April is Jazz Appreciation Month: Wakelet for #Elmused

April is Jazz Appreciation Month and in the elementary music classroom, there are wonderful ways to incorporate the theme. I researched various groups, networks, and websites to create this shortlist of resources in the form of a free Wakelet.

Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/)

What is Wakelet? Wakelet is a free, digital, organizational tool that gives you the ability to share links, digital manipulatives, YouTube videos, pdfs, and so much more in one place. When you list a YouTube video, the video will play within the Wakelet app so that no ads, comments, and other videos appear.

Categories

Wakelet lets you create a board with categories so you can organize your materials well. For this Wakelet, I used four categories: Music and Interviews, Play-Along Videos, Lessons and Activities, and Read-Alouds and Books.

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Activities

You can use this wakelet to find lessons, play-along videos, activities, and more, to have your students experience and study various styles of music during the month of April. However, as with any focused theme, I continue it throughout the year. Though a monthly theme helps the students focus, there are many ways to differentiate instruction and use retrieval practices to use the theme throughout the school year.

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March Rhythm Play-Along and Body Percussion Play-Along Videos Featuring All-Female Groups

Here in the States, March is Women’s History Month as well as Music In Our Schools Month. For this month, I chose to create a rhythm play-along video that features a medley of four all-female groups that span four decades of music. The rhythm patterns include whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, and quarter rests.

Update: I added the Body Percussion Play-Along this week that accompanies the rhythm play-along video!

The groups and songs that are featured are:

Caffey, C. (1981). We Got The Beat. [Recorded by The Go-Go's]. On Beauty and the Beat [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wvue2OT-FA

Holland-Dozer-Holland. (1964). Baby Love. [Recorded by The Supremes]. On Where Did Our Love Go? [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO_zEzrJRuE

Dent, A., Knowles, B., & Knowles, M. (2001). Survivor. [Recorded by Destiny's Child]. On Survivor [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc8bQoL-J0

Edwards, B., & Rodgers, N. (1979). We Are Family. [Recorded by Sister Sledge]. On We Are Family [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMVe_HcyP9Y

Credit: unsplash-image-5gn2soeAc40.jpg

The Go-Go’s We Got The Beat

The Go-Go’s are an American All-Female Rock Band started in 1978 in California. It has featured numerous band members and became very popular in the 1980s with the song, “We Got The Beat,” off the album Beauty and the Beat. The musicians featured on this recording are Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belinda Carlisle on lead vocals, Gina Schock on drums, Kathy Valentine on bass guitar, and Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar. This debut album topped the charts, which was a first for an all-female band that wrote and performed all of their music. “We Got The Beat” is considered The Go-Go’s signature song.

Credit: unsplash-image-OKLqGsCT8qs.jpg

The Supreme’s Baby Love

The Supremes broke onto the music scene as a premier act of Motown Records in the 1960s. They paved the way for future African American R&B and soul music groups. Their popularity rivaled The Beatles during the 1960s. After a few changes in the group’s members as well as a name change (they started as The Primettes), the group’s members were Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson. “Baby Love”, from their second studio album titled, Where Did Our Love Go?, was one of 12 singles from them that went to #1 on the American charts.

Credit: unsplash-image-9wQIAuHkfaY.jpg

Destiny’s Child’s Survivor

The song, “Survivor”, comes from Destiny’s Child third studio album of the same name. The Grammy Award-winning song and MTV Award-winning video topped the charts at #2. The group’s members that recorded the song are Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group had gone through numerous changes in membership. So much so that a radio station compared them to the show, Survivor. After hearing this comparison, Beyoncé decided to turn that joke into a song, which became a big hit.

Credit: unsplash-image-sitjgGsVIAs.jpg

Sister Sledge’s We Are Family

Sister Sledge defined the disco sound and their single, “We Are Family” topped the charts at #3 from their debut album of the same title. It is hard to believe that this iconic song did not hit #1 nor won the Grammy Award that year because it is still a popular song today. The group consists of the sisters, Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. After the passing of Joni Sledge in 2017, some of the adult children of the original members have formed the band, Sledgendary, which according to the website, “BRING THE PARTY to any occasion!”

Body Percussion Play-Along Video

Body Percussion Clipart credited to Midnight Music: https://midnightmusic.com.au/2020/12/midnight-musics-body-percussion-clipart-library/

Teaching manipulatives coming soon to my TPT channel (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S...).

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Elementary Music Valentine's Day Activities

Need a quick Valentine's Day activity for your elementary music classes?

Here is a list of activities!

