Lesson 3: Keeping the Beat

Lesson Plan:

Grade: 3

Musical Concept:  Beat, melody

Time: 45 minutes

Element: Rhythm, pitch

Materials:  Rhythm Sticks

National Music Standard:

1. Performing: Rehearse, Evaluate, and Refine: Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually, or in collaboration with others.
2. Creating: Imagine: Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.

Specific National Standards:

1. MU:Pr5.1.3b: Rehearse to refine technical accuracy, expressive qualities, and identified performance challenges.
2. MU:Cr1.1.3b: Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms and melodies) within a given tonality and/or meter.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to show a steady beat through movement and playing rhythm sticks, including creating their own pattern to keep the beat.
2. Students will be able to sing the pitches of Toembai with accuracy.

Procedure:

1. Gain Attention - Focus in on listening - sitting down - 10 Minutes
1. During our warm up today, let's focus on listening really closely.  What do you need to do when you are listening to me?  Look at me, not speak, don't distract neighbor's.
2. Warm up the breath (balloon)
3. Repeat one pitch
4. Repeat 2 pitches
5. Repeat short phrase
6. Sing "Hello There" on loo
7. Sing "Hello There" with the words
8. Sing "Hello There" again, this time singing the last phrase all together
2. Inform learners of objectives
1. Today we are going focus on keeping a steady beat and singing Toembai more accurately.  Make sure you really use your ears to listen to what I'm singing, like you practiced in our warm-up.
2. Let's see what we remember from Toembai!  Do the dance in rows.
3. Present the content
1. Does anyone know what the beat is in music?  Can you show me?
2. Let's sing Toembai and keep the beat.
3. The beat is like your heart beat - it is constant and steady.
4. The beat can be fast or slow, but in music it is steady throughout the song.
4. Rhythm Sticks
1. Today we are going to use rhythm sticks. Some rules for our rhythm sticks:
1. When I put my rhythm sticks in one hand and hold them above my head, you must also do this.
2. This will be a sign that it is time to be quiet and listen to directions.
3. If you do not follow directions, put your rhythm sticks in the air and listen for further instructions, I will have to take your rhythm sticks away. :(  I don't want to take anyone's rhythm sticks away today!
2. Find four ways to play your rhythm sticks while I pass then out.  Share.
3. Sing Toembai, keeping beat with rhythm sticks (floor, cross).  SLOWER THAN TEMPO.
4. Depending on how they do, change the dynamics, see how quietly we can keep the beat.
5. Try a 2 more differ ways of keeping the beat. Floor, tap neighbors.
6. Change tempos.  Slow, Medium, Fast
7. Everyone find a partner. Practice tap, cross with your partner.
8. Sing Toembai with kids in partners.
9. Give students 2 minutes to come up with their own pattern to keep the beat (think about all the sounds you discovered you can make with your rhythm sticks).  Make your pattern 2 or 4 beats long.  Sing Toembai with your partner to see if your pattern fits the beat of the song.
10. Sing Toembai, having the students performing their own rhythms with their partner.
11. Have students share a pattern they created of 2 or 4 beats.  Have a row of students and their partners do their pattern while the rest of the class sings.
12. Ask the students if they are ready for a challenge! I will sing a new song, and you will find the beat.  Listen closely, and when you are ready, you may keep the beat with your rhythm sticks.
1. Sing "Ah Poor Bird" - slow
2. Sing the new melody on "loo" - fast.
13. Collect half the rhythm sticks while talking about the next step (reminding students about the steps).
5. Dancing Toembai.
1. When we do our dance with Toembai, what should be we stepping to?  (To the beat)
2. Have half the students do the dance without you leading, while the other half do a pattern on their rhythm sticks.
3. Do it in a round - dance starts, then sticks start.
4. Divide class in 4 sections.  2 part round, half doing the dance, half doing the sticks in each group. SWITCH.
6. Perform/Assess Performance
1. Teacher observation. (Particularly applies to singing Toembai with more accuracy, can really tell if they have it when they do it in a round by themselves.)
2. Move the beat during dance for Toembai.
3. Keep the beat with rhythm sticks.
4. Finding the beat on new songs they haven't heard before.

