Not Mozart's notation: How simplified notation helps beginning band sanity

Music notation is a valuable tool. Music literacy (including the ability to read traditional Western music notation) is an important skill which should be developed in order to help students achieve total musicianship. But lines and spaces are not always the best tool for every context, especially when it comes to popular music. I'm using a score consisting of tables for one of our beginning band songs this year. This song is a popular tune (and a student favorite) with rhythms well beyond what is typically covered in first-year band. Here's my score (note the lack of clefs, note heads, and even rhythm notation):

The lyrics are underneath, but before we get there: can you name that tune? It's certainly harder to sight read without the context of rhythm or meter. However, virtually all of my students have heard this song outside of school. So here's what a student part looks like:

Obviously, a beginning band student isn't going to get a whole lot if they just play those notes. I don't use the parts the first time we touch this song. Once we've learned the main sections (in this case, green blue and red), the written parts act as a memory aid. The small lines next to some of the notes indicate that they're "low" (below the tonic of the song). The dashes in the last line remind students to hold that note (the ending I used seems to be less familiar to students than the main tune). 

The benefit of this system is that students can play rhythms well beyond their reading ability. My group hasn't gotten to individual eighth notes yet, or dotted rhythms, but they can execute both well in the song because they know the tune and are playing based primarily on an aural concept. This "part" serves more as a reminder than something to stare at. Today, a student discovered that after a few weeks of practice, she can play the whole thing from memory! I teach band for the music, not the notation, so using this kind of part has helped my students play music that they care about and perform at a high level without getting caught up in music notation confusion. It's another way (not the best way or the only way) to write music to help student learning.

Band teachers: if you'd like parts and score for this tune, leave your gmail in the comments and I'll share with you.

The Bad and the Good

I've written before about being a grad school student while teaching, and some of the challenges and benefits. My fall class was a lot better than my summer classes, and one idea from the class has stuck with me even though I'm done with the class now: music education is not inherently good. It seemed ironic to hear a question about whether music education was good in a music education degree program in which most of us had spent a years in the field and were currently spending $3,500 to take a music education class. But something about the articles we read and the premise of the question makes so much sense: not every educational experience is a good one.

Education as a harmful experience has helped me make sense of so many of my own school experiences, both as a K-12 student and in college and grad school. Not every class helped me learn something (though I wrote a snarky "this class has taught me how not to teach" on more than one course evaluation) useful. Not every class was worth the time and effort I put in. There's a reason some school experiences didn't work for me beyond my flaws as a student, of which there are many.

But so much of education is good. An a-ha moment about a topic students really care about. Bonding over a certain song, whether it's as part of a Red Sox victory celebration or a more serious occasion. Laughing with a class until everyone needs a drink of water. Hugs from students. Working hard on something and improving on it. Having those goosebump musical moments. It's up to teachers to make those good experiences happen more often, to help students learn and have positive school experiences. This isn't to say teachers should aim to be perfect. Or to "save" students. But if we can find something at school for every kid to look forward to every day, maybe things will be a little better. Or maybe, we can look at experiences that are hurtful for a lot of students (cough, standardized testing, cough) and reimagine a better way.

Me, I'll take the bad with the good, and be grateful that it seems the worst of my experiences as a student should be behind me.

What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Teaching

I'm still a newish teacher (going into my fourth year overall, third in the same district). But I've learned a lot since I started, some of which will never be in a traditional teacher training program. Here's my big takeaways:

No curriculum is perfect. Do what the kids need, not what the book or computer screen says.
My first district used a very overpriced, very scripted curriculum. Frankly, it wasn't very good. And teaching from a script wasn't fun. But I did it, because I didn't know any better and because I was criticized early on for deviating. Students, and groups of students, are all different. It's more important to teach what they need than what any piece of paper or screen states they "should" learn. Don't do rhythms with kids who don't keep a steady beat yet. It won't work. Read the room, have an actual human to human conversation with students, and teach what they need. Sometimes, a dance party is more important than the planned lesson. Or a folk dance lesson becomes a lesson on respect. That's okay. Adapting is important. Obviously, teach content, not fluff, but teach the students in front of you. They'll get where they need to be, even if it takes a little more time.