I created this Wakelet that includes multiple activities to use in your elementary music classes on Valentine’s Day. It is labeled in five categories:

• Rhythm play-along videos

• Boomwhacker videos

• Valentine games

• Play-Along Videos with body percussion of iconic notation

• Lessons

Enjoy! And Happy Valentine’s Day!

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

I created this play-along because my students know the song well. The Lǎoshī (老师) that worked at our school taught the students this song and they loved it so much that we sing it every year.

This play-along is played twice. The first time is a slow tempo to practice and the second time is the recorded tempo. I used Flat.io to create the notation to help with playing the song.

If you do not know the song, this will be complicated to play and take some time and practice to learn. But, if you do know the song, it should work well.

Encanto Medley Rhythm Play-Along

“Mom…you know what is ironic? When the characters sing the song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno (no no no)” and they are literally talking about Bruno for the entire song!

And so it begins. This is how I was introduced to Encanto, the movie about the Madrigal family from Disney with music written by acclaimed singer, songwriter, and Tony Award Winner (among other well-deserved recognitions) Lin-Manuel Miranda. After listening to the music on YouTube and Apple Music, my daughters went over every detail of the plot with me and I was hooked. From there, I went down the rabbit hole and read the numerous deep-dives about the movie from how the movie represents dysfunctional families (Arianne Brown, 2022) to how Luisa’s song had to have a cool sound (Julia Dzurillay, 2022).

Decoding the Characters’ Names

Inspired by Cameron Moten’s Elementary Groove Tracks, where he uses words for rhythm patterns and he repeats a phrase numerous times before moving on to another phrase, I decided to use the characters’ names for rhythm patterns and repeat them multiple times before moving on. The result was an Encanto Medley Rhythm Play-Along.

When choosing the songs, I looked no further than my living room. I listened to my daughters belt out, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to “Surface Pressure”. When I asked them to sing more, they were happy to oblige. From listening to them more, I added, “Family Madrigal” and “What Else Can I Do”. I wanted one more song and chose the upbeat, “Columbia, Mi Encanto” because I felt it completed the medley beautifully.

Similarities to the Music from In The Heights

I first heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda when I went to Broadway in March of 2008 to see his freshman musical, “In the Heights”. I loved it. I saw it with the understudy playing Usnavi, Javier Muñoz. Javier was amazing (and he went to understudy and eventually play the lead role in “Hamilton”). I came back to see it again with Lin-Manuel Miranda playing Usnavi. From there, I must have listened to the soundtrack over 1000 times. When I now listen to Encanto, I hear so much from “In the Heights”. When they sing “Isabela” in Family Madrigal, I feel like I am hearing “Vanessa” from In the Heights. There are more similarities I hear each time I listen. It reminds me how much I enjoy Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs and arrangements.

Rhythm Play-Along

My younger students will use the manipulatives to recognize, read, and perform the rhythm patterns. My older students will be given the names to see how they decode the rhythm patterns. Then, they will find their favorite instrument and perform it with the video.

This medley includes five songs from Encanto. It uses the rhythms of quarter and eighth notes and quarter rests, as well as repeat signs because many times the rhythms reflect the microbeat and not the macrobeat. Therefore, it can be a bit challenging to perform. However, with some preparation and practice, it can be achieved.

Enjoy the rhythm play-along and come back for the body percussion and manipulatives in the next couple of weeks.

Songs:

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). The Family Madrigal [Recorded by Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz & cast of Encanto]. On Encanto. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtrskpOehdQ.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). Surface Pressure. [Recorded by Jessica Darrow]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErY3eeRFTFg.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). Colombia, Mi Encanto. [Recorded by Carlos Vives]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L74W7Ml9Yww.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). What Else Can I Do? [Recorded by Beatriz & Guerrero]. On Encanto. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBeZSuHI4Qc.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). We Don't Talk About Bruno. [Recorded by Adassa, Beatriz, Mauro Castillo, Rhenzy Feliz, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero & cast of Encanto]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvWRMAU6V-c.

Resources:

Arianne Brown, K. S. L. (2022, January 15). Parents react to Disney's 'Encanto,' call it triggering and healing. KSL.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.ksl.com/article/50328971/parents-react-to-disneys-encanto-call-it-triggering-and-healing

Julia Dzurillay. (2022, January 13). Disney's 'Encanto': Why it was important for Luisa's 'surface pressure' to have a 'cool' sound. Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/encanto-important-luisas-surface-pressure-cool-sound.html/

Countdown to 2022: 5 Free Tech Activities for #Elmused (#1) - New Rhythm Play-Along Video

Happy 2022!