Reflection:

Overall, I felt that this lesson went very well.  I received an email, per my request, from Ms. Grgich detailing some classroom management tips for me to try.  I implemented some of her tips, including positive praise of students following instructions, just waiting for students to give me their attention instead of talking over them with instructions to be quiet, and setting expectations at the beginning of class.  This last tip was particularly helpful as I thought about how to manage rhythm sticks.  Due to Ms. Grgich's counsel, I planned to give my instructions before handing them out.  This worked very well throughout the lesson, because I gave the students detailed instructions about what they were to do with their rhythm sticks when I was giving instructions.  I am learning more each week about managing a classroom and this week was the most successful so far.  There were moments when I caught myself doing something that would lead to chaos and stopped, and other moments were I realized by mistake too late and it took a minuet to regain the attention of the students because of my mistake.  However, just the fact that I have become more aware of how to manage the class is very exciting to me!

As far as content goes, the students quickly learned what the beat is and I observed improvement throughout the class.  Most students were able to keep the beat with their rhythm sticks by the end, and most were walking to beat during the dance for Toembai.  Their singing of Toembai certainly improved.  They were must more confident at the end of this lesson than they were at the end of the first Toembai lesson, and were singing the rhythms and notes with much greater accuracy.  This was due to the many repetitions we did over such a short period of time.

One thing that I could have improved on was being even more familiar with my lesson plan.  While I was familiar with the big picture and able to carry out the lesson well, I forgot some important details that would have kept the children engaged, even at the end when we had already sung Toembai (what may seem to them to be) 100 times.  The small detail I forgot to include in my implementation of the lesson was changing dynamics and the tempo of the piece.  This would have made the repetitions more interesting for the students, particularly toward the end of the lesson.  I think that familiarizing myself even more with the small details of my lesson would have helped.  Dr. May observed me today and using dynamics and tempo as a way of varying repetitions was a suggestion she made that I could use to improve.  I thought it was interesting that she spoke of them as tools to always have in your back pocket, ready to go at any time.  So perhaps, rather than putting variations of dynamics and tempo in my lesson plan, I could add it to my toolbox and be prepared to use those tools for varying repetitions of the same piece or pattern at any time.  Both would have allowed me to keep the students more engaged toward the end of the lesson.  However, thinking of it as a tool to have prepared would likely be more helpful in future lessons.

Lesson 2: Toembai

Lesson Plan:

Grade: 3

Musical Concept:  Round, ostinato

3rd Grade Concept: connection with setting in Where the Wild Things Are (soon to come)

Time: 45 minutes

Element: Harmony, Rhythm

Materials:  None

National Music Standard:

1. Performing - Analyze: Analyze the structure and context of  varied musical works and their implications for performance.
2. Creating - Imagine: Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.

Specific National Standards:

1. Pr4.2.3a - Demonstrate understanding of the structure in music selected for performance.
2. Cr1.1.3b - Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms and melodies) within a given tonality and/or meter.

Objectives:

1. Students will understand that they can create harmony by singing a melody at different times (in a round).
2. Students will create their own rhythmic ostinatos for Toembai.
3. Students will be able to sing Toembai with accurate pitch and rhythms.

Procedure:

