It's Friday!

Finally Friday! Definitely a favorite day of the week for all teachers. I wanted to share an experience I had with my 8th grade classes yesterday and today. As I mentioned before, I teach music for Kindergarten up through 8th grade, so it can be challenging searching and planning for such wide spread age groups. The group I have the hardest time with is 8th grade, because it takes so much to keep their attention. Unless it is related to rap music or MTV they are not interested. I try very hard to tailor the lessons to cater to their attention span and make them somewhat fun but they will not have any of it. Of course this particular cohort group was the same last year, when they were in 7th grade, so a lot of it is just these particular students and not the age group.

Needless to say, this week I did a short unit on bands, as in marching bands, concert bands etc. The first lesson didn't go over too well. Yesterday however, I touched on drum corps. I explained what a drum corps was, showed pictures, and we listened to a performance from the top drum corps group in the country. And much to my surprise, they were actually interested! They wanted to see video clips of the groups, so I managed to go to the Drum Corps International website and find clips of each group doing their championship performance. The kids really enjoyed it and even began critiquing some of the performances! I told them that I was going to a college football game this weekend and I would try to take pictures of the marching band to show them. Now if only I could get them interested in the rest of what I teach.

The problem with this age group is they are only exposed to one kind of music. I want them to learn to appreciate other types of music that actually require real skill and musicianship like classical and jazz but it is such a challenge. Any ideas on how to do this?

On a personal note, I mentioned above that we are going to a football game. We are going to see Alabama and UTC in Tuscaloosa. I am very excited because I have been an Alabama fan since I was little and this will be my first game. I will try to post pictures when I get back.

Also I ordered the cutest Christmas ornaments today for my piano students. They are personalized with their name and year on them. I have posted an example of what they look like.



Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!