Afternoon Ti

My first guest on the podcast is one of my wonderful friends, Vicky Suarez.  Vicky and I met when we began our graduate degrees at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.  I'm thrilled that you'll get to learn about Songworks from Vicky. Songworks Website Examples of Song Dotting Examples of Ideographs Songworks Conference 2019 Vicky Suarez is the Elementary Music Specialist at Prairie Creek Elementary School in Richardson, Texas. She studied at the University of Texas in Arlington  where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education. She recently completed her Master of Music Degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, graduating in the spring of 2017.  Her music training includes three levels of Orff Training resulting in her Orff Certification and Songworks Certification. Vicky is married to her husband Rob, has three children, plays flute in the New Texas Symphony Orchestra and is an amazing music educator. Contact In...

S1: E5 Motivation We are almost to the end of January and winter has hit many of you hard.  My friends in the midwest are enjoying (or not enjoying) freezing temps.  In Dallas, we've had some 'chilly' days of 30 degrees.  The sun is actually trying to peek out at the moment which is always a nice thing.  Friends - we have made it almost half way through the school year.  Not sure where you stand or how you're feeling about how things are going, but I know that right now is when I can always use more motivation, encouragement and reminders that I am doing good work.  That what I'm doing matters.  That when I'm tired, I need to take care of my body and rest so that I have more to give to those around me - and to myself.  I hope this episode encourages you to find ways to refresh yourself as a teacher, friend, and human.  I hope you choose at least one thing to try during these drab days of winter to help you stay fresh, positive and jo...

Composing Original Pieces with Students I'm going to share ideas for how to create original pieces with students using barred instruments and unpitched percussion.  There are many ways to go about this so this is not the only way to approach composition.  This is something that I've done with my students and had success in helping them create an original piece.  The outline I'll give is a great way to incorporate chord progressions, learning how to layer complementary rhythms, identifying parts of chords (roots/thirds/fifths) and chord progressions. STEP ONE:  Use I, IV and V chords from the key of C, F or G.   For this example, I'll be in the key of C Major.   So our chord progressions would be: C - C/E/G is the I chord F - F/A/C is the IV chord G - G/B/D is the V chord I would provide students with a four measure phrase in Meter of 4/4 that looks something like this: C  /  F  /  C  /  G    ...

Season One Episode Four Resourceful Resources for Upper Elementary and Middle School As with Pre-K and Lower Elementary materials, there is a wealth of options out there for us to use in our classrooms.  The key is understanding what works best for your students and often times that comes from trying materials with them!  Important things to know about upper elementary and middle school students: 1) They like to talk.  A lot. Use this to your benefit!  Make time for talking with peers about the information they are learning.  Allow for composition in partners or small groups.  Help them work out snags and to listen to each other.  Their talking doesn't have to be frustrating - allowing them to discuss, work together and utilizing time for interaction is very helpful for them and brings the stress level down for you. 2) They are going through a great season of change Everything is changing in massive ways between the ages of 10-15.  ...

This summer I played around with melodies on the recorder.  One of the best and easiest ways to help students get acquainted with improvising on a soprano recorder is to use the G Pentatonic Scale (GAB  DE).  I wanted to write a piece that would allow students the opportunity to play a piece with few to no skips in the melody, easy rhythms and easy form.  I came up with this simple melody and have used it with my students.   The B section is optional.  And for some reason, the formatting is a little off.  My plan is to review the conga part for the B section - it feels too busy.  I'd likely have students play this rhythm instead: Ta ta tikatika ta /  ta  (rest)   ta (rest) A great option for a B section, if you don't use the one below, would be for student improvisations using the G Pentatonic Scale in a Question/Answer format. QUESTION:   One student would play a melody over 8 beats and end on any n...

Hot Cross Buns... it might be the bane of your existence, a song to start with students with B-A-G on the recorders that really doesn't affect you one way or the other, or a great song to use that is simplistic and gets the job done.  No matter what your feeling on it, it's likely that you've used it because it is effective at teaching simple rhythms, B-A-G and giving students a great starting place when learning recorder.  Personally, I find it useful but I'm honestly tired of it.  I decided to do something new with it this summer and wanted to change it so that it was more musical.  For many days of my summer break I spent time in the morning playing the recorder.  I wrote down melodies I had improvised and liked, played with modes and scales, added unpitched percussion parts/piano/guitar chords and enjoyed seeing what could be done.  Not all of the pieces were very good but it was a great creative way to figure out some solutions for recorder pitch set...

Season One Episode 3 Resourceful Resources for Pre-K through Lower Elementary I'm so excited to be sharing my favorite resources with you!  I've used each of these resources with students when I taught elementary students and found them to be exceptional.  Hope you find some new ideas or remember a favorite resource you'd forgotten about and want to pull out again! Pre-School and Kindergarten Resources 1.  Musikinesis (Monica Dale) Website: Musikinesis Books and Resources by Monica Dale Eurythmics for Young Children:  Six Lessons for Fall Eurythmics for Young Children:  Six Lessons for Winter Eurythmics for Young Children:  Six Lessons for Spring 2.  First Steps in Music (John Feierabend) Website:   Feierabend Association for Music Education First Steps in Music for Pre-School and Beyond  by John Feierabend Book of Music Exploration Book of Pitch Exploration Book of Echo Songs Book of Call and Response Book o...

Happy New Year! In this Episode, I'll be sharing how to figure out what goals to create for yourself and ways to accomplish your goals, as well as reviewing the goals I made for 2018 and sharing the goals that I am setting in 2019.  Each year, I spend January as a 'testing' time to see if there are any goals I want to add, choose any previous goals to eliminate and tweak anything that isn't working or is working better than expected. My 2018 Goals 1.  Become involved at our church 2.  Spend more time with Jeremy, Riley and Julia (and our dog Val) 3.  Continue to use budgeting software and talk about it weekly with Jeremy 4.  Practice, Practice, Practice 5.  Incorporate videos, planning structures and new activities into piano lesson practice times for my piano students 6.  Leave work before 4:30pm two days a week... or at least one day 7.  Read books 8.  Have friends or family over once a month for lunch or dinner 9.  P...