1. Gain Attention
1. Have students all stand in rows on the rug and do the 7 Habits of Highly effective singers.
2. Warm up the body. (Movement)
3. Warm up the breath. (What happens when you put more air into a balloon? It gets bigger!  Pretend your tummy is a balloon!)
4. Vocal play.  Can you sing what I sing and follow my finger?
5. Sing one pitch on a neutral syllable.  (Pitch matching on "loo")
6. Sing two pitches. (Pitch matching)
7. Sing a short phrase. (Hey, Hello)
1. Ask if anyone knows what song that phrase is from.
8. Adding words.  Jump into the song standing still 2x in a row.
2. Stimulate recall of prior learning
1. Do Hey, Hello standing still in a round 2x in a row.
2. Do Hey, Hello again, moving the round this time.
3. Do the piece as a 3 part round, standing still.
4. 3 part round moving around the room.
3. Inform learners of objectives:
1. Today we are going to learn about harmony and learn a new song that uses harmony.
4. Present the content/Guided Learning/Practice
1. Discussion about harmony:
1. Do any of you know what a melody is?
2. A melody is when we're all singing together, like in Hey, Hello.
3. What would harmony be then?
4. Harmony is when we have 2 melodies going on at the same time, like when we sing the melody of Hey, Hello in a round.  A round is a specific type of harmony.
5. Let's learn another song that has harmony in it.  Let's start by learning the melody.
2. Teach Toembai:
1. Stay in our lines on the rug.
2. Jump in by teaching the dance while singing.  Tell the kids to watch really close and learn the dance.  Do it two times in a row, with pausing between.
3. Do the dance first with your back to them, then facing them. X2.  Break down turns if needed.
4. Break down song.  Invite students to listen and repeat what you sing.
5. Now let's try it in a circle!!  Hold hands
6. Then let's try it in a round with two separate circles. 2x in a row, no pausing between.
7. Now let's try it as a 3 part round!!  2x in a row, no pausing between.
3. Do body percussion for Toembai:
1. Come back to the rug in lines.
2. Do BP #1 while singing.
3. Have half the students keep the beat while half do the BP #1. Switch groups.
4. Try BP #2, then do half keeping the beat and half doing the BP.
5. Ask the students to spend 1 minutes with their neighbor and come up with their own BP pattern.
6. Do two different BP patterns the students come up with.
7. Then do another one you made up.  BP #3.
4. Separate the class:
1. Have half the class do Toembai with a dance, while the other half does BP rhythm and keeping the beat.
2. Maybe try doing it as a round.
3. Switch which groups are doing what.
5. Provide Feedback
1. Do this throughout the lesson.
6. Perform/Assess Performance/Enhance Retention
1. Recap:  Ask the students what harmony is.
2. Ask the students what melody is.

Reflection:  I was very nervous about this lesson because Jambo during my previous lesson did not go very well.  However, I was pleased that this lesson went much more smoothly.  There were instances when I noticed things that I could do better, and also instances where I recognized that the students are not where I originally expected they would be musically, creating a need for me to re-think the integrated curriculum planned for them.

Improving my modeling:

During the vocal warm up, I noticed that most of the students were expanding their bellies, rather than lifting their shoulders to take in more air, but a few were struggling with this concept.  I then noticed that I was hunching over a little bit when exhaling, then standing straight again when expanding my stomach.  My poor modeling caused a few of the children to lift their shoulders when inhaling, because they thought that was what I was doing.  I corrected myself, then addressed the class, stating that we only want our bellies to move, not our shoulders.  After this, the students demonstrated great diaphragmatic breathing.

Skill level of the students:

Much of this lesson went very well.  The students remembered Hey, Hello, and were able to sing it in a three-part round successfully.  This is very impressive for the first quarter of 3rd grade, as rounds are typically not something mastered until the end of 3rd grade.  One thing I noticed for the first time is that the students had trouble walking to the beat and half note while singing the piece.  This is surprising, as keeping a beat is something typically mastered during kindergarten and 1st grade.  I also noticed that they students were using very heavy chest voices in their singing rather than their head voice.

During Toembai I was interested to see that the students had some trouble with the 2nd and 3rd lines, which containing 16th notes.  They did not quite grasp the pitches on those fast moving patterns, and so struggled with singing the melody.  I broke down the phrases for them and they did a little better, but when putting it all back together they were not able to sing it as clearly, like they couldn't remember or didn't know which pattern came next.  I had not anticipated that this would be troublesome for them, and I thought the would get it with more repetition during the lesson, so I continued on.  When I asked them to keep the beat using a BP pattern (pat, clap, pat, clap), I was again surprised with how they struggled.  They struggled with keeping the steady beat, either rushing the beat, confusing the pattern, or waiting until they saw someone else pat before they patted.  They also struggled stomping on the beat during the dance I had created for Toembai.  The students were so focused on keeping the beat they were not able to also focus on singing the rhythms and pitches of Toembai accurately.

