The Classroom Teacher Is Late To Pick Students Up From Specials! Now What?

It's the end of music class. You line students up, make sure they're standing quiet and still, and open up the door to send them on their way. Much to your surprise(or not!), their teacher isn't there. You estimate you have anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes before the teacher will pick up your students. During that time, students can get pretty restless! Here are some ides on how to keep students occupied while waiting to be picked up.

1. Ask review questions about the concept(s) you covered in class. 2. Sing a favorite song. 3. Ask students to share any "good news" they have. 4. Play an inner hearing game. Take a familiar tune and have students only sing the first word of each line, the last word of each line, the words that rhyme, etc. 5. Sing Happy Birthday to someone who has an upcoming birthday 6. Ask students to name one thing that went well in music and one thing they could do better. 7. Sing part of a song for an upcoming concert. 8. Give standing in line musical meaning! Practice standing like "performers on stage." The more they can practice standing still, smiling, and quiet, the better! 9. Review technique for singing and/or playing. Tell students you are going to demonstrate a skill two ways, one is right and one is wrong. Demonstrate something, such as singing posture: slumped vs. straight and tall.  Have students put up one or two fingers to show which one they think is the correct way. 10. Copy me rhythms or sol fege patterns. You can clap, say, or sing a pattern and students repeat the pattern after you. This is especially good for younger students. 11. Review words on your word wall. 12. Ask students what their favorite activity in music is. 13. Rapid fire Q&A. Ask a question that will have a 1-3 word answer, gives students 10 seconds to think of their answer, and go down the line quickly. I used this technique on Halloween when every student wanted to tell me what they were going to dress up as. 14. Name that tune. Hum or play a few lines of a tune that students may know and see if students can guess what it is! 15. Play a short clip of instrumental music. Keep a playlist on hand just for instances like this!
While it may not be convenient when students are picked up late, you might as well make the most of those few extra moments!

Composition Apps: The Good, The Bad, and The Fun But Not So Educational

There are so many great app lists out there for music education. The problem I found is that they don't always have reviews attached to them. I decided to download as many apps as I could find and test them all out. Here's what I found when it came to composing apps!
The Good
Tune Train
Pros: Easy to use, built using music theory concepts, students can see their composition on a staff, several accompaniment options for student compositions Cons: No way to export/save the music that is created, no option to change the instrument that plays the melody Cost: FREE Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tunetrain/id702713073?mt=8 Android: n/a
Tune Train is probably the most musically intuitive app I found. It was clearly designed with the music teacher in mind. Students guide a train to different stops. The train stops represent various musical ideas such as high/low(pitch) ad close together/far apart(rhythm).

There is an option for students to view their composition written out on a staff. While the compositions cannot be exported, students can easily take a screenshot of their Tune Train composition to use in another activity such as playing the melody on Orff instruments.

One final thing I really love about this app is that you can choose a style of accompaniment. Each level has a few different options to choose from.

The Lego Movie Music Maker
Pros: Characters that students like and recognize, variety of instruments for composing, save and share option Cons: Lego loops don't always mesh well with base songs Cost: FREE Website: http://appcloud.warnerbros.com/lego/legomusicmaker/
This app works well in a browser on iPads. Students choose a song "base," such as the "Everything is Awesome" song, and then add their composition on top of it. Colored lego pieces each have their own sound loop ranging from percussion to vocal exclamations. Legos can be placed on and off the beat. This app is basically a simplified version of Garageband.

SketchASong

Pros: cross curricular with art, real instrument sounds, wide variety of instruments to choose from, music concepts such as chord progressions  and beat placement are apparent

Cons: if students "color" the pictures, it tends to sound like a cacophony of sound rather than a piece of music, no option to export song - only to save in the app

Cost: FREE

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketch-a-song-kids/id766925471?mt=8

Android:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ohnineline.sas.kids&hl=en

This app combines the world of art and music. Students can choose from several coloring pages to color in. Each color represents an instrument family (ex - various shades of green are woodwinds). It might be a good app to use when teaching instrument families. All sounds in the app are recordings of real instruments.

Glitchamphone

Pros: ability to add multiple measures to create a longer piece of music, shows 4/4 beat pattern, options to adjust tempo and sound levels, includes mode to compose using a grid/colors and mode to create/record own patterns Cons: limited amount of instrument choices, the app takes a little exploration to access all of the fun features - may not be suitable for younger students Cost: $1.99 Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glitchamaphone-music-making/id555790025?mt=8 Android: n/a
This app would be good to use in conjunction with a lesson on the recording industry. Students can record and fine tune their own music on a grid, similar to recording and editing MIDI sounds. This app includes a handy tutorial built into it that will help students find all of the app features.

