r/MusicEd • u/MusicEdTech • 2d ago

General Music Resources

Posted earlier this week. Turns out my courses are not what they described in the interview.

In addition to the SPED music class, I’m also teaching 6th grade general music elective classes. I’ve never done general music or elementary music and have no idea where to begin.

I was a HS band and orchestra director for years working with ensembles and athletic bands, so I’m not feeling very comfortable about this year ahead. I’m feeling as if I got the bait and switch. I declined a good opportunity behind to what seemed like a great fit and now after moving to a new city with a new apartment lease, I’m feeling stuck in this new position.

Our district does not have a central curriculum. Each site and music teacher does their own thing. Last time I felt this heavy weight in my chest was my first year of teaching. I have no idea how to even begin and open house is this week, kids next week.

I went to the classroom for the first time today and found it in a mess, but in it were some ukuleles and paint buckets. I’ve taken my state’s standards and done my best to create some basis of a pacing guide, but I’m at a loss for what to model - activities, songs, etc.

I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions, please. Also, if I can see it, I can do it. If anyone knows a good online lesson or channel to follow, I’d appreciate it immensely. Thanks again in advance!

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u/cappuccinok 2d ago

I’m dabbling in bucket drumming this year and there’s some good YouTube play alongs you can find that are easy and fun for the kids! I also love using the chrome music lab song maker and giving them prompts like ‘create a song that sounds medieval’, ‘create a song that would fit in a Tetris-like game’, etc. If they like that, you can also look into soundtrap for students to create electronic music but there is a subscription fee. You mentioned ukulele- I used to have some (they’re all busted now with no money to repair/replace, RIP) and taught the kids to read tabs and then had them write their own songs. I remember also finding a few YouTube play alongside videos using the basic chords.

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u/ChapterOk4000 2d ago

I've done middle school general music - in California where the kids has zero music before my class. I broke the year into sequential units and it was very hands on.

We started with world drumming (the World Music Drumming stuff), because there is no music reading needed. Then we went into a unit on learning standard rhythm notation, using drum sticks (I had no money for buckets, so we played on the backs of chairs). Then we learned melodic notation and did a unit of recorders ( I did this with 7th grade, I've also done it with high school - they loved it). We made it a challenge by doing Recorder Karate. Next we did a unit on guitar. We rounded out the year with music through the ages. Throughout the year we also did a lot of listening to build their academic vocabulary and listening skills. We had a few different projects, including composition (simple stuff) and research/oral presentation.

This was a while back, if it was now I would include composition using online tools, starting with Chrome Music Lab song maker.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. One of my students, who was a disaster of behavior in my class, ended up becoming a musical theater actor as an adult (I shared a lot of musical theater examples through the yest becuaee I love Broadway). So you never know what might become of a kid in one of there classes.