My dog has fleas?

One of my favorite “starter” xylophones songs is “I’ve Got a Dog,” using some of the suggestions in Diane Lange’s Together in Harmony. 

I’ve got a dog as thin as a rail

He’s got fleas all over his tail.

Every time his tail goes flop

The fleas on the bottom all hop to the top (stop!)

One bug, two bug, three bugs, four

Five bugs, six bugs, seven bugs, more

Eight bugs, nine bugs, oh my, ten!

Go back to the beginning and do it again!

After assuring the kids that my own dogs get monthly flea preventative, we learn several ostinati (repeated patterns) that fit with the song. The xylophones are set up with just five bars to make part of a minor scale—D, E, F, G, A. We make big, small, and giant beats (also know as macro/microbeats or quarter, eighth, half notes), learn about minor chords, and practice stepping up and down the xylophone bars with correct technique. 

3rd and 4th graders love this as a re-introduction to xylophones, too, as long as I acknowledge it’s a “little kid” song, heh! Many of them are also learning the D minor chord on ukulele right now, so they can make that connection and play together.

My kid’s service dog Tonks, cleverly disguised as a fire truck

Go in Peace and a Thanksgiving Song

Over the years, I’ve written quite a few songs to use with students, from silly to serious. I’d like to share two that have become part of our school traditions, and you are welcome to use them for your own purposes!

I wrote the first, “Go in Peace,” to be sung at the end of our Lower School Meeting for Worship. Our school is a Friends school, and Meeting for Worship--we retain the name from Quakerism, but it is not presented as a religious practice--is an important time of holding the silence and students speaking up as they feel led to respond to that week’s query. When I started teaching at CFS, we then asked the students to leave the gathering room in silence so we didn’t go straight from peace to chaos. Our children mostly do a wonderful job respecting the silence during Meeting, but once they pop up they are ready to make some noise! I was asked to find a song, but none of them seemed to quite fit our school—they were either too silly, too complicated, or too religous. Writing my own was the natural solution! Here are the words to my “Go in Peace,” and the sheet music is below.

Go in peace, go in peace

With this blessing in your heart

May your light shine brightly wherever you are.

Go in peace, go in peace

May this silence teach us grace

To help each other make the world a better place.

A lifelong Quaker friend and colleague has taught this song at Quaker conferences and in meetinghouses around the country, and I have heard that this song is now being used in multiple Friends schools!

Another song I wrote early in my career at CFS is a Thanksgiving round. I really wanted to have something to teach the kids to sing for Thanksgiving, but in this case all the songs were either about turkey, religion, or told a whitewashed story about pilgrims. Here’s my simple round, sheet music also included below:

For the blessings of the earth

For the gifts of love and friendship

For the beauty of life

We give thanks, we give thanks

Somos el Barco and Ukuleles!

This week we’ve been singing a perrenial Lower School favorite,  Somos el Barco by Lorre Wyatt. Not only does this song have a beautiful message of how we’re all in this life thing together, the chorus is great for Spanish learners as the Spanish is directly followed by the English translation. It’s an easy song to add echoes on the chorus, too, which makes it sound “fancy.” It’s one of my most frequently requested songs!

Somos el Barco

By Lorre Wyatt

The stream sings it to the river, the river sings it to the sea
And the sea sings it to the boat that carries you and me.

Somos el barco, somos el mar, yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi
We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me

And the boat we are sailing in was built by many hands
And the sea we are sailing on, it will touch every sand.

CHORUS

The voyage has been long and hard, yet we are sailing still
With a song to help us pull together if we only will.

CHORUS

So with our hopes we raise the sails to face the wind once more
And with our hearts we chart the waters never sailed before.

CHORUS

3rd and 4th-years have started ukuleles! Third-years have learned the playing position, names of the open strings, and have played patterns using our mnemonic “Good Cows Eat Apples” (or, as a student suggested this week, “Graham Crackers Every Autumn”). Fourth-years only had one class due to Fall weekend, but they still had time to review the strings and play the first part of “Kookaburra” on the open strings.

Many families have asked about buying a ukulele to play at home. It is absolutely not required, but it’s a wonderful instrument to have around and not very expensive! Super cheap ukuleles, however, can be frustrating—they often are poorly set up with misaligned frets, so they sound out of tune no matter how well you tune/play them. In my classroom, I use Kala’s Makala Shark/Dolphin soprano ukuleles and they are high quality beginner instruments! Kala also makes intermediate- and professional-level ukuleles that are very good—I think you can’t go wrong with the brand.

