Music Teaching in Times of Crisis

Hi all - Christopher here.

As we know, last week there was a terrible tragedy in Paris, in which people from ISIS set off a series of coordinated attacks on civilians, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people.  This is horrible.  This is something that is hard to fathom. This is something that should never happen again.

But tragedy strikes, and when it does, it affects all of us.  I believe that for music educators, such experiences provide opportunities for us to offer support towards the healing process, by consciously engaging in musical experiences in our classes that can directly or indirectly allow children to process the issues that may have emerged for them.

In people’s lives, music serves a variety of important functions.  One of them is that it allows us to express emotions that may be difficult to express.  In music education (particularly at the elementary level), we are wary of opening too many cans of worms when it comes to emotional topics.  But I believe that we can do our children and our school communities a great service by providing them with ways to address difficult life situations.  Different teaching contexts will call for different responses, and knowing your population is important.  However, that should not be taken as an excuse to avoid difficult situations – we can all grow from them.

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Picture Books for Upper Elementary

Hi everyone! This is Aileen from Mrs. Miracle's Music Room. I've blogged quite a bit about picture books for the music room (see those posts here), but today I thought I'd focus on picture books that can be used with upper elementary, since they can be harder to come by!

Here are some of my favorites...I'm planning on posting about some more soon! Click on each picture to view it on Amazon or Alibis.

"If you find a Rock"

by Lember and Christian

I found this picture book a few years ago, and immediately thought that it would work really well with "Obwisana," which you can find here. It is such a beautiful book, with poetic language and higher level prose.

"Before John as a Jazz Giant"

 by Weatherford and Qualls

I'm a big jazz fan, so was super excited to find this book! What a great way to incorporate jazz into your lessons and teach a little history! I plan on using this soon, and am thinking of playing John Coltrane as I read the book.

"The Drums of Noto Hanto" 

by James and Tsukushi

Based on a true story in ancient Japan, this book is a wonderful way to introduce taiko drumming to your students. I've read this book to my 4th graders (and even created a program based off the book and had them act it out) and they were actively engaged and excited! You could read it before a taiko or bucket drumming unit, or before a taiko drumming listening lesson.

"Marching to the Civil War: Drummer Boy" 

by Turner and Hess

I really love this book as a way to delve into the song "Fire in the mountain," which you can see below:

To play the game, one student stands in the middle, playing the drum to the beat. Half of the students stand, and half of the students sit. As the drummer plays, the standing students walk around the circle. Whenever the drummer stops (halfway through the song, at the end of the song, halfway through the second time...whenever!) all the standing students have to find someone to stand behind. The drummer also has to find someone, so one person is left without someone to stand behind (much like musical chairs.) Then, that person becomes the drummer, and the sitting students stand, the standing students sit, and the game continues.

The song is actually about the Revolutionary War, but the book is a great connection about what drummer boys had to do. I will warn you...it is a sad book with very real sentiments, as the drummer boy laments about the sounds of war, and about his friends who have died. I have had to be careful to not get choked up as a I read it to students. That being said, I think it is a great book for students to read, as it gives them perspective about how much life has changed over the years, and gives them some historical context behind a song they love.

Looking for more picture book ideas? Here is one of my Pinterest boards, focused on picture books:

What are your favorite picture books for upper elementary? Feel free to comment below!

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