Learn from everyone.
Yes, it's easy to get caught in a teacher echo chamber. It feels better to only talk to brand-new teachers who are just as scared and worn down and clueless as you might feel. But those who have been there before can help you grow. Most teachers aren't scary people if you talk to them. That being said, avoid toxicity like the plague because it spreads. Ain't nobody got time for Negative Nancys. I've learned classroom management tricks from lunch monitors, movement strategies from PE teachers, organizing strategies from classroom teachers, and many more. Don't just stay in your lane, learn and borrow from those around you.

Understand you'll be misunderstood
Especially as a music teacher, there will be misunderstandings. Schedules will get mixed up. Observers will focus on something that has nothing to do with music or teaching. You'll be asked to teach kids you only see on Tuesday a song by Monday... when it's Friday. Things will work out. Communicate clearly, firmly, but respectfully. There's no sense in yelling about things when simply educating adults will work better. Explain that you cannot possibly teach kindergarten and fifth grade back-to-back without passing time because the room setup for fifth grade isn't safe for younger students, or why chorus with 100 kids on Friday afternoon might be a struggle. Explain what the curriculum indicates students should be learning, and why you taught it as you did. Let the teacher who asks for a song performance ready that it's too last minute and you'd be glad to offer support next time with more advance notice. Most people in schools really do have students' best interests at heart, even if it sometimes creates inconvenience. Explaining your reasoning while setting boundaries helps to maintain and build respectful relationships. It's okay to vent (to people outside the situation) about frustrations with this too! It is hard being misunderstood, or being seen as an entertainer.

Have fun
There's so much joy to be found in making music with students. Not all days will be fun, not all classes will be fun, but there are bright moments even in the exhausting, frustrating times. It's okay to laugh at a kid's joke that makes no sense, or freeze dance when you finish a lesson two minutes early. Don't be the teacher who doesn't smile until Christmas, it's not healthy for students or adults.

The middle is a good place to be
There are few things in education that require an extreme view. Though many topics are polarizing in education (and especially music education) circles, there's no reason to create a false binary where there isn't one. It's not pop music vs. classical music. Or Kodaly vs. Orff vs. Gordon. Use what works for you, no matter where it came from. Different teachers, schools, and students need different things. It's better to be yourself than to unthinkingly follow any method, philosophy, or idea.

It does get easier, except when it doesn't
Being a first year teacher is hard, exhausting, frustrating, and taxing in a way that no program can truly prepare you for. But that's not to say everything after is easy. There will always be things about teaching, or anything else, that are hard. But the hard things get easier, you develop new skills, and you'll develop a compass of what's normal or acceptable for you and what isn't. It's absolutely okay to change things or move to a new position if it's what will work for you. Some positions aren't right for some people. It's okay to leave. Ask for help on the things that are still hard.

No (lesson, teacher, district, school, fill-in-the-blank) is perfect
Even the teachers with the Pinterest perfect classrooms are human beings with flaws. Even that "dream position" has its downsides. Don't focus on finding the perfect lesson, poster, school, or boss. Absolutely find yourself a workable situation and a healthy work environment, but don't chase after perfection that doesn't exist. I love my school and district, but I know that it has flaws, as does every other district I'm familiar with. Find things to be grateful about in your current situation rather than always lusting after something better.

Be kind
This one is last, but also most important. Being kind to yourself, students, and co-workers will pay dividends in so many ways. There is no use in teachers bashing themselves, or blaming their students. Complaining about a colleague behind their back won't change anything. It is okay and perfectly normal to have tough teaching days. It doesn't mean you're a bad teacher. Kids had bad days too. It doesn't mean they're bad kids or are out to get you. Kindness is one of the most important things we can teach and model for our students, especially those who may not be treated with kindness outside of school. And being kind to ourselves is necessary! You can't take care of students if you don't take care of yourself.