More about ukuleles next week!

A Kala Makala shark ukulele

Songs for Hispanic Heritage Month

A culturally responsive music curriculum can provide many opportunities for students to explore their own identities and learn about less familiar cultures, countries, and traditions. My home state, North Carolina, has well over a million Hispanic residents, and that number is growing rapidly. Our wonderful Spanish teachers incorporate singing into their lessons, but I like to also include Spanish-language songs in my curriculum for deeper learning and to emphasize that Hispanic culture isn't just for Spanish class! One of my favorites, “Vengan a ver," is a song that serves a similar purpose in the Spanish-speaking world to “Old McDonald Had a Farm” in the English-speaking world. The kids absolutely love this and delight in challenging me to name animals in Spanish. 

Vengan a Ver

Vengan a ver mi granja, que es hermosa

Vengan a ver mi granja, que es hermosa

El cerdito hace así: oinc, oinc

El cerdito hace así: oinc, oinc

O va, camarad’, o va, camarad’, o va o va o va

O va, camarad’, o va, camarad’, o va o va o va

Translation:

Come and see my farm, because it’s beautiful (x2)

The piggy goes like this: “oink, oink” (x2)

Oh come, friend, oh come, friend, oh come oh come oh come (x2)

Of course, the most fun part of the song is inserting the animals. I also like to make it additive—each verse, after adding the new animal, we go back through the ones we’ve already done. Here are a few animals we enjoy:

 

Pato/Patito (duck/duckie)

Vaca/Vacita (cow)

Gallina (hen)

Gallo (rooster)

Oveja (sheep)

Caballo (horse)

Perro/perrito (dog/doggie)

Gato/gatito (cat/kitty)

Cobaya (guinea pig)

Serpiente (snake)

Elefante (elephant)

Other songs we’ll be learning include the classic De Colores and La Araña pequeñita (the itsy bitsy spider).

Music Workshop is a free resource for music educators that has some excellent video content about musical cultures, instruments, etc. We’ve watched parts of the Latin American Music video in our Lower School music classes over the last week, and the kids have especially enjoyed seeing the wide variety of current/“cool” songs and modern concerts shown alongside more traditional music. They’ve also enjoyed a couple Mariachi excerpts from the fabulous Pixar movie “Coco.”

Let me know what other Latin American songs you like to sing!

This Little Light of Mine

My school has a lovely tradition of "settling in" (a Quaker/Friends School practice) at the start of each day and after transitions. The Lower School has an all-unit settling in every Monday, and we have a tradition of ending it with a song. Every year, I start and end the year with a familiar song that to me embodies our goal as a school: “This Little Light of Mine.”

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine (x3)

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine (x3)

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

We then pick other things to “shine,” such as “My teachers and my friends, I’m gonna let them shine,” or, “All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine.” In music class, we might even get a little silly and add things like, “These wiggly fingers of mine,” or “This messy hair of mine!” It’s a great song for getting kids used to clapping and body percussion, dancing, or marching around the room in music class. It’s an easy song to add countermelodies and harmonies in my older classes.

Though it is often listed as an “African-American spiritual," “This Little Light of Mine” was actually written in the 1920s by a white minister in Michigan as a children’s song. However, when it was documented by John Lomax in 1939, then adapted into a civil rights anthem in the 1960s by Zilphia Horton, it became associated with other spirituals and often mistaken for one.

No matter its origins, “This Little Light of Mine” is a wonderful reminder of our Friends belief of the “light” that exists inside everyone. All our other testimonies—peace, respect, service, etc.—can be linked back to this concept. 

And it’s really fun to sing!

I’m back!

Hello Friends! It has been several years since I’ve kept up with this blog, and after many requests from families to keep up with the musical scene at CFS and beyond, I’m reviving it. Here you can still find my beginner ukulele tutorials (wow, do I look young!) and information about the Recorder Interactive beginning recorder method, as well as all my older posts. Soon I’ll be posting activities and lyrics from 2023-24 music class, local and virtual music resources, and odds and ends from my life as a music director and performer. I’m also excited to share ideas and activities inspired by my Mindful Schools and Breathe for Change mindfulness and yoga teacher training, especially ways to integrate mindfulness into music class and music-making in general.