Here in the Northeast of the States, the holiday started with an outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid. This caused schools to pivot their current plans and weigh the options of remote learning, concurrent learning, or live learning with more restrictions. This week, to bring us into 2022, I am going to blog and share daily activities that can be used in your adapted #elmused classroom when returning from the holiday break.

January Rhythm Play-Along: This Mashup is inspired by Spider-Man No Way Home and Schoolhouse Rock

This Rhythm Play-Along involves quarter, half, whole, eighth, and sixteenth notes, 2 and 4 meters, crescendo and decrescendo, and whole and half rests. Inspired by Spider-Man No Way Home, it is a mashup that leads with A Magic Number. It is followed by various Schoolhouse Rock songs and finishes with A Magic Number again.

Resources:

• De La Soul (1989), The Magic Number [Recorded by De La Soul]. On 3 Feet High and Rising. Retrieved from shorturl.at/eotR7. Sampled from Three is a Magic Number by Bob Durough (1971).

• Frishberg, D (1976). I'm Just a Bill. [Recorded by Jack Sheldon]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgVKvqTItto.

• Newall, G (1974). Unpack Your Adjectives. [Recorded by Blossom Dearie feat. Bob Dorough]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpPEQZl6_d4. Dorough, B (1973).

• Conjunction Junction. [Recorded by Jack Sheldon, Terry Morel, and Mary Sue Berry. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AyjKgz9tKg. Blog Post: amymburns.com/elmusedtech

  Check back for a body percussion play-along to accompany this mashup, and eventually teaching materials.

  Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.

BONUS!

January Body Percussion Play-Along inspired by Spiderman No Way Home and Schoolhouse Rock! https://youtu.be/poUacmDdS2M via @YouTube. This body percussion play-along video complements the rhythm play-along (found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vliy0-mV6Fw). #elmused #mused #edtech #music #elementary #elementarymusicteacher #elementarymusicteacherlife #musiceducation

Countdown to 2022: 5 Free Tech Activities for #Elmused (#2) - Free Tools (Reposted from mustech.net)

This past year, many items that are usually paid for, became free for us to use, especially during the lockdown. Some of them were Denise Gagne’s Musicplay Online and MusicFirst. As we started back to school in the States in August and September of 2020, many of us came back to budget cuts or even, teaching a whole new subject. As we now return to the classroom in 2021 (or a concurrent teaching scenario) we find ourselves using and needing free tools more often than not to accommodate the ever-changing learning environments.

There are amazing music education tools that have limited free editions or trial periods, but eventually, give you more bang for the buck with the paid versions. As mentioned above Musicplay Online, MusicFirst (MusicFirst Jr is for the younger grades), Quaver, Noteflight Learn, Soundtrap EDU, and others, fall into that category. Having tried and used all of the products mentioned, they are worth every penny for the elementary music educator who uses them in their classroom often and for supplementing the curriculum.

However, if you need free tools, here is a list that many elementary music educators used this year that can continue to be used in a more traditional elementary music classroom.

Quick Free Resources

• Wheel of Names – Add text, emojis, or pictures to create various wheels to use in your classroom.

  • Uses: You can use it to choose students, or add pictures for students to name notes. You can add pictures of rhythm patterns for whole class assessment. You can also use emojis to promote arioso singing or improvising short melodic phrases.

• Rhythm Randomizer – This site creates rhythm patterns in various meters and note values.

  • Uses: Use this site to assess various rhythm patterns. Or, use this site to take a quick screenshot of a rhythm pattern needed for your manipulative, or Google Slide, or Seesaw Activity, etc. You can change the settings so that your rhythm pattern can be set in various meters and note values.

• Note Image Generator – Bret Pimental created this site to capture pictures of notes on various staves.

  • Uses: This site is wonderful to collect quick pictures on a staff. When you use this site, you can download the pictures that you need and upload them to wheel of names.

• Solfasinger – This site is wonderful as it gives you a digitized solfege Curwen hand signs with a child singing the syllables. It also has moveable Do.

  • Uses: If you are teaching virtual, concurrent, or need a resource for the students to be able to access solfege, hand signs, and a recorded voice singing the syllables, then you can use this site to enhance your teaching or to share with your students.

• Solfege Hand Signs – Ms. Lambert gives you a free pdf of solfege hand signs with the boomwhacker colors as barriers.

  • Uses: You can use these to print out and hang up in the classroom, or add to your virtual classroom. If you do not want the barrier, you can export the pdf file and crop out the barrier in each picture by exporting each picture from the pdf.