These incidences of the students struggling to keep the beat (walking in "Hey, Hello," stomping in Toembai, and basic body percussion in Toembai) have caused me to rethink what content to focus on during my lessons.  I hope to spend an entire lesson on beat, so that they have more experience and exposure to accurately finding and keeping the beat of the music.  This is an important skills for them to have so that they can be successful in the integrated project we have planned, as well as meeting the national standards in music education.

I also want to focus more on singing accurately in their head voice.  I can do this simply by drawing their attention to how they use their head voice during the vocal play warm up and applying that to the songs we sing.  As for their struggling with the 16th note rhythms in Toembai, I think that they will be able to get it with more exposure and practice.  During our next lesson, I will slow it down for them, and focus just on the melody rather than asking them to do other things that may distract them from their singing.

What went well?

Despite these challenges, I felt that the lesson went very well over all.  The students were able to hold their own part in a three-part round of "Hey, Hello" and a two-part round of Toembai.  They understood the concept of harmony versus melody, based on my assessment of asking them questions and asking them to give thumbs up or thumbs down if they understood or not.  They really enjoyed working with partners to create their own rhythmic patterns.  Although some had trouble keeping the beat while they were singing, and consenting to what the beat was as a whole class, they were happy to use their creativity to compose something of their own and share it with the class.  One partnership even decided they wanted to do different rhythms, with one doing a pattern in three and the other in two. This reminded me of an important guideline I could have given - for the students to make their pattern in 2 or 4.  However, if I had done that, I may never have known how capable these two young boys were in keeping the pulse and maintaining independent rhythmic patterns.

Another aspect of this lesson that went well was my own managing of the class.  I have become more familiar with the techniques Ms. Grgich uses to maintain order and was able to implement some of those in my lesson (including counting down from 5 to 1 when they needed to return to their spots on the rug, and positive re-enforcement when a student is following directions).  Ms. Grgich still helped me on several occasions when I was struggling to get the students to listen rather than talk excitedly (because music is so fun!!), for which I was very grateful. Overall I felt that my management of the class went better than the first lesson I taught.

Lesson 1: Getting Acquainted

Lesson Plan:

Grade: 3

Concept:  Rhythm

Time: 30 minutes

Element:  Beat

Materials: A happy smile, a willing singing voice, your lap for patting, and your hands for clapping!

National Music Standard: Perform-Rehearse, Evaluate, and Refine

Specific National Standards: MU:Pr5.1.3a - Rehearse to refine technical accuracy, expressive qualities, and identified performance challenges.

Objectives: Students will be able to perform the body percussion in the piece Jambo with accuracy.

Procedure:

1. Gain Attention
1. Have students all stand in a circle and do the 7 Habits of Highly effective singers.
2. Warm up the body. (Movement)
3. Warm up the breath. (What happens when you put more air into a balloon? It gets bigger!  Pretend your tummy is a balloon!)
4. Vocal play.  Can you sing what I sing and follow my finger?
5. Sing one pitch on a neutral syllable.  (Pitch matching on "loo")
6. Sing two pitches. (Pitch matching)
7. Sing a short phrase. (Jambo)
8. Save adding words (the 7th habit) for #3 below.
2. Inform learners of objectives
1. Today we're going to learn a song that will help me learn your names!  Then will start learning a welcome song.
3. Present the content
1. Sing Jambo, inviting the students to keep the beat.
4. Guided learning
1. This time listen for some interesting words you hear.
2. Have the students say the words they hear.
3. Repeat the words of the song phrase by phrase, then sing one more time.
4. Explain that now we are going to make the clapping a little harder.  Demonstrate, saying "pat pat, left left, pat pat, right right, pat, left, pat, right, pat clap snap."
5. Practice
1. Repeat the hand clapping and chanting 3 or 4 times until the students feel comfortable.
2. Ask the students if they can keep clapping while you sing.
3. Sing Jambo and do the clapping do it a couple of times.
4. Explain that 4 people will say their name in time with the beat, and then the whole group will repeat all four names.   Ask the 3 students names who are sitting next to you.
5. Sing Jambo again, keeping the beat, and then demonstrate saying the names in beat.
6. Ask  the students if they feel comfortable we can do the body percussion and say 4 names around the circle.  Tell the students to just focus on the clapping and saying their names, inviting them to sing if they feel comfortable.
7. Do it!! Go all the way around the circle, don't stop between repetitions.
6. Provide Feedback
1. Comment on the students performance.  Such as "I love how so and so stayed with the beat when saying their name."  "I liked how you keep going even when you made a mistake and were able to get back on the beat.
7. Enhance retention and transfer to new learning.  PROCEED AS TIME ALLOWS.
1. Now we are going to practice a new song.  Listen and count on your fingers how many different languages you hear in this song.
2. Perform "Hey, Hello."  Ask students how many languages they heard (4).
3. Ask the student to do the motions they see you do.  Repeat "hey, hello" again.
4. This time, invite the students to hum or sing if they feel comfortable.  Repeat the song 2x without stopping.
5. If the students are comfortable, add the loco motor movement.  Demonstrate first, then do the song 2x without stopping.
6. Invite students to come back to their circle, then ask them if they have ever sung in a round before.
7. Explain that a round it when 2 groups sing the same song, but start at different times.  So I will start the first group, and then you will keep going while I sing with the 2nd group.  Ms. Grgich will stay with the 1st group.
8. Divide the class in two, and then sing Hey, Hello as a round (2x through without stopping).
9. If the two part round goes well, add the locomotor movement (2x without stopping).
10. If that goes well, audiate the piece.  Explain that this means that we will do the locomotor movement, but not make any sound.
11. Continue next lesson if time does not permit finishing.