If you’re looking for my writing blog, check out my personal website: http://josiskpurvis.com. 

Keep on singing! 🎵❤️

Life has not been boring: my 13-year old pets a shark in August 2023!

Deep Blue Sea

This summer I learned a simple but beautiful old time song called "Deep Blue Sea" from the talented Christen Blanton. It is a perfect song for singing simple harmony, but the words are not so perfect... after a lovely, perky opening repeating "Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea," it ends in the inevitable watery death: "It was Willy what got 'drowneded' in the deep blue sea." Not so good for young kids. Or sensitive adults, for that matter.

So I wrote some alternate lyrics for the little ones, which especially work here a couple of hours from the coast, where so many kids look forward to going to the beach every summer. It's not exactly a work of art, but I like it better than anyone "drowneding."

Deep Blue Sea

Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea

Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea

Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

I’d jump and run in the big blue waves x 3

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

I’d dig and build in the sparkling sand x 3

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

I’d see the dolphins leap and play x 3

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

I’d find myself some fancy shells x 3

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

Deep blue sea, baby, deep blue sea x 3

I wish that I could go right now to see the deep blue sea

Here's a mistake-ridden video of a couple verses, if you haven't heard the tune, and a harmony suggestion:

Simple, right?

Hello there, interwebs...

Once again, I find myself making a "I'm back after HOW long?" post. But it can't be avoided... here I am, starting the third week of the 2018-19 school year! It's fun looking back at my posts from 10(!) years ago, when I was a relatively new teacher. Many things have changed, but some good stuff hasn't. Hopefully most of those changes have been for the better!

All the Lower School classes had their first music class last week. We had so much fun! Younger students enjoyed singing silly songs, a tour of the space, and that old classic, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Third-years were excited to order their recorders with a choice of three colors, and fourth-years had all kinds of questions about their planning and producing of Springfest... even though it's not till, well, Spring. We all enjoyed adding our favorite fruits and vegetables into "The Corner Grocery Store," from beans trying on jeans to bananas talking to Joanna.

Middle School started electives last week, and this trimester I'm teaching the usual First-Year (fifth grade) Music Rotation as well as an Independent Study in Music class. Each student in the independent study applied with a particular project in mind. I have a mix of first through fourth-years, doing everything from practicing saxophone to making electronic music to ukulele/songwriting. It will be a busy trimester! Students also go into their year-long advisee groups this week, after two weeks of temporary orientation groups. I'm looking forward to finding out which middle school students will be in my at-school family this year.

I expect that many students (and teachers) will be a bit on edge this week. That's because of this:

Yes, that little screaming face is home, and the big scary cone is the projected path of Hurricane Florence. "F" hurricanes have a thing for North Carolina–I personally experienced Fran and Floyd. We're all especially worried for our friends at the coast, yikes!

No promises, but I am going to do my best to keep updating my blog this school year. More soon!

Lower School Uke Jam!

Happy... March?

In the Lower School, we're celebrating the arrival of spring with ukuleles! While fourth-years have been playing ukuleles throughout the school year, third-years were focused on recorders, and River and Sky classes (first and second grade for you non-CFS'ers) have been rocking out on drums, xylophones, and small percussion.

Exciting for this year in particular is that I've finally been able to replace the last of our old, not-so-good ukuleles with Makala dolphins and sharks. This is a big leap in quality (though only a small leap in cost), leading to better sound, much better intonation, and less frustration for beginning players. Plus, they look awesome!

Our youngest students are learning good playing position, steady down-strumming, and the open strings. We're connecting the pitches of the strings to songs they've learned and xylophone notes--a great match for ukulele since the first three strings are G-C-E, or sol, do, mi, the primary notes of many teaching songs. We'll also learn the C chord.

Third-years review all of the above, plus we learn to fingerpick the notes B-A-G, the first three notes they learned on recorders in the Fall (conveniently, the fourth note they learned, E, is an open string). We'll even play some of our recorder songs on the ukulele. If time allows, we'll learn more of the C scale as well as another chord or two.

Fourth-years have already learned all this, so our next task is to learn to strum the chords to this week's song of the week, Ben Harper's "With My Own Two Hands." It uses three chords we've learned, C, F, and G7, plus one other one-finger chord, A minor. We're using the tune as sung by Jack Johnson with Ben Harper (you can hear it during the credits of the Curious George movie!), but my favorite version for listening is Ben Harper's original, which you can check out here. It's an easy song to play and to sing, and a great reminder of how each of us has the power to make a difference in the world.

