Rolling to a New Beat

• Kim Cantley
• Posted 8/9/22
• 0 comments

My nightmare has come true; I am now a traveling music teacher!  

I’ve built my whole music program around a room that I’ve filled with a myriad of instruments, props, games, and activities to promote student engagement and achievement. How do you provide the same musical experience when pushing a cart into the classroom?  

Furthermore, how can you give the student performances held dear in the community when you confine students to classrooms and parents cannot enter the school?  These are both daunting questions, but I decided that I could and would “roll to a new beat” to maintain my program’s high standards.   

Instrument Invasion  

Instruments provide a great deal of excitement and engagement for my students, so priority number one was finding a safe and manageable way to give my students what they expect and need.  I started by taking an inventory of all my instruments and dividing them up between each class.  

I realized that my wood ukuleles would not survive the constant cleaning required and wrote a grant to purchase a set of Kala Waterman ukuleles.  Special thanks to the Beckley Area Foundation for funding them!  I collaborated with the general classroom teachers to find a spot in their rooms to store handbells, Boomwhackers™, Orff xylophones, and ukuleles.  

In most rooms, teachers weren’t using the top of the cabinets, so it turned out to be a perfect spot where the instruments wouldn’t be in the teacher’s way.  To give me time to pass out instruments and clean them before putting them away, I plan a short activity during these transitions, such as an educational video, an iPad game, or a short written assignment/assessment.  

I discovered that I could not pass out instruments and talk simultaneously, so an independent transitional activity was essential.  I can rotate the instrument sets to the appropriate rooms after thoroughly cleaning them from unit to unit.   

For bucket drumming, one of my second-grade teachers offered up some contractors, hard plastic cases in which students can play on top of, and store their music items inside.  I made music bags for my younger students (also funded by the Beckley Area Foundation) from 1 gallon-sized plastic bag and divided my rhythm instruments and small props.   

Egg shakers, sticks, ribbons, jingle bells, and scarves have worked out perfectly, and the individual bags fit into their desks or lockers with ease.  With all of the instruments, I had to teach my students the proper COVID protocols and continuously monitor, ensuring safety at all times.   

I also created music bags for my older students.  Each pack containing a laminated note value chart similar to the one in my music room, a dry erase marker, a dry erase sheet made of cardstock and a plastic sheet protector, a pencil, and a die.  We have added additional manipulatives through the year, including tennis balls to replace rhythm basketballs and supplemental game materials.  

My students love playing games to practice new skills, but COVID protocols do not allow students to share game components.  Solution – create game sheets and cards made from cardstock for students to cut up and put in their music bags.  

I was pleasantly surprised that most students enjoyed cutting up their cards and game boards.   They also loved the mini erasers and foam stickers that I distributed to use as game tokens.  Students have created BINGO sheets for many music topics, put them into their dry erase sheets for easy marking.  

Technology Tips 

Embracing technology is a must when you are a traveling music teacher.  I previously created a Youtube channel to organized supporting materials for my units. Still, now I also use it to access the many excellent body percussion play-along and games that other music teachers have created for virtual instruction.   

Performing play-along videos can be as simple as tapping on the back of a plastic chair with a pair of sticks while students follow along with notation.  One great site that I have always utilized is “Musication,” which has play-along videos for Boomwhackers™ and percussion.  My students love these!!!!   

Musication videos also work for handbells. However, you will need to warn students that the colors differ a little.  Since our school district has supplied an iPad to each student, I also have access to “Garage Band,” which has been valuable when students need to access a piano or other instrument.  

“Midnight Music” on Youtube provides many ideas for “Garage Band” projects. My favorite demonstrated how to make spooky sounds, which I used to collaborate with the reading language arts teacher to provide mysterious sounds for a Halloween writing assignment.   

My school district uses Seesaw as our learning platform. There are many ideas for general music classes available. It serves as a great way to evaluate student growth and see progress over time because students respond to the assignments with a video, notes, or pictures.  

My district also chose an online curriculum with many interactive games for students that are accessible using a QR code.  As is typical with all technology, it is great when it works, but always have a back-up plan.   

When I travel from room to room, I never know when a teacher will have an in-operative speaker or if the county server will crash.  Downloaded songs on my iPad and music bag games have saved me many times this year!   

Dance Party 

My music program has always included many kinesthetic activities. Now that we are confining students to the general classrooms, it is more important than ever to keep them moving and energized!   

My students love “Go Noodle,” “Just Dance Kids,” freeze dances, PE and fitness quests, and a good game of “Mrs. Cantley Says.” I have also been working towards becoming a “Kidding Around Yoga” certified teacher with lots of super moving activities and techniques for calming or energizing students.   

Virtual Concerts 

My school looks forward to our three whole-school music programs every year.  They are so popular that we create separate preschool to second grade and third to fifth-grade programs. We only have a school population of approximately 175 students! 

To keep this tradition alive in COVID times, I taped each class and created virtual programs using iMovie.  My principal uploads them to our school’s Youtube channel.  Preparing for music programs brought a sense of normalcy for my students this year.  Students were excited and motivated to create the virtual programs.    

Above everything else, I have tried to make my students feel like we are carrying on with music as usual, and I try to give myself and my students a lot of grace.  We still do a “Rhythm of the Day” for our bell ringer, and we play the same instruments and games, except for the recorder.  

I think my students have appreciated my efforts to make music “fun,” even if we are wearing masks and social distancing in the general classroom.  I can’t complain.  With blending learning, my students haven’t progressed as much, but they are happy and enjoying music, which makes me happy as I “roll to a new beat.”

This article was originally published by Music ConstructED on May 13, 2021.