• Transpose ▲▼ pitch ▹ speed ▹ loop for videos – This Extension allows you to change the speed and pitch of YouTube videos or online videos.

  • Uses: You could find karaoke videos and change the pitch and speed of them to assist your students’ practices and rehearsals.

Free Virtual Instruments

• Playxylo – This site has been amazing this past year. The creators listen to music educators’ suggestions and improve their virtual xylophone often. It currently has diatonic, chromatic, and pentatonic scales, as well as xylophone, boomwhacker, and monotone colors.

  • Your students’ devices can be transformed into instruments for in-person learning with restrictions, in-person learning with limited instruments available to the students, concurrent learning, and remote learning.

• Bongo Cat – This site is so much fun.

  • Uses: Use it as a virtual instrument for your students since they all might have devices, or use it as a stress relief for yourself.

• Scratch – A free coding website.

  • Uses: Need a virtual instrument? Place the name in the search tool and see if someone has created one for you to use. Level this up by asking older students to code instruments for the younger students to use.

Free Tools for Creating Music

• Chrome Music Lab – At this point, this site is so well-known that it is now a “go to” for music educators and their students. There is so much that one can do to create music and for arts integration.

  • Uses: One can have students create their own music in Song Maker. Arts Integration can be achieved by using Ocsillators to integrate Science with Music and Kandinsky to integrate Art with Music. To see a music and art integrated project we did this year, click here. There is so much more that this site can do. Want to also integrate music making with math? Try Groove Pizza and talk about the angles that are used to create various drum grooves.

• Incredibox – “An oldie but goodie”, as I heard a music educator describe this site the other day. This site has four demo versions that you can use with your students for free. They can arrange the cartoon beatboxers to make music, as well as unlock some new grooves within the site.

  • Uses: I love to use this site with my students to integrate writing with music. My students will write a poem as a part of their poetry unit and then turn it into a rap that they use Incredibox to create the background accompaniment track. We have also created the classroom expectations and used this site to create the accompaniment when rapping those expectations.

• Beepbox – This site is a wonderful way for older elementary students to create music that can be shared and saved.

  • Uses: It is a wonderful tool to use to create video game music (especially ones from a few decades ago). This site can also promote creating music with guided form and instrumentation.

• Bandlab EDU – Bandlab EDU is a digital audio workstation (DAW) that is web-based and promotes collaboration as students can create music together while working on multiple devices. Soundtrap EDU and GarageBand are very similar as Soundtrap EDU is a web-based DAW that allows collaboration, but is not free. And GarageBand is a DAW, but only accessed with Apple devices and is not web-based.

  • Uses: Explore this tool to create accompaniments and record students’ performances for assessments and to create a virtual performance audio recording. Plus, if you can, create accounts for your older elementary students to make music together when they are not in the same class, grade, or school.

Miscellaneous

• Pear Deck – Pear Deck, and it’s Chrome Extension, can turn your Google Slide presentations into interactive student assessments, exit tickets, and more. It is similar to Nearpod, but Nearpod has more items. Both have free versions.

• Loom – Loom is a screen recording tool, much like Screencastify and Screencast-O-Matic. These screen recording tools can be used in our traditional classrooms as they are great ways to create play-along videos. By creating rhythm or melodic patterns in Canva, you can bring those patterns into Google Slides, Powerpoint, or Keynote, add the soundtrack to the slide show, place the slide show in present mode, and record yourself moving the conducting tool across the screen. From this, you are creating your own play-along videos that enhance your curriculum as opposed to using one on YouTube which might not follow the curriculum you teach.

• Wakelet – Wakelet is free and allows you to create a list of links to share with your students. If you are lacking any sort of Learning Management System like Google Classroom, Schoology, Seesaw, Canvas, or others, then Wakelet can help you share many of your items with your students in a safe way.

• Canva – Canva for educators is a game changer. To see more, check out Episode 2 of this series.

Virtual Performances/Assessment Tools

• Flipgrid – Flipgrid is free and can be a wonderful tool to capture assessments, capture videos of students performing, promote digital citizenship, and learn more about students, their interests, and how they pronounce their names.

• Seesaw – Seesaw is a game changer, especially for an elementary student. To check out more, click here.

• Easy Virtual Choir – Creating a virtual choir when you lack the tools or experience is challenging. Easy Virtual Choir is an alternative. You can upload the accompaniment track and have students privately login to record themselves with the accompaniment track. Once all have done that, Easy Virtual Choir creates the video for you so you do not need to access or learn a video editor. For some educators, this was a viable and successful alternative.