With My Own Two Hands
Ben Harper

 C                                 F              C
I can change the world, with my own two hands
                                    F             C
Make it a better place, with my own two hands
                                    F               C
Make it a kinder place, with my own two hands
                Am                 G7          C
With my own, with my own two hands

C          F           C
I can make peace on earth, with my own two hands
                           F             C
I can clean up the earth, with my own two hands
   F    C
I can reach out to you, with my own two hands
       Am       G7      C
With my own, with my own two hands
       Am       G7      C
With my own, with my own two hands

C        F C
I’m gonna make it a brighter place, with my own two hands
                                           F    C
I’m gonna make it a safer place, with my own two hands
                      F    C
I’m gonna help the human race, with my own two hands
       Am       G7      C
With my own, with my own two hands
       Am       G7      C
With my own, with my own two hands

C                    F C
I can hold you, with my own two hands
     F      C
I can comfort you, with my own two hands
     F        C
But you got to use, use your own two hands
        Am        G7       C
Use your own, use your own two hands
Am        G7       C
Use your own, use your own two hands

       Am        G7       C
With our own, with our own two hands
       Am        G7       C
With our own, with our own two hands
       Am        G7       C
With my own, with my own two hands

Repost--Why I Teach Music

Back in 2011, when I'd only been teaching in a school setting for three years, I wrote this little list of reasons I love what I do. I like to think that I've grown a lot as a teacher since then, but these core "why"'s haven't changed a bit. They inspire me every day, and motivate me when I'm feeling discouraged. So here is my not-so-new, but absolutely current, list of the top reasons I teach music:

Because there is more than one way to be smart.

Because real life isn't about test scores.

Because music has existed in all cultures since the dawn of humankind, and it is hardwired into our souls (or brains, if you don't believe in that sort of thing).

Because children can learn countless ways to appropriately and effectively express their feelings through the arts.

Because he may end up a gun-toting conservative and she a tree-hugging liberal, but they both smile while harmonizing on "You are my Sunshine."

Because, among other things, music is entertainment. Quality, thought-provoking entertainment makes people happy. Happy people make the world better.

Because the world would be a better place if everyone learned to truly, deeply listen.

Because some children will be inspired to take up a musical instrument, which teaches persistence, discipline, humility, and the rewards of hard work.

Because making music creates millions of new pathways in the brain.

Because making music brings families, friends, and communities closer together, helping us see each other as vulnerable, creative beings instead of roadblocks.

Because in a world of such frightening conflicts and lightning-fast change, we all need as many reminders as we can get that life is beautiful.

New goodies for my classroom!

As I mentioned in my catch-up post, last school year I was able to move into a classroom formerly known as "The Annex," a little cabin-like building with a long and rich history at our school. This meant combining two classrooms into one, which was a ton of work but well worth it! I was able to mix instrument collections, consolidate books and other materials, and really make the space my own. Also, the space came with a BATHROOM (anyone who's had to teach without easy/quick bathroom access knows why I'm so excited about that!), a CLOSET, and a smaller attached office space! I also was finally able to order the rug I'd been drooling over for several years, and I love it just as much as I'd hoped (and so do my students).

Over the summer, I ordered a few more goodies to complete my collections. I can't wait to use them with the kids! For the Lower School, I ordered this lovely set of rainbow-colored Toca djembes, so I now have enough small djembes for a whole LS class (instead of having to always throw in bongos and other hand drums).

Ukuleles have long been popular in the Middle School, and when I started the job, I inherited some ukes and filled out the collection with the same (inexpensive) brand to have enough for Lower School classes. However, I was never happy with the sound and especially the poor intonation--every fretboard is just a little different. Then, I discovered the Makala dolphin, and later, shark ukes. For not too much more money, they offer a richer sound, come with better strings, and have much better intonation. I'd been gradually replacing the old ukes, and I finally have enough for an entire class in either unit. Aren't they pretty?

Back to school.... two years later!