Lesson Share: The Playlist Project

This post was inspired by the #popmused chat on Twitter, with a question asking about popular music lesson plans. Check out the hashtag here - there's lots of great resources!

I was desperate for lessons without much teacher talk last spring, my voice was shot and allergies were making me struggle, but not be sick enough to call out. My "playlist project" was born when I found a bunch of old mix "tapes" (well, CDs) I had made when I was younger... it was so cool to find songs that went together and tweak the list until it was perfect, then burn it to a CD. Tapes became CDs, and now almost all playlists are virtual, so my students were able to put together a playlist however they wanted.

My students have different levels of background knowledge, so I spent quite a bit of time talking about playlists - what they are, how to put them together, differences between playlists and albums, etc. - and showing a few examples. Then I set my students free to create their own. I was intentionally vague about how the songs on the playlist should be related, but left it up to them how the songs were related. Some great examples students came up with included songs with loud drums (which included rock, hip-hop, and classical music), songs with Spanish lyrics, songs learned on piano, and songs about broken hearts. I used this worksheet to structure students' creating. They used iPads to look up songs as needed, since many of them weren't sure about exact titles or spelling of artist names. Because my school is fairly conservative about language and I wanted my students to have as much freedom as I could give them, the guideline I gave was that the titles and artist names had to be clean, but I wouldn't go searching for inappropriate lyrics.

This project served multiple purposes. For one, it got my students thinking deeply about the music they hear outside of school. It gave me insight into how they think about music, and what music they're exposed to. I was surprised at the number of songs from the 70s and 80s on their playlists, but glad to know that they appreciated and knew some of my favorites. I pulled from their playlists when I could - whether it was for beat-keeping practice or a little movement exploration (always vetting the songs first, of course). I did this late in the year last year, but I'm hoping to do it earlier in the year this year since it helped me build a relationship with my students and understand their musical world.

Feel free to make a copy of the worksheet and use if you'd like!

That Aristotle Quote

If you've been around education for any length of time, you've seen it:

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all" - Aristotle

Whether it's really by Aristotle or not (my guess is no), there's some truth behind what sounds like another edu-platitude. People can easily memorize or "learn" without actually being changed. It's possible to know all the facts and feel no empathy or compassion. And sometimes, it's possible to force "learning" in the shallow sense onto students while actively hurting their hearts, while damaging their love of education and learning and knowledge.

I'm gonna be honest: this summer has been brutal. Summer classes are always annoying, something about doing school work while not teaching just feels wrong. They're a fact of the masters degree program I chose, so it's my own fault. But my current class isn't just miserable because it's August. It's killing my love of learning, of music, of being a student. I'd do almost anything not to have this class poison my mind. But it's a requirement, so I'm trudging through, day by day and week by week. In 8 days it will be over, and I'll be forever changed in a way that no student should ever be changed by a class.

It hurts my heart to be in a class where only music by white males is valued. It hurts my heart to know my university's requirements privilege this class steeped in oppressive practices over much more important, meaningful material that would help me be my best for my students. It hurts my heart to know that the hours I spent on homework will be reduced to dismissive feedback and a numerical grade that seems entirely arbitrary.

Those who teach can have such an influence. They can do so much good or so much harm. They can use positional authority to support those who are marginalized, or to further hurt those already struggling. They can respond to a struggling student with compassion, or with reactionary anger. It hurts to be on the receiving side of harmful educational practices. It hurts to spend hours on pointless assignments. It hurts to get negative feedback delivered in a blunt, abrasive way. It hurts to know I'm expected to suffer silently, to suck it up and struggle through without making waves. It hurts to cry in frustration over a course that cost me over $3,500 but provides little support or encouragement.

