Recorder Play-Along Video Tutorial

This year, I started creating recorder play-along videos so my students could practice more efficiently at home. They have also been great for centers when I am assessing. Students who need some extra practice time or review can use these videos to practice before coming to me to play for their string test.
 In each video, I sing the lyrics, sing the letters while fingering, and then actually play the recorder.

Here is one example video.   You can view all these videos here on my classroom webpage.

With most of us forced to teach remotely due to spread of COVID-19, I thought it would a great time to share these videos, as well as a tutorial, in case you would like to use them or create your own.

Recorder Play-Along Video Tutorial

For this tutorial, I use Powerpoint on a Windows laptop and an iPhone/iPad with iMovie. 

You can use a macbook or Droid Phone, but the steps may need to be modified slightly.

Part 1: Create Your Backgrounds

1) Use Powerpoint to create a solid black background. 

2) Use the Snipping Tool to get screenshots of your music and fingering chart. 

3) Save a black space on the side for the video to be inserted later. 

4) Save the Powerpoint as jpg so each slide is an individual image. 

5) Save those images in Google Drive so they can be opened on an Apple Device phone or ipad and save them to the camera roll.

View this video for a more detailed tutorial.

Part 2: Creating Your Movie

1) Record your video (I use my iPhone). 

2) Resize the video to have a square frame. Do this by clicking edit, crop, then the square frame.

3) Open Google Drive to retrieve your backgrounds and save them to your camera roll. Select the file, then select the 3 dots, click "Send a copy", and click "Save image". It should now be on your camera roll.

4) Open iMovie and insert your background. 

5) Disable Ken Burns Effect on the image.

6) Reposition the background using pinch, zoom, or one finger move.

7) Click the plus sign in the upper right corner, click on your video, click the 3 dots, and select "Picture In Picture"

8) Click your video in the bottom window to select it. Then click in the top box to reposition your video. You may also pinch to zoom if needed.

9) Click your video in the bottom window and unmute the audio.

10) Click your background image in the bottom window and stretch your image to play the entire length of your video.

11) Save video to camera roll and share your video on your desired platform (Youtube, email, webpage, Facebook, etc.)

View this video for a more detailed tutorial.

Instrument Family Races

Need an engaging activity to reinforce the instrument families? Need an emergency sub plan that can be used by a non-music sub? You should try this new resource--Instrument Family Races.
This resource includes 24 instrument cards, 2 game versions, and a video demo. You only need to provide 4 or 8 hula hoops.

I divide the class into 2 groups. Each team has 4 hula hoops to represent the 4 instrument families (string, woodwind, brass, percussion). The hoops will be on one side of the room. One student from each team will stand on the opposite side of the room from the hoops.

The teacher will have 2 stacks of instrument cards which are in identical orders. The teacher will draw the top card from each stack and reveal it to the players. Each player will grab their card and race to place it into the correct hula hoop family. The game will continue rotating new teammates each turn.

When all the cards have disappeared, you can play in reverse. The teacher will call out an instrument and the players will race to find the correct card and bring it back to the teacher. This will get the instrument cards back into two identical stacks ready for the next class to play the game.

This game is very engaging and can easily be managed by a non-music substitute teacher. I recently left this game with a sub along with this demo video and she had no trouble understanding the rules and procedures. Here is my demo video:

This game is available for download on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. 

Just follow this link:

Download Now

Start a Music Library

I love to use children's literature in the classroom. I have acquired many books over the years. I used to keep these books on the top shelf of my bookcase, but recently to move them to location more easily accessible to students. I am in love my new music library and my students are excited too!

I purchased the white cardboard magazine holders from IKEA. They came in packs of 5 for only $1.99. I created labels to organize my books alphabetically. I have created labels with 1 letter, 2 letters, 3 letters, and 4 letters per label to accommodate libraries of many sizes. I also have 2 separate holders for Non-fiction books--Biographies and Other.

I found the canvas music banner at the Target dollar spot during the holidays for only $3. I painted the letters spelling "library" by hand. I have recreated a printable banner available for download. You could customize your banner by printing on colored or decorative paper.

 I often use centers when I want to assess individual students. One station is the assessment and the other stations are music related games or activities. I have decided to use the library as a station in my center rotations.  I posted these rules as reference for the students. Simple directions for the library center have also been added to my Emergency Sub-Tub. Even subs without a musical background could manage this center.

I also created a book review template so students can recommend books to others. They can share things they like about the book, connections they made to the book, and can rate the book with star emojis.

