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Season 1 | Episode 52

Show Notes

Thank you again for the workshop. It truly made me take a deep breath and say I can do this. I have a question when it comes to planning. My school does a big Christmas program in December that is a fundraiser for my classroom. I basically stop teaching from Sept-Dec and always feel like I am having to play catch up from Jan-May. How can I still make sure I'm teaching the concepts AND teach the songs for the program? In reference it's 6 songs for each grade level: 3 for that grade level and 3 to sing combined with the next grade level.

This is such a common situation - every music teacher has been here.

What’s the purpose of this performance? What’s the purpose of “regular” learning? Where is the connection between the two? What feels good for you?

What is the ratio that feels good between the amount of learning and the polished showcase? Because these are very different events and processes. Let’s zoom in.

Learning in our music rooms is often: Active. It’s a little messy. It’s collaborative. It’s noisy. It’s play-based. It’s inquisitive. It’s creative. We use many media (singing, playing, speaking, moving) and many skills (singing, playing, reading, writing, moving, improvising, arranging, aurally identifying). Our learning is sequential (we learn something that becomes the jumping-off point for the next thing)

Performances are often: A little less active. Polished, not messy. Less collaborative and more teacher-driven. Still noisy, but probably not play-based. It might not have students’ creative stamp. The purpose is a showcase, and not the process of learning, so there’s not really a place for inquisitive thinking processes. We’re probably using one medium (singing) and one skill (reading). The showcase is the final, top of the mountain event, not the springboard for the next step of learning.

It makes sense that we feel tension in these two mindsets.

Which is better?

It depends on your goals.

Let’s approach this from three different adjustments we might make, like three hats to try on. Then at the end we can all pick out the hat that we like, and it doesn’t have to be the same hat as another colleague.

Story Adjustments

“I stop teaching and have to play catch up the rest of the year.”

Catch up to what? This is your program. This is your curriculum.

What if we were to adjust this story? What if I told you a normal curricular school year runs January through May, and the first part is just focused on collaborative performance experiences and building repertoire for the second semester? Would you play catchup then?

If this is something that happens every single year, perhaps the learning part of your year is January through May. The only problem is that we feel behind in the curriculum. But recall all our conversations about how we’re all curriculum curators - we get to craft the curricular experiences for our students and for ourselves.

Is there a way to do this large production and still have a year that is breathable, joyful, and intentional?

Breathable: Release the unhelpful statement: “3rd grade curriculum” and embrace the statement “my 3rd grade curriculum”
Joyful: There’s probably a lot of joy in this program! The joy in the classroom is independent of “ta-dimi by 3rd grade”
Intentional: We can choose repertoire for the program that speaks to our curricular goals, and we can emphasize sequential learning January - May.

Program Adjustments

Let’s try on a different hat. This time instead of looking at the story about the program, let’s see if there are any changes we can make to the program itself, so that our time in the classroom feels in alignment with our values for the classroom.

Adjust the songs per grade level, and choose repertoire intentionally.

Adjusting the songs per grade level:

Fewer songs = less time learning the songs
Combined grades songs don’t need to be musically sophisticated to be musically impactful.
Could we use songs students already know?

What’s our criteria for selecting repertoire? Where is the overlap between curricular goals and repertoire selection?

Maybe the grade-level songs are arrangements of folk songs that can include movement and student input, and really showcase learning. And the combined songs are the more performance-driven, stand on the risers and sing.

Could this be a song you write? Could this be a song you arrange?

A quick formula can be to take a folk song, rewrite the lyrics to be winter-themed, sing it in a round and add an ostinato.

Maybe you use a traditional performance piece, write a partner melody to accompany the song that uses melodic material you’re reviewing from last year. Maybe you add an ostinato that uses the rhythmic material you’re reviewing from last year. There are lots of possibilities, but the main idea is looking for an overlap between what’s artistically pleasing for the audience, and what’s pedagogically useful for students.

Structural Adjustments

Let’s try on our last hat. What if we reimagined what this program is from the ground up? What if this program was a showcase of the learning process itself, so it was completely aligned with the curriculum you’re crafting and curating for your students? What if instead of balancing concert prep with regular teaching, what if concert prep was regular teaching?

What if we could do an informance?

Does the sharing need to be in December? Could it be a group sing-along in December and an informance at the end of the year?

If it does need to be in December, could it be a December informance?

If this is a fundraiser for the music room, what would it be like for donors and contributors to see how their contributions are being actively used?

“These instruments were donated by one of our generous families in 2017. After many years we’re still using them to learn how to listen to each other and work in an ensemble. This is called a chord bordun and we’re using it in the song ____. You can hear more about what we’re learning at our informance on December 6th”

Planting Seeds

Start conversations with the people in charge. You are the music expert at your campus. You are the advocate for teaching and learning music. If you feel that there are more effective and student-centered ways to structure your sharings, this might be a conversation to have with your administration.

Wear Your Favorite Hat

You can change your hat next year, and the year after that.

We want the way we spend time in the classroom to be in alignment with our values for the classroom. And if we notice a misalignment, we can begin to move toward a different map for the year, either by changing the story about our performances, making tweaks to the existing performance structure, or reimagining the sharing event itself.