With our current teaching atmosphere in an ever-changing status, these free tools can be so beneficial for this coming year.

Check back as we count down to 2022 with #1 tomorrow!

Countdown to 2022: 5 Free Tech Activities for #Elmused (#3) Google Slides or Seesaw Retrieval Practice or Assessment in Rhythm Literacy

Here in the Northeast of the States, the holiday started with an outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid. This caused schools to pivot their current plans and weigh the options of remote learning, concurrent learning, or live learning with more restrictions. This week, to bring us into 2022, I am going to blog and share daily activities that can be used in your adapted #elmused classroom when returning from the holiday break.

#3: Puzzle Rhythm Play-Along Patterns

In November, I created a “Be Thankful” Rhythm Play-Along Activity. This Seesaw and Google Slides Project accompanied the video to serve the purpose of retrieval practice or assessment.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/1/d/1XWZYsa-Mu7-Qcb7rT3u8h7dWxxDrOzJ0R19dU-nQsPg/copy

Google Slides: Be Thankful Rhythm Play-Along Retrieval Practice or Assessment

This google slides activity involves a puzzle for the students to solve. Once they solve the puzzle, they are to use the Mote Extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mote-voice-notes-feedback/ajphlblkfpppdpkgokiejbjfohfohhmk?hl=en-US) to record themselves performing the rhythm pattern. Once they have completed eight slides, they can press play and perform with the Be Thankful Rhythm Play-Along. Although this video was from Thanksgiving, it can be used throughout the year.

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=-163i544RUCMX3aV1K7nAg&prompt_id=prompt.a6088603-e514-4177-9e60-d06a771c261e

Seesaw: Being Thankful Rhythm Play-Along Retrieval Practice or Assessment

Very similar to the google slides activity, this Seesaw Activity uses the microphone tool to record themselves performing the rhythm pattern that they create from piecing the puzzle together. Once finished, they can press play on the ninth slide to perform all of the rhythm patterns with the rhythm play-along video.

Resources

Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/1/d/1XWZYsa-Mu7-Qcb7rT3u8h7dWxxDrOzJ0R19dU-nQsPg/copy

Seesaw: https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=-163i544RUCMX3aV1K7nAg&prompt_id=prompt.a6088603-e514-4177-9e60-d06a771c261e

Check back as we count down to 2022 with #2 tomorrow!

Note: At the 5 min mark I say that google slides is much easier. However, Seesaw is what was supposed to be referenced at that 5 min mark.

Countdown to 2022: 5 Free Tech Activities for #Elmused (#4)

Here in the Northeast of the States, the holiday started with an outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid. This caused schools to pivot their current plans and weigh the options of remote learning, concurrent learning, or live learning with more restrictions. This week, to bring us into 2022, I am going to blog and share daily activities that can be used in your adapted #elmused classroom when returning from the holiday break.

#4: Chrome Music Lab Song Maker Activities

Having your elementary students create music with Chrome Music Lab’s Song Maker is a wonderful activity within itself. However, this google site I created levels up the activity all in one place.

#Elmused Song Maker Activities

This google site, https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/home, has four Song Maker Activities for older elementary students. However, they can be adapted for younger elementary students, as well as work in a 1:1 environment, concurrent, remote, or asynchronous teaching atmospheres.

https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/home

I Have a Little Snowman

With this activity, your students will learn the song, see it played on Song Maker, see a video of it being played with Song Maker and playxylo.com, and then create a percussion line to the song. This activity gives the students opportunities to create and perform music using virtual instruments.

https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/home

Doggie Doggie

In this activity, the students can look over the melody and perform two Song Maker projects. The first one is to complete the melody because it has missing notes. The second one is to add a drum line to the melody. Though students can copy the melody to be successful, I would encourage those students who are working on ear training to figure out the melody in the first project.

I also added the playxylo link so that the students can perform it with the F# that is in the melody.

https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/home

Teddy Bear

This project is similar to Doggie Doggie. I also added the playxylo link to this activity as well so that the students can perform it with the F# that is in the melody.

https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/teddy-bear

Dvorak’s Largo Melody from Symphony No 9, Second Movement

This activity focuses on the tempo. The students listen to the Song Maker file that contains the introduction and adapted melody. From there, they create their own simple melody with a tempo of largo and chords to accompany it. This is for older elementary and would be a part of the practice portion of prepare/present/practice approach where the students would be working on practicing how to create a simple melody with a guided tempo and chords.

https://sites.google.com/view/songmakeractivitiesforelmused/home

Check back as we count down to 2022 with #3 tomorrow!