I have bundled the alphabet labels, banner, rules poster, and book review sheet in a pdf file. It is available for download on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I have also included tips for selecting books and acquiring books on a budget. Download this Music Library Starter Kit and all you'll have to do is add books!

Click Here to Download

31 Days of Rhythm: Teach Rhythm with Game Centers

Happy Music In Our Schools Month! I am teaming up, once again, with some fellow music ed bloggers for "31 Days of Rhythm". My first post on March 17th was about Rhythmic Popcorn. Today, I will be sharing ideas for teaching rhythm with game centers.

I began using centers about 3 years ago. Centers provide an opportunity for the class to be engaged in activities while I work with small groups. I use centers every time I have recorder playing tests or when I want to hear individuals sight read short rhythms or melodies on flash cards. I have also used centers to isolate a small group on ukulele and provide more feedback to individuals correcting hand positions and strumming technique. Centers are also great as emergency sub plans! Most substitute teachers have no background knowledge in music. Centers allow my students to reinforce music skills while I'm not there.

I have many posts about centers, but today I will briefly describe a few that make connections to rhythm.

#1) Over the Edge

"Over the Edge" is a game to reinforce rhythmic durations. It is a free printable from pianamation.com. Students each have a game board with a waterfall. They draw cards and place bingo chips or glass pebbles on their river to equal the number of beats of the note or rest. The object of the game is to be the last person who has not filled their card and fallen off the waterfall. My full post on Over the Edge can be found at this link.

#2) Rhythm Rockets

Rhythm Rockets are part of Artie Almeida's Music Proficiency Packs. This game tests students' ability to read and perform rhythms and their ability to recognize them aurally. Each student gets a rocket with identical rhythms. The official instructions may be different, but I'll describe what works best with my students. I have a small group sitting in a straight line. One student stands in front of them and chooses a rhythm from the rocket to perform for the group. They can either count it out loud using rhythmic syllables or perform it with body percussion. The students identify which rhythm the individual was performing by placing a clothes pin on the side of their rocket. Then, they must put their rocket on top of their head. This will allow the individual performing the rhythm to easily recognize who got the correct answer first. The winner will get to perform a rhythm for the group next. My full post describing Rhythm Rockets can be found here.

#3) Sneaky Snake

Sneaky Snake is another Music Proficiency Pack by Artie Almeida. This game requires students to recognize notation symbols such as notes, rests, clefs, bar lines, etc. I have found this game works best in pairs. The symbols appear on one side of the paper while the written name appears on the back. There are holes in the cardstock beside each symbol. Partners sit facing each other holding the snake page between them. One partner calls out a symbol and the other partner must identify it by sticking a straw in the corresponding hole. My full post describing Sneaky Snakes can be found here.

 #4 Beat Strips

Beat Strips are another Music Proficiency Pack from Artie Almeida. They provide opportunities for students to compose 4 beat patterns using quarter notes, eighth note pairs, and quarter rests. This can be done to freely compose and perform for a partner. This could also be a dictation game. One individual could perform a rhythm from a list you provide and the group would have to notate it on their beat strips. My full post describing Beat Strips can be found here.

#5) Connect 4

Recycle that old board game and turn it into a music center! The classic version of Connect 4 is a fun game to compose with simple quarter notes and quarter rests. The red checkers could represent notes while the black checkers represent rests. This would be great for kindergarteners. To challenge older students, I found this Connect 4x4 game at a yard sale. It features 4 colors of checkers which could represent different instruments. In the picture below you can see construction paper squares that helped the kids remember which color they should play. It also has checkers with holes in the middle which could represent rests. The full post describing Connect 4 can be found at this link.

Thank you for visiting my blog for 31 Days of Rhythm. If you would like to read more posts from this event, you may visit Facebook and follow the MusicEd Blogs page.

Over The Edge: Music Game Assessing Rhythmic Durations

I've been including more centers in my classroom this year in order to allow me time to assess students in small groups. Most frequently, I use centers during 4th grade recorder playing tests, but have used centers at some point for all grade levels. If you have missed my previous posts on music centers, follow this link.

Many centers I have created myself, but I have also found some amazing printable centers shared by other music teachers. Jennifer Fink, at Pianimation.com has several resources for music educators available to download and print for FREE! Thank you, Jennifer! Follow this link to find a complete list of her resources. I have previously posted about her game "Alphabet Path" used to reinforce the order of the musical alphabet.

