your needs.

Kindergarten / 1st grade: Native American, Bolivia, Colombia, and Syria

 2nd / 3rd grade: Maori New Zealand, India, and Philippines

4th / 5th / 6th grade: Japan, Korea, Mozambique, and Brazil

I hope you find some new songs and dances to teach your students! If you're unsure about how to teach music from unfamiliar cultures, or want to see more of my lesson plans with music from around the world, check out all my posts on the topic here. If you have any questions or other songs you'd add to the list, leave a comment below! I love hearing from you!

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World Music Performance Pieces: upper elementary

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 upper elementary 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!

Japan (4th grade)

• Akatonbo (students sing the song, first together and then in a round, while playing different triple meter ostinato patterns on various instruments- I use things like finger cymbals, tone blocks, hand drums, and metallophones- along with other color instruments in between sections- I use ocean drums, wind chimes, etc)
• Sakura (students sing the song while some play different ostinato patterns on percussion and barred instruments and some play harmony on recorder- link includes arrangement)
• Tokyo Ondo (students stand in a circle (or two concentric circles if the group is large) and do the Tokyo Ondo dance with this track)

Korea (4th grade)

• Arirang (students sing the song, first together and then in a round, while playing different triple meter ostinato patterns on various instruments- I use things like finger cymbals, tone blocks, hand drums, and metallophones- along with other color instruments in between sections- I use ocean drums, wind chimes, etc)
• Buchaechum (students each hold 2 fans and do some basic moves with the linked recording)
• Janggu (students play the introduction and basic janggu drum rhythm pattern with the linked recording, using a mallet and rhythm stick on boxes)

Mozambique (5th grade)

• Timbila (students gradually layer in repeated lines similar to the linked recording on bass, alto, and soprano xylophones)
• Bombela (students sit in a circle and pass beanbags on the beat while singing, each verse the passing pattern gets gradually more difficult)

Brazil (6th grade)

• Batucada (students stand in rows by instrument and step in place on the beat while playing some characteristic ostinato patterns on guiro, tamborine, tube shaker, tubano drums with the carrying strap, and agogo bells)
• Escatumbararibe (students sit in a circle and do the cup passing game demonstrated in the linked video while singing the song)
• Tambores (students stand in rows facing a partner and sing while doing the clapping game demonstrated in the linked recording, with 3 different versions gradually increasing in difficulty)

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! I've split up my lists of performance pieces I use in my K-6 International Music Festival into grade spans- here are the pieces I use with K-1/ early childhood, and here are the pieces I use with 2nd and 3rd grades. 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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World Music Performance Pieces: elementary middle grades

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 middle elementary 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!

Maori New Zealand (2nd grade)

• E Papa Waiari (students sit in rows facing a partner and do a different tititorea stick pattern with each verse, stopping to sing the last repeated line with the recording before changing patterns)
• Hine E Hine (students stand spread out, each holding one poi rope, and do some basic repeated moves with the poi with the recording, singing along with the repeated A section)
• Tutira Mai (students stand in rows and sing while doing the motions as shown in the linked video)

India (2nd grade)

• Kochu Poocha (students stand and sing while doing the motions as shown in the linked video. I've also had them sing while doing a clapping pattern facing a partner)
• Chakkardi Bhammardi (students stand in a circle each holding 2 sticks and do the stick game as shown in the video)

Philippines (3rd grade)

• Tinikling (students stand in rows between jump bands and do the basic tinikling step with the music as shown in the video, with one student holds the bands on each end of each pair of bands, sitting on the floor as shown with the poles)
• Bahay Kubo (half of the students sing the chorus while the other half plays a harmony line on recorder, then they swap parts)
• Magtanim Ay Di Biro (students sing the song while doing motions to show the lyrics, similar to the linked video, in the A section, then face a partner and do a simple clapping pattern with the beat for the B section)

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! I've split up my lists of performance pieces I use in my K-6 International Music Festival into grade spans- here are the pieces I use with K-1/ early childhood, and check back for the pieces I use with upper elementary/ middle school. 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:

Read more "World Music Performance Pieces: elementary middle grades"