Reflection:

This first lesson was a bit of a struggle for me, and I think the beginning was hard for the kids, too.  I am learning about the students' skill level, what engages them, and how they respond to challenges.  I learned a lot from teaching this lesson because it did not go as smoothly as I would have liked.  I will start by listing a few overall observation, then continue by describing my lesson more specifically.

Overall observations, a few things I noticed and would like to address/improve on next time:

• Some students were singing/making noise when I said to "listen."  We could talk about what listening looks and sounds like.
• Students were moving/making noise when I asked them to "watch."  Talk about what watching looks and sounds like.
• Waiting your turn to speak.
• The circle was too small, there isn't room for a big enough circle to enable movement.  This made it difficult  for students to see me and for me to watch them.  It caused some chaos as the students moved so that they could see me.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Singers went very well.  I forgot to warm up the breath, but the pitch matching was good, although the students needed to listen to the pitch more than one time.  They listened well when there was just one pitch or a short phrase, and then repeated it back with pretty good accuracy.

Jambo was not my best teaching.  I think I rushed through it a little two fast because I am used to teaching adults in my music education courses.  The students did well with keeping the beat, although they did rush the tempo a little bit the longer they went.  I think that is common with children through.  Teaching the melody of Jambo went well until we got to making the clapping more complicated.  I forgot to start with simplified pattern of "pat pat, left left, pat pat, right right," and instead jumped right into "pat pat, left left, pat pat, right right, pat, left, pat, right, pat clap snap."  I realized this, but decided to keep practicing, chanting the pattern while performing the body percussion.  However, no matter how many times we repeated it, and although the students were chanting the pattern with me, it did not seem to get any better.  Part of the students struggling came from sitting in a circle.  "Left" and "right" were complicated by the fact that the students were supposed to be moving in what appeared to be the opposite way from their classmates across the circle.  I had them all raise their left hand into the air, and even turned around to show the students on the other side of the circle.  But for some students, the still really struggled with their left and right.   Most students were competent at patting each way twice, but when the pattern switched to one time each way, they got confused.

After trying consistent practice, I saw that the pattern was not getting any better.  I simplified the body percussion and instead had the students only do the first part of the pattern (pat pat, left left, pat pat, right right).  However, the problem with knowing left and right continued for about 25% of the students.   The majority of the class was able to accurately perform this new pattern.  So I soldiered on, we hoping that the students would follow their neighbor and catch on.