Hello there! So I'm not even going to try to explain/excuse my two year blogging hiatus, and though I'm not making any promises this time, I do plan to blog regularly throughout this year. Despite the lack of blogging, it's been a great two years, both personally and professionally! Here are a few of the professional highlights:

• Started a beginning winds and strings elective in the Middle School! This Fall, I'll be offering both the beginning elective and a continuing elective that will include students who've started their instrument through private lessons.

• Completed two more student-created and directed Lower School Springfest performances, based on Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth (2015), and Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke (2016)

• Integrated the fun and wonderfully designed, technology-rich Quaver's Marvelous World of Music curriculum into the Lower School music program. This year, I'll also be using Noteflight for my upper elementary and middle school students.

• Combined my Lower and Middle School rooms into a single teaching space that's my room all day (yay!)

• Replaced original set of classroom ukuleles with a much better model, leading to more ukulele playing, especially in the 3rd and 4th grade.

• Musically directed two amazing, large musicals in the Middle School: Seussical, Jr. (might be my favorite ever!) and Michael Sirotta's Alice in Wonderland.

• "Graduated" my first 8th-grade advisees who had been my advisees for four years and my students for eight years (proud and sad!)

• Continued conducting the Piedmont Youth and Family Orchestra, designed new website, and made plans for a 2016-17 year of renewal and growth (starting Sept. 11, 2016!)

• My first professionally published short story, "Bully," appeared in the January 2016 issue of Cricket Magazine. A lifelong dream come true! Hoping my novels are next...

Okay, enough tooting my own horn (which reminds me, in moving spaces I discovered the most amazing Marx-brothers style bicycle horn stuffed in a box, along with lots of other shiny stuff). School starts Tuesday, and music classes begin the day after Labor Day. Better go organize!

Back to School!

I can't believe it's already been four weeks since the start of school! That means music classes in both the Lower and Middle Schools have been meeting for three weeks. This trimester's Middle School classes include 1st-year (5th grade) Music Rotation (general music) and a class called "Ukuleles and Glee!" in which we are learning ukulele and singing popular songs. Our big group song is Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up," which we're arranging with multiple ukulele parts and harmony. I'm already a Jason Mraz fan, but that song is something extra special. The Middle School is also looking forward to auditions for our annual musical, which will be "Seussical, Jr." Auditions are in October, rehearsals begin with second trimester electives in November, and performances are in February.

Lower School is off to a great start! Forest and Mountain 3rd-years and new 4th-years received their recorders week before last, and they are already playing songs with their first 3 notes, B-A-G. If you visit campus at lunchtime, you might even hear some enthusiastic students playing their recorders on the playground! We've especially enjoyed playing songs from the new Quaver recorder curriculum, including the instant classic (and earworm) "Perry the Sheep" (fell asleep, did a sheep sleep walk, and ate a recorder...). River and Sky classes have learned several new songs, sung a round, played drums, and learned about steady beat and meter.

We've also started our first round of music parties, a reward for classes whose music notes make it to the "Party Space!" Our parties have included traditional play-party games like "Old King Glory" and "Jump Josie," freeze dancing, and a couple of OK Go videos!

Our Lower School has a wonderful new librarian, Natalie, and we are talking about a possible collaboration in which students will make book soundtracks. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, check out Natalie's blog here!

Lots of exciting stuff coming up, so I'll post more soon!

Go In Peace

I took some time this Labor Day weekend to record my little song "Go In Peace" with my two older kids. I wrote this song last year as an exit song for our weekly Meeting for Worship time in the Lower School (oops! I say "yearly" on the video. I was quite distracted by my 1-year-old busy destroying the house off-screen). Here it is:

The lyrics:
Go in peace, go in peace
With this blessing in your heart
May your light shine brightly wherever you are.

Go in peace, go in peace
May this silence teach us grace
To help each other make the world a better place.

Feel free to use this song if it works for you, but please let me know in the comments!

Staying Organized with Evernote

*note: I wrote this post because I have used Evernote for years and truly think it's an amazing tool. I have no affiliation with the company and this post is based entirely on my personal experience.