Today, I will be sharing another game from Jennifer called "Over the Edge". This game reinforces note and rest values.

www.pianimation.com

Students each have their own game board with a river and rocks. They take turns drawing cards which display a note or rest. They determine the beat value of the note or rest and place that number of glass beads on their river. If a player fills up all the rocks in their river and fall off the waterfall, they are eliminated from the game. The original rules allowed students to say "Pass" if they were getting close to the edge and the winner would be the person closest to the waterfall without going off.

I modified the rules to make it easier for a variety of ages. I did not allow students to pass and told them the last person to fall off the edge is the winner. In the picture above, you will see an additional instruction sheet that I created with these modified directions and with a beat value chart for the notes and rests. You can also see that I substituted Bingo chips instead of glass beads. I have an abundance of bingo chips and didn't feel like purchasing glass beads specifically for this game. I also printed the game on cardstock and laminated for durability.

FREE DOWNLOADS

If you think your students would like this game, follow this link to

download "Over the Edge" from pianamation.com.

Follow this link to download my modified instruction sheet to accompany Over the Edge.

"Fishing For Pitches" Music Center

All summer, I scavenged yard sales, Goodwill, consignment shops, and peddler

malls for board games that could be converted into music centers. On my list was the classic battery powered fishing game called Let's Go Fishin'. While I never found that particular version of the game, there are several licensed adaptions.

I happened to find two games from the Disney movie Cars. One was at a Peddler's mall and one was at a consignment shop. I paid less than $3 for each of them. Instead of fish, this version of the game has the player fishing for tires.

First, I labeled the bottom of the fish with the letters of the musical alphabet (ABCDEFG). Since there are 21 fish/tires in each game, it worked out nicely that there would be 3 of each pitch. Since my tires were black, I printed letters on mailing labels. If you acquire the actual fishing game, a black Sharpie would work perfectly fine.

One game I purchased was missing the fishing poles, so I created new poles using pipe cleaners and straws. Actually, the strings from the original game tangle so easily, I also replaced those with straw and pipe cleaners poles.

Fishing For Pitches

For 2-3 players

Objective: Be the first player to catch a fish matching the pitch of  a note on the staff.

1) Draw a card to select a note on the staff.

2) All players race to fish and catch the name of the pitch.

3) The first player to catch the correct pitch is the winner.

I also created a more advanced version of the game . . .

Fishing For Chords

For 2-3 players:

Objective: Be the first player to catch 3 fish spelling the chord on the staff.

1) Draw a card to select a chord on the staff.

2) All players race to fish and catch the three pitches names.

3) The first player to catch three fish which spell the chord on the card is the winner.

The cards for both versions of the game are available for download on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It is best to print double-sided on cardstock and laminate for durability. The games are available to download separately or as a discounted combo pack.

DOWNLOAD "FISHING FOR PITCHES"

DOWNLOAD "FISHING FOR CHORDS"

DOWNLOAD THE BUNDLE PACK



Guess Who: Music Instruments

I have planned lots of new music centers for this year and my students have really enjoyed them. I will be blogging more about the centers soon. This first post will be about a modified version of the classic Guess Who.

I scavenged yard sales, consignment shops, and Goodwill all summer on the look out for games that could be modified for music centers. I found two of these electronic Guess Who games for dirt cheap. This version is technically called Guess Who Extra and features 3 rows with 8 windows in each row. One was at Goodwill for $1.50. The other was at a children's consignment shop for $2.50. Over the summer, I saw a pin on Pinterest where someone modified Guess Who to reinforce US presidents and other historical figures. When I saw these versions, I immediately thought of a musical adaptation. This would be a great way to compare and contrast music instruments.

Object

Guess your opponent's mystery instrument before they guess yours.

How To Play

1) Each player slides the plastic window over to secretly select a musical instrument.

2) Players open all the doors to reveal the instruments.

3) Players take turns asking "yes" and "no" questions to help them narrow down the choices of instruments.

 4) Players only have one chance to guess the specific name of the instrument. If they guess wrong, their opponent wins.

I also included an Instrument Fact Sheet to assist students when asking and answering questions.

Before beginning the center rotations, I demonstrate each game. I shared many examples of questions with the students and they took turns asking questions to discover a mystery instrument I selected.

Some example questions included:

Does your instrument belong to the percussion family? (string? woodwind? brass?)

Is your instrument made of wood? (metal? plastic?)

Does your instrument make a pitch?

Do you play your instrument with both hands?

Do you use your mouth to play your instrument?

Could your instrument fit into a backpack?

Does your instrument have a reed?

I also created a game board using the classic version of Guess Who which features 4 rows with 6 windows in each row. This version was manufactured in 2009 or later.  

