January Favorites 2017

Another month has flown by, and we are now truly in the thick of 2017! I'm taking a minute today to reflect on some of the things I especially enjoyed this past month. I hope you'll leave a comment at the end with your "January favorites" as well, so we can all find new things to enjoy in February! :)

1. The Rubber Band Method

As most of you know, I work in a pretty behaviorally-challenging building. I've put a lot of thought and effort into my behavior management systems and have built strong class communities and relationships in most of my classes now, after 4 years in this position. But there are always going to be those few students who, for a variety of reasons, will always struggle with their behavior and need a LOT of reminders/reinforcement to keep them on track. In their homerooms, most of these students have their own charts that they fill out, or systems in place with their teachers, to help keep them on track. The trouble is that with hundreds of students and classes coming in and out all day, it is almost impossible to keep all of that set up in the classroom AND remember what to do with which kid when they walk in the door.

Enter the rubber band method, a technique I learned from the school psychologist. Basically you start with several rubber bands on one wrist, and when a student needs a reminder to get back on track, you move one rubber band to the other wrist. The goal is to keep most of the rubber bands on the original wrist, and you pre-establish with the student what the reward and consequence will be for keeping or not keeping rubber bands. So that they can see success, especially in the beginning, it's important to start with more rubber bands than the number of times they are normally disruptive/misbehaving, and then as they become consistent with their behavior, you can challenge them to keep it up with fewer rubber bands to start with. The beauty of this system is that I can just keep the rubber bands on my wrist all day and not have to worry about pulling something out or putting things away depending on the class. It doesn't disrupt the lesson to move one over, and nobody else in the class needs to know why you're doing it.

I shared this technique in my recent blog post introducing myself on the TPT Music Crew blog. If you missed that post and you want to get to know me better, head on over there! :)

2. Music Ed Blogs website

Jennifer (from The Yellow Brick Road) and I have been working for a few years now on different ways to foster a spirit of idea-sharing amongst music education bloggers and the readers of those blogs, and I'm so excited about our latest project: the MusicEd Blogs website! Although a lot of people rely on social media (Pinterest, Facebook, etc) to find out about new blog posts, social media doesn't always reliably inform readers about new posts, and finding out about new blogs only happens by pure luck most of the time! To help people find relevant content, stay on top of new posts from favorite blogs, and discover new ones to love, we've created a website that currently serves 2 purposes:

1. Shows the latest posts from all MEB member blogs in one place
2. Gives a tabulated list of all MEB member blogs, organized by category/topic

We are still adding new blogs all the time (so if you don't see your own or your favorite one listed, fill out the form to get added!), and we hope you'll find this resource helpful! There are 2 ways to get the most out of MusicEd Blogs: bookmark/pin the page so you can visit it any time, and follow the site on Facebook to get notifications from all different bloggers from one spot.

3. This stuff:

I just found this stuff on clearance at my local grocery store and bought it on a whim (it was $1.50, what did I have to lose, right?) and it is SO GOOD. If you've never had cookie butter, first of all, you need to try it- Trader Joe's has probably the most famous one but lots of brands make it now. But this stuff has espresso-flavored spread swirled in! Cookie butter is pretty sweet on its own, so the espresso flavor is the perfect complement. If you can find it at a store near you, definitely check it out! You can also get it here on Amazon. I went back and bought 2 more containers to save for when I run out ;)

4. Blog posts

I found so many great music education blog posts to share with you guys this month! Click on each of the pictures below to go read up on all the awesomeness ;)

Your turn: what have you been up to this past month? What has inspired you? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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How to Teach Beginning Harmony

I'm continuing my series on teaching part-singing today with my method for getting students singing in harmony for the first time. If you missed them, be sure to catch up on my previous posts in this series on teaching canons and partner songs (linked at the end of this post)- those two steps absolutely need to be mastered before you start working on singing in harmony! Here are the steps I take to help students be successful with this new challenge.

1. When to start

The exact age when students will be ready to sing in harmony will vary. The key is to make sure that they are comfortable singing canons and partner songs independently before attempting this step! Usually that happens around 5th or 6th grade. That's not to say that younger students can't sing in harmony, especially if they are in a choir where they can spend focused time working on their singing and on specific pieces for a longer chunk of time, so if your students are ready for it earlier, I say go for it!