I'm always telling everyone about my very favorite organizational tool, Evernote, but somehow I've never written about it other than a mention in my post about my PLN workflow. One of Evernote's greatest features is that it is just as simple or as complex as you need it to be. Google "Evernote and..." and you'll find thousands of ideas of how to use it in any context you can imagine. Here's a screenshot from Evernote on my Mac:

And here's why I find it so awesome:

Recorder Tunes and Tracks at Teachers Pay Teachers

Over the summer, I've gotten to know the popular site Teachers Pay Teachers. Kind of like Etsy, it is most valuable if you have some time to spend combing through resources to separate the truly useful/relevant materials from the fluffy–but I suppose that is true of any teacher supply/curriculum resource! There is quite a lot of great stuff on there for music educators, from bulletin board ideas for the non-crafty (that would be me) to printable songs and entire curricula. It's a fabulous opportunity for creative teachers to share the resources they've worked so hard on without having to write a whole book and find a publisher. Check it out!

As an experiment, I've just created a store myself. I've listed some reproducible recorder songs with accompaniment tracks. Two of them are FREE! If you play or teach recorder, I'd love your feedback. Enjoy!

Lesson Plans and Resources for the New School Year

It's that time of year... Everywhere I look I see music teachers posting questions about lesson plans, preferably inexpensive or FREE! I like to change up my activities every year–both because I have combined-age classrooms and would need at least a 2-year cycle to avoid students repeating the same curriculum, and because that's just how I roll! This year will be the first year I've had the Quaver's Beyond Marvelous Curriculum for the entire school year (I gradually rolled it in last year, starting in October), but because I see my kids twice weekly, and because I obsessively customize any curriculum I use, AND because I spend a lot of time following the lead of my students, I'm constantly looking for new ideas anyway.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of online resources. These are simply the resources I've used the most, and a great jumping-off point for teachers looking for new ideas. Most blogs have a handy-dandy "blogroll" on the sidebar linking to THAT teacher's favorite blogs and resources for further exploration. So here are some of my favorites:

Recorder Interactive SALE!

I've got several posts in the works... but in the meantime, I wanted to let you know that my enhanced iBook recorder method, Recorder Interactive, is on a summer/back-to-school sale for just $3.99 in the iBookstore for a limited time! I've enjoyed the feedback I've received and hope the book is a good resource for both budding recorder players and general music teachers. Enjoy!

To purchase or download a free sample, visit the iBookstore.

For more information, check this out!

Recorder Interactive is Here!!

Recorder Interactive: A Magical Method has finally been released in the iBookstore! Designed from scratch for iBooks on the iPad and Mac, this new recorder method includes 75 pages of instruction, over 30 songs, and over 100 audio files and scads of interactive features. Suitable for ages 8 to adult, it can be used for self-instruction, as a lesson book, or as a classroom method. I'm hoping to have it tested out in some one-to-one iPad schools–please contact me if your school is interested!

Recorder Interactive is priced at $7.99 in the iBookstore, but you can download a free sample that includes the entire first chapter and several pages from later in the book for your perusal. If you are a music educator, I have a few free promo codes if you'd like a review copy. Thank you so much for checking out this labor of love!

Musical Storybooks on iPads

Here is another of my handouts from my 2013 NCMEA/TI:ME presentation, "iPad Projects that Work." This plan uses the app Book Creator ($4.99), and is especially effective if your students are already creating books with their language teachers. If your school has iPads and your classroom teachers AREN'T using this app (or something similar), you might want to show it to them!

Musical Storybooks
Level: Grades 1-4
National Standards: Depending on how the lesson is implemented, it may include: 2. Performing on instruments, 3. Improvising melodies, 4. Composing and arranging, and/or 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
Purpose: To create a soundtrack for an original story, created independently or as a joint project with your students' language arts teacher.
Materials: iPad(s) loaded with Book Creator app or similar, and one or more student-created storybooks; virtual instrument apps and a variety of classroom instruments.
Lesson:
1. Show your students a video clip that demonstrates the importance of soundtrack. Possibilities include excerpts from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Star Wars, etc. For students in grade 4 and up, also consider the video "Star Wars Without John Williams" available on YouTube for a humorous example of how much music can affect the impact of a scene.
2. Depending on the length and scope of this project, decide whether students will work individually on their own stories (longest), in small groups with one story per group, or as a class, with each individual/group assigned a page, scene, or character.
3. Depending on step 2, students plan where to insert music into their storybook.
4. Students create music depending on your guidelines, the scope of the project, and the age of the class. Any sound file that can be put into iTunes can be used in Book Creator. If you have enough iPads, consider using virtual instrument apps or GarageBand. You can also record live performances directly into Book Creator.
5. Share your completed stories with each other, your students' language arts teacher, and/or a younger class of students!

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