Both versions of the game are included in one PDF file and are available for download in my TeachersPayTeachers Store. I suggest printing in color on cardstock and laminating for extra protection.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guess-Who-Music-Instruments-1648985

 Do you have another idea for a Guess Who game? I have blank templates available so that you do not have to do all the precise measuring. All you have to do is fill in the boxes with text and pics. Both templates are available to download and edit using Microsoft Publisher.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guess-Who-Extra-Template-1649018

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guess-Who-6-x-4-Template-1649040

I know your students will have fun using Guess Who to learn about instruments and other content. Keep your eyes open at second-hand stores and you can snag the games for super cheap. You may even get some donations by sending out a request to parents. Good luck on your hunt!



Recorder Playing Tests

Several people have asked on music teacher Facebook groups how others handle playing tests for recorders. Here is an overview of how I assess recorders . . .

Procedures

I teach recorder in 4th grade. For each unit, I provide at least 3 songs with varying difficulty. (Buzzword: DIFFERENTIATION!) I don't follow any particular recorder method book. I have gathered songs from several books, from my Orff levels courses, and from various workshops and conferences over the years. Lessons in the unit may also involve games, dancing, or playing accompaniments to the songs on barred instruments.

At the end of the unit, I hear each student perform one of the songs for a playing test. On test day, the students rotate in centers. My classes are 50 minutes long. I try to allow 10 minutes at each station. That leaves 10 minutes for instructions at the beginning of class and maybe a couple minutes of clean-up before they line up to leave.

One center is the playing test where I am stationed. I hear each student in the group perform a song and then I tie their strings before they rotate to the next center. I used to hear students one at a time and it took a long time for students to come back to me and then go back to their seat. Many times, students would be very nervous playing for me it would take forever to get them to even begin their song. In small groups, it seems less formal and the students are also very supportive of each other. While I'm formally assessing them on the rubric, they are watching their peers and offering suggestions like--"Your thumb hole wasn't covered all the way." and "You didn't have your right thumb kickstand."

Before they play for me, there is a center with an exit slip or short quiz assessing any new vocabulary or concepts we learned in the unit. These students have finished their written assessment and are working in small groups preparing for their playing test.

Two other stations are games or activities which reinforce music skills taught in the unit. This was the first recorder playing test and we are still learning the lines and spaces of the staff. The students chose either relay races or Twister with the giant floor staff. The next station was Treble Toss where students draw a popsicle stick and then aim their beanbag at a specific line or space on the staff. If you would like to learn more about my music centers, follow this link to previous blog posts.

Rubric

My rubric addresses posture, breathing, fingering, hand position, steady beat, rhythmic accuracy, and pitch accuracy. If you would like to download my Recorder Rubric, click here. If I need to save time before the rotation ends, I wait for class to finish to add up the scores.

Incentives

For each note the students learn, they receive a different colored string tied on to their recorder. I use embroidery floss cut to 12 centimeters. I sometimes have students or parent volunteers cut the strings for me. After the strings are tied, the students love to fray the ends. Some units introduce two notes, so the students would get two colors. Some units introduce only one note, so the students would get one string. We start on red and follow the order of the color wheel. The last string is a black string. There is a bonus string in the last unit. The last note we learn is F#. If the students can play "Frere Jacques" (in the key of D) in a round with a partner, they get a gold metallic string tied on their recorders.

I store the strings in my organizer station. Each color has its own drawer. I also have drawers for office supplies like paperclips, sticky tack, rubber bands, pushpins, etc. This organizer sits on a bookshelf behind my desk and makes things so easily accessible. Follow this link for more information on how I organize my classroom, including printable labels for your own organizer.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below!





Music Centers Assessing the Treble Clef Staff

I have previous posts on how I use centers in my music room. You may click this link to read those posts.  

I recently planned a lesson for 4th and 5th grade classes to review the pitches of the treble clef staff using centers. My class periods are 50 minutes. So, we planned for 10 minutes or so to explain the centers and then each group would have about 10 minutes to rotate at each of the four centers.

Giant Staff Twister

 In one center, students played Twister using the giant floor staff. I used gym tape to create the staff lines on my floor and used the existing 12 inch tiles to keep my lines perfectly parallel. I have one spinner with the letters of the lines of spaces and one spinner to determine which body part should touch the correct line or space. The spinners are available on my teacher pay teacher store. I introduced Giant Staff Twister last year and it has become a favorite for the students.