2. Picking a song

With beginning 2-part harmony, I try to pick songs that have more contrary motion than parallel (meaning one melodic line is moving up while the other is moving down, instead of both parts going up and down together). This makes it a lot easier for students to hear the difference in their parts, and it makes it a lot easier to help both parts along as the conductor/teacher (more on that later). Another thing I usually do is to choose a song that only has short sections in harmony. Singing in 2-part harmony for the first time is definitely not easy, so doing it in short spurts is a good way to get students' feet wet without completely overwhelming them. There are a lot of great choral pieces written for beginning 2-part choirs that will mostly have the 2 parts echoing each other or singing partner melodies, with an occasional harmony part thrown in.

3. Divide and conquer

When I first started teaching, I always started off teaching the harmony part first and the melody second. I reasoned that the harmony part was harder, so if students on that part heard that part first they would be more likely to be able to stay on that part than if they learned the melody first, even if they were just listening to the other part learn their notes. But over the years I've discovered that that method doesn't always work out- sometimes the end result is better when I start with the melody part first!

My tactic now is to teach both parts simultaneously, but going back and forth between parts every few lines. Not only does this help students learn their parts better, but it's a better technique for behavior management and engagement because students spend shorter chunks of time waiting to practice their part. Basically I have part 1 learn 1-2 lines, then part 2 learn their notes for the same 1-2 lines, then part 1 learns the next 1-2 lines, then part 2, then I have part 1 sing the first and second set of lines in a row, then part 2, then continue on in the same fashion until each part can sing the entire section independently (without the other part singing with them).

Obviously if the harmony section is very short (less than a couple of phrases), then I only need to go back and forth once. Still at this point, I don't have the parts sing together. If, for example, part 1 and 2 sing together until the last phrase when they split into harmony, I'll have each part learn their notes separately from the beginning of the section (I'll just point out to the 2nd part that learns it that they have the same notes as the other part in this line). I've found that they are able to hear their part when they get to the split much more easily this way.

One important element when students are learning their parts separately is to show the melodic line with your conducting as you model/teach them their parts. Often I use solfege hand signs, and I'll even have the students do them with me as they initially learn their parts, but I'll continue doing the hand signs every time they sing. If the hand signs are too cumbersome, I'll just motion with my hand to show the notes going up or down.

**A quick note about assigning students to a singing part: I've found it best to keep the strong singers evenly split between the 2 parts, regardless of which part has more harmony or melody lines, or which part is more vocally challenging. You need strong singers who can confidently sing their notes on each part to avoid having one part drowned out by the other.

4. Putting it together: lend your voice

Once the students can sing their own parts confidently without your help, it's time to put the 2 parts together! If students are elementary age, I've found playing their notes on the piano is little to no help to them at this stage- they are too focused on the voices around them to hear the timbre of the piano over the voices and be able to match those pitches. The strategy that works best for me is to sing along with whichever part is struggling more while you conduct the other part. This is where the conducting/motions/hand signs come in handy! Using your hands to show the same motions you did when they were initially learning the part will help the part you aren't singing with remember their notes.

5. Independence

Once they start to get the hang of singing with both parts together, the next step is to get them singing without you! I start pulling away from singing along by singing just the first few notes, and then once both parts are singing without me, I'll use 1 hand to show the hand signs/motions for each part (and yes, I do practice this ahead of time if it's a tricky line to show with both hands at once).

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it's important to make sure students have mastered canons and partner songs before moving into harmony. Read about my teaching strategies for each of those steps by clicking on the pictures below:

I've hope you've found this series on teaching part-singing helpful! I'd love to hear about your favorite tips and strategies for teaching part-singing. What are your favorite beginning harmony songs? Leave a comment below!

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Tax Documents Organization

Documents that I need for my taxes are starting to show up in my mailbox. It's times like these when the magnitude of adulting hits me the hardest- how in the world am I supposed to keep track of this stuff? Last year I used a simple system to keep all of the documents I needed to file my taxes in one place and it worked really well, so I wanted to share it with all of you- hopefully it will make your tax season a little less cumbersome this year!

The problem with all of these documents, besides the fact that there are so many of them, is that they are all coming from different places, in different forms, at different times, and at a time of year when all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea, not go through my mail to see which ones are junk mail and which are actual important documents (anyone else feel like the junk mail looks more and more similar to the actually important stuff??). And I have to keep track of many of these documents for months before I actually file my taxes! 