My heart is hurting. I'm exhausted. I'm not yet in a state of mind to give 100% for my students. Fortunately I have some downtime to recover from this traumatic "educational" experience before I'm back in the classroom. I'll carry memories of how much harm this class has done me, and pledge never to be a teacher who has that impact on students.

The perils of requirements

Teachers, can you think of how many times you've had to do something only because it's required? Whether a governmental regulation, administrator, parent, or other stakeholder requires something, the brunt of requirements often falls into the classroom and onto the shoulders of teachers. Except when it doesn't. Sometimes it falls right onto students.

I'm currently living the teacher and student double life - teacher by day (when it's not summer break) and graduate student by night - and finding many frustrations in being required to do something as a student. Yes, requirements as a teacher are exhausting, frustrating, and tiresome, but as a student it directly impacts learning and can entirely deplete motivation.

I decided to do my masters degree now for a few different reasons. For one, it's required for me to keep teaching in my state. I also hoped to improve my pedagogy and learn new ideas I could use with my students. Both of those were great motivations, until now.

I'm taking a dreaded, required class. It's a subject I actively dislike, and one that I know I'm terrible at. I also know that it's required for the program not because it's critical material for everyone with the degree to know (it isn't) but because one group lobbied the accrediting body to make it a requirement for their own self-interest (employment of professors in large numbers) rather than because it's good for students.

Knowing this class is a requirement for no good reason has made me want to scream almost as many times as actually doing the work for the class has. With an unhelpful TA, lots of busywork, and absolutely no attempt to be culturally relevant, this course has become an absolute nightmare for me. I'm not even a little engaged. I have no desire to put in effort, and only do work for the grade. And yet I have to take it. Because it's required. Because I'm supposed to. Because it's "right". No, studying music exclusively of dead white guys and boiling every meaningful piece of auditory art down to numbers and words isn't right. It isn't good for me. It isn't helping me be a better teacher, a better human, or a better musician. Music isn't about reducing sound to numbers (both Roman and Arabic numerals  to be extra pretentious) or writing paragraphs about why some guy picked a certain note 350 years ago. Music is about thinking, feeling, doing, and being artistically.

So here I am, trudging through a requirement that's burning me out and breaking me down. Taking a class that's stuck in the past in a supposedly progressive degree program. Dealing with bad pedagogy because I'm required to. It's sad, and it feels like a waste of my summer. Yet I do it, all for an overpriced piece of paper that says I met requirements decided by someone without my best interest in mind.

How many times do our students have to do something because it's required?

To be clear, I'm not advocating for the absence of rules or only coming to school when they feel like it or anything that dramatic. Sometimes, requirements are necessary and are actually for the good of students. School is required so that students can learn skills that will help them function in society. Rules are required to be followed to keep students safe. But there are some requirements that are for teacher convenience or due to regulations more than for the good of students. The excessive amount of standardized testing, for example, is not required because testing is good for kids.

I'll be reflecting on what I required for students, both formally and informally, and why or why not that's a good choice. For example, does it always make sense to require students to be sitting/standing in certain spots during direct instruction? Does it always make sense to require students to do an assessment on the day that it's in my plan book? Does it always make sense to require a student to play a particular song if they dislike it? The answer to all of these questions, I think, should be sometimes. There might be a certain portion of a lesson's direct instruction that can't accomplish its goal without students in a specific position. But other times, a choice of position and the flexibility to move between positions might be fine. Sometimes, an assessment needs to be done on a certain day so that I can complete report cards or move on to new material, but other times flexibility to account for testing in other subjects, emotional state, and practice time can be best. In some cases, I want to or need to have students play a particular song for an assessment or to do a cooperative activities, but other times I can let them choose from a selection of songs or even decide on a song independently.

Like most things in education, there aren't easy answers or always-right platitudes that cover the depth and breadth of what goes on in a classroom, but it's worth thinking about what is required, what should be required, and why.