Treble Toss



Many people who have blogged about the giant floor staff have had students try to toss bean bags on a specific line or space. Here in Kentucky, cornhole has become a very popular backyard game and I knew my students would love the challenge of tossing a bean bag through a hole. So, I used 2 trifold display boards (like you would use to display science fair projects) and created a staff with holes on the lines and spaces. Students would draw a popsicle stick to randomly select a pitch letter. Then, they had 3 chances to toss their beanbag into the correct hole. After their turn tossing beanbags at the spaces board, they would get in the back of the line for the lines board.

This game was a hit! To set up the boards, I borrowed a couple spare student desks from our furniture storage room. One flap rested on the top of the desk and I set a heavy object (a chromatic glockenspiel) on top of the cardboard. You could use a few heavy books or whatever items you want. The bottom flap would rest against the legs of the desk and caused the board to be slightly tilted which helped stabilize the board when the beanbags were tossed. The boards fold flat and lay horizontal in my cabinets, so it will be easy to pull these out and use them again in the future.

Staff Wars

The third center involved the Activboard. I downloaded Staff Wars from The Music Interactive. This is a free download for your pc. They have a new app version which is only 99 cents. The object of the game is to click the correct letter name of each note as it scrolls across the staff. The game gradually gets faster and more difficult. You can select the clef of your choice and also adjust the range of the  notes it will give the students. The students LOVED this game! There are also several other free music games available on themusicinteractive.com. I look forward to downloading some more and trying them out.

Exit Slip and Flashcards

The fourth center involved an exit slip assessment which would be graded. The exit slip had students identifying letter names of some notes on the staff. The students were also asked to practice drawing a treble clef. The exit slips can be downloaded on my teachers-pay-teachers store. 

As the students finished, they got to quiz each other with flash cards until it was time for the next rotation. The flash cards were a free download from Making Music Fun! The cards are one sided, so I added the letter names on the back so the kids could quiz each other. I printed these on cardstock so they would be more durable.



 I know your students will enjoy these games as much as mine did! Enjoy!

Music Centers

During the week of Thanksgiving Break, I didn't want to start a lesson or unit when I wouldn't see all the classes of the week. So, we experimented with music centers. I have 50 minute classes, so I chose 4 centers. It took about 10 minutes to explain the games and then students travelled in groups and had about 10 minutes at each center. They seemed to enjoy them, so I will definitely try this again later in the year with all the classes. Once the kids have tried the centers, they would be great for emergency sub plans!

Giant Staff Twister

In a previous post, I shared the activity where we did relay races with our giant floor staff. Jen Fink, at pianamation.com, has used the floor staff to play a modified game of Twister. She created cards you can use for the game, one deck contains body parts (hands and feet) and one deck contains lines and spaces and they are available to print from her blog. We decided to make the game like traditional Twister and create spinners. The spinners are available on my teacher-pay-teacher store.

 

Boomwhacker Center

In the Boomwhacker center, students practiced note reading. They took turns playing songs from the book "Whack-a-Doodle-Doo!" I have 2 copies of this very affordable book ($5.95 from westmusic.com) One student would attempt to play a song. The next student in line would be able to flip through the extra book to select the song they would like to perform for their turn. This book includes colored notation made it easy for the older students to perform the songs. The younger students needed assistance, so my student teacher positioned herself at that center.

Connect 4 Composition

The younger grades used a Connect 4 game for rhythmic composition. They took turns filling the bottom row with checkers.  The red checkers represented a sound and the black checkers represented a rest. The students performed the rhythms on lollipop drums. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the younger students in action at this center.

For the older students, I used a more advanced game, Connect 4 x 4, with 4 different colors--red, yellow, green, and blue. I selected a few unpitched percussion instruments and the students would decide which instruments would play for each color. The students took turns creating new compositions and experimenting with different timbres at the same time. This version of the game has full and empty checkers. I forsee these representing quarter notes and half notes at some point in the future. (Connect 4 x 4 can be found on walmart.com for $19.86)

Technology Center

The technology center used the Interactive whiteboard and the iPad. On the Activboard, the students took turns on a game from nyphilkids.org. The game pictured below is "Music Match Instruments" which is a memory-type card game. I have also collected links to many other music sites and they can be found at this link.

They students could also play a music game on the iPad. Make sure you check out a previous post sharing 110 free music apps for the iPad. Kindergarten and 1st grade were playing rhythms on Monkey Drum. 2nd and 3rd grade were reading rhythms on Rhythm Cat. 4th and 5th grade were testing out a new app Cookie Beats. Look for a review of this app coming soon!

I have dedicated an entire Pinterest board to 

Elementary Music Centers.

Check it out for more great ideas!