Of course my original thought was to keep a hanging file in my office/bedroom and put everything there, but that assumes that I will go through the extra step of filing away these documents after I sort through my mail. Which doesn't always happen. And then I get stressed out because I have some stuff filed and some stuff sitting somewhere in a pile waiting to be filed. So I simplified my system:

I have a mail drop spot just inside my front door (I shared my system in my old apartment in this post- the setup is almost identical in my current house) where I put my incoming and outgoing mail until I can go through and sort things. Whenever I get my first tax document that needs to be saved, I keep the envelope that it came in and write "TAXES" on the blank side, then drop it back in the incoming mail slot with the label facing out. After that, whenever I get another document, I add it to the envelope. When I'm ready to file, I pull out the envelope and everything is ready! 

I like this system because it doesn't require any extra effort on my part but allows me to keep everything together in one spot as stuff trickles in through the mail. How do you keep track of everything during tax season? I'd love to hear your tips in the comments! 

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Teaching Students to Sing Partner Songs

Last week I went through my process for teaching canon singing, one of the first steps in part-singing. Once students have mastered canons, it's time to move on to partner songs! Today I will be going through my teaching process for teaching students to sing partner songs for the first time.

1. When to start

I save partner songs for 4th grade. As I mentioned in my previous post, I primarily teach canons in 3rd grade, so this is the natural next step as students develop their part-singing skills. I have done a few partner songs with my 3rd grade choir, but it definitely requires a good bit of extra practice and some serious concentration for them to do it!

2. Picking a song

There are so many great partner songs to use! I don't really have one favorite that I always start with, but I always make sure to pick something that is fun, to keep the students engaged while working on this difficult skill, and songs that pair nicely but sound fairly different from each other. Some partner songs have very similar melodies, which makes it more difficult for students to keep track of which song they're singing. One of my favorites that definitely fits the bill is "One Bottle of Pop"/"Fish and Chips"/"Don't Chuck Your Muck":

You can find tons more partner songs to choose from in this list from Beth's Music Notes.

3. Teaching the song

As with canons, the key to successful partner singing is making sure students are confident and comfortable with the songs before they start trying to sing them as partner songs. I always teach them each of the songs as separate songs at least 1 class period before I teach them to sing the songs together. Besides teaching it to them in advance, the other key to helping students be more comfortable with the song is adding motions. I always make sure to have contrasting motions for each of the songs they will be singing together as partner songs, which makes it much easier for them to stay on their part later on.

I always teach the motions first by having them mirror my motions while I sing the song. Once they know the motions, then we work on the singing. For "One Bottle", I count with my fingers, we sway back and forth for "Fish and Chips", and make scolding motions for "Don't Chuck".

4. Developing independence

The true test of how well they know the song is if they can sing it without my help. After they've learned the songs and practiced them, I first have them sing the song while I do only the motions, without singing along, then I have them sing each song without me doing anything at all. I make sure they can all do this comfortably before we move on, and tell them that they'd better know the songs well, because things are about to get crazy!

5. Teacher as partner

The next step is to get the whole class to sing one of the songs while I sing one of the others. I choose whichever one they are most comfortable with, and have them sing that one, telling them not to get distracted by me as I sing another part. The first time I sing very softly, just barely doing the motions, and if they stay on their part, we do it again with me singing full volume and getting up in their faces with my over-exaggerated motions! ;) We do the same thing with them singing each of the songs while I sing one of the others with them.

6. Divide and conquer

Now it's time to split the students up and assign each group to a song. If I'm doing a song with 3 songs together like "One Bottle of Pop", I start with just 2 groups and use 2 of the songs. First I split the class in half, making sure there are strong singers in each group, and I have each group sing their song on their own.

Once each group can sing their assigned song independently, I tell one of the groups to sing their song twice, and have the other group enter the second time through with the partner song. This allows me to help each group get started with their song so they have a better chance of staying on their part.

7. Partner up!

Once they can sing 2 songs together with their entrances staggered, I tell them it's time for the real deal! I make sure each one has their starting pitch and have both groups start their respective songs at the same time.

Once they've got the hang of that, I just keep changing it up! First I have the groups swap songs, then (if it's a song with 3 parts) we split up into 3 songs and go back to staggered entrances, then all starting together, then swapping songs again, until each group has done all of the songs as a partner song. Success!

Once students have mastered partner songs, they're ready to start learning some basic harmony! To read about how I teach canon singing (to lead up to partner songs), make sure to check out this post.

What are your favorite partner songs? What strategies have worked for you when you're teaching students to sing partner songs for the first time? Leave a comment below! :)

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