 

The Bad
Monkey Drum Pros: world music instruments available for composition, all paid options can be "purchased" through enough earning coins, control over musical ideas such as tempo and pitch, option for free play on instruments Cons: no easy way to delete/erase a composition once you create it, only 3 free instruments, no way to export compositions Cost: FREE with in app purchases available Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monkey-drum/id483225765?mt=8 Android: n/a
In the composition component of this app, students can fill in blocks representing either different pitches or timbres.The only reason why I put this under the bad category is because once a composition is finished, there is no way to start over again from scratch. If students wanted to start a new composition, they would have to uncheck all of the filled in white boxes, which is simply not practical to use as a composition app in the classroom.

The Fun But Not So Educational
Soundrop Pros: easy to use Cons: does not include option to save composition unless you pay to upgrade to PRO, only one instrument sound available for free, does not have any true educational concepts Cost: FREE with option to upgrade to PRO Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soundrop/id364871590?mt=8 Android: n/a
This app allows you to compose by drawing lines, which play marimba pitches each time a ball hits a line. The user does not have much control over anything but the lines in the free version. 

Falling Stars Pros: options for multiple timbres through different leaf patterns, option to save and share, more control than Soundrop Cons: not particularly educational, ads for Trident Vitality are present Cost: FREE Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/falling-stars-by-trident-vitality/id439921044?mt=8 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bobisoft.wallpaper.fallingstars&hl=en
This app may be good for pre-k and k students to use to explore and create sound. You compose by drawing vines. Each vine has a particular timbre that plays when a falling star hits it. While this app is definitely not bad, there are other app options with more musical concepts built in.

Cross Curricular Music Centers

This week in 2nd grade, we did centers! Students spent about 7-8 minutes are each of the four centers I had set up. I created these centers with the intention of incorporating other subjects.

Music and Math

This station combines rhythm, addition, and composition into one activity. Students started by practicing writing notes. I created a quick practice work sheet for quarter, half, and eighth notes.

Next students became rhythm composers! Students were instructed to write out a four beat rhythm pattern using quarter, eighth, and half notes. They labeled the number of beats each note received and then wrote an addition sentence to double check they had four beats. One student even commented to me, "Hey! This is kind of like what we do in math class."

Music and Art

I had two music and art stations in this batch of centers. One was color by note. These color by note worksheets are a musical spin on the popular color by number! I made this activity into a coloring contest for students. I plan to feature the best colored owls on my fall bulletin board. If you're interested in the fall color by note worksheets, you can find them here.

The other music and art center was the draw what you hear center. I played two short pieces of music for students over the stereo system. Students used their imagination to draw scenes to match the music. Playing music out loud also helps keep the noise level down at other centers.

Music and Technology

Students at this station used the iPads to create their own compositions by using the free app TuneTrain. Students guide a train through towns to pick up people at their houses. Each person has a specific pitch. The higher the house, the higher the note. The closer together the houses selected, the shorter the rhythm will be. Students can also choose the accompaniment style (examples include pop, classical, R&B, and more) and have the option of viewing their composition notated on staff. Its a great way to get students thinking about basic music theory concepts!

Using SQUILT in Music Class

SQUILT is one of my students' all time favorite activities. What is SQUILT you ask? SQUILT stands for Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time. During SQUILT time in my classroom, students listen to a piece of music and then imagine a story in their head. It is a great, fun way to introduce classical music to young children. Students do this activity immediately following the Welcome to Music song we sing each week.

I have my students spread out, sit or lay down, and close their eyes. I let them listen to about 2-3 minutes of music and then have them sit back on the carpet. I choose 3-6 students a week to share their stories, depending on how elaborate the stories are. I post the Youtube videos on my website each week so students can share the music and their stories with their parents/guardians!

You don't have to use SQUILT every week though! Use it as a brain break, an extra time activity, or just something fun and different. They can journal, draw/color what they hear, describe music using musical terms, or simply put their heads on their desks, close their eyes, and imagine!

Lastly, here are the musical selections I've used for SQUILT so far:

William Tell Overture Finale, Rossini

Shepherd's Hey, Grainger

Le Vent Dans la Plain, Debussy

Hoe-Down from Rodeo, Copland