How Many Songs Should I Teach Each Grade Per Month?
Season 1 | Episode 10
Show Notes
As I continue to prep for for next year, I have a question about how to prepare and practice concepts. About how many songs a month or even quarter, do you aim to use per grade?
I plan very intuitively. But I'd like to streamline my work a little, to be a more focused. I have a fun classroom, but sometimes the concepts are so buried or I forget about them and move on to something new too quickly. Right now I am experimenting a lot with many ideas combining art and music.
How will we break up our year?
Quarterly?
Monthly?
Concept?
Choosing songs by concept
We provide the musical context
Students provide the pacing
We still write the map for the roadtrip (long-range planning)
My Curriculum Planning Process
The big dream (curriculum outline)
Road trip from Tennessee to LA
The map (scope and sequence)
Map the route
If I want to realize the big dream, how many weeks can I devote to this concept?
Students still provide the pacing, and we still make the map
The context (repertoire)
The stops along the way
How can we build a musical picture of this concept?
Song Decisions
Tied to how much time per concept you have
How deep into each song will you go?
Just for fun at the end of class?
Game and notational literacy?
Extended creative project?
Memorized? Listening lesson?
Songs Per Concept
3 - 5 songs per concept
Rhythmic and melodic
Form, texture, expression, and “other” are embedded
Might overlap more than one concept
Rhythm vs beat and sol and mi
Pala Palita (Spanish-language game)
Jack and Jill
Rhythm vs beat
Apple Papple (counting out game from Sweden)
Bee Bee Bumblebee
Pala Palita (Spanish-language game)
Jack and Jill
Popular song
Sol and mi
Jack and Jill
Que Rorro Que Nene (lullaby from Mexico)
Ickle Ockle
List of four songs that students choose from
Kindergarten
Around 20 - 30 songs by the end of the year
5th Grade
Around 15 - 25 songs by the end of the year
This is a conversation we will continue to have throughout our planning process.
We’ll think about the balance in the opposition between planning intuitively and planning in a way that is streamlined. We can use repertoire that has many playful, creative, open-ended opportunities and opportunities for students to build their content knowledge in an intentional way in order to streamline our planning while relying on our intuition.