I sang while they did the body percussion, then I explained how to add our names.  I thought my explanation was clear, and I demonstrated with the 3 students next to me, but after finishing singing Jambo, the students didn't know they were supposed to keep patting their laps to keep the beat, nor did they join in to repeat the names a 2nd time.  The latter problem was probably due to my forgetting to demonstrate that part, although I did address it in the original instructions and again when I admitted by forgetfulness to the students.  Sometimes the students didn't realize it was their turn, and in conjunction with the students not understanding that they were supposed to continue keeping the beat after the singing ended, there was often a pause.  I tried to continue by patting my lap and pointing to the children whose turn it was to say their name.  However, the students took a moment to realize it was their turn.  Sometimes it was very difficult for me to lead the group in repeating their names because the students didn't say their names loud enough for me to hear.

Amidst all these difficulties, however, there were students who performed the body percussion pattern well, said their names in tempo, and most students were singing along with some, if not all, of the song by the end.  I considered doing the whole thing again, going all the way around the circle one more time, but I think some of the kids were feeling frustrated

When I looked at the clock to see how much time there was left to do "Hey, Hello" (I was anticipating about 5 minutes), I saw that the 7 Habits and Jambo had only taken 15 minutes. I was shocked, and worried about what to do next.  What if the students were not able to do the round for "Hey, Hello" and I had two failed activities in one day?  If we started learning the piece and I felt that they wouldn't be able to do it, should I end my lesson early and turn time back over to the classroom teacher?

Despite my worries, "Hey, Hello" was a success!  When I started singing, a few students were singing with me.  I had not anticipated this, so I asked them if they had heard the song before, the responded that they had learned it from Mrs. Jones, their music teacher.  I invited them to sing along if they knew the song.  I was impressed that they were able to tell me how many and which languages were in the piece.  They learned the movements, both stationary and loco motor, with ease and the whole class was singing once we had done it 4 or 5 times.  With 5 minutes left of class, I decided to try doing the piece as a two part round.  The first time the students in the first group were a little confused after I stopped leading them and turned to the 2nd group.  I responded by asking for a student who knew the song really well to lead that half of the class.  After that, the round was very successful and we were even able to do it with the loco motor movement.  Another reason "Hey, Hello" was very successful was due to the students being more engaged, less confused, and were not becoming frustrated.  I hope to follow up with this success by doing it in three parts next week, and perhaps audiating the piece the week after that.

My Music Education Story

In this post, I hope to give you an idea of my background in music education, from my early years to my current status as a Music Education Major at Brigham Young University, emphasizing as an Elementary Music Specialist.

The Early Years:

Last Christmas, I was watching some home videos of our family opening Christmas present from years ago, when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old.  In the video, I noticed that I got a toy tambourine for Christmas, my little brother got a toy saxophone, and one of my older brothers got a Beach Boys CD.  A few minutes later, the video cut to a family recital we had where my three older siblings played Christmas songs they had practiced on the piano while everyone sang along.

From a young age, I was constantly surrounded by music.  Many activities were part of my early music education including weekly primary music time, my mother and siblings participating in community choirs, musical toys, older siblings' piano lessons, Christmas recitals and caroling traditions, music class once a week at school, and my dad turning on Classical Rock Radio on Saturdays.  My first formal training involving music was dance lessons starting at age 5, and then beginning piano lessons at age 8.  I loved music class and I remember loving my piano lessons (most of the time).  During my last year of elementary school, the 5th graders could participate in beginning band and chorus, and I choose to do both.  My mom encouraged me by putting me in private flute lessons, which helped me be more confident and allowed me to help the other young flutists who were struggling.

After entering middle school, I had the opportunity to accompany the choir when my mother got a job as the school's choir teacher.  The previous teacher had used CD's to accompany the choir, but my mom practiced with me at home, and helped me learn the pieces so I could accompany the middle school choir.  The school band needed an additional trombonist, so I volunteered to learn trombone, which was successful.  The next year, a trumpet was needed, so I learned trumpet too.  About this same time,  I began accompanying the choir and soloists at church.

The High School Years:

In my last year of middle school, the mother of a younger student at the school approached me after a choir concert to ask if I would teach her daughter piano lessons.  I agreed, and to my delight, I absolutely loved it.  I continued teaching throughout high school and had 14 students my senior year.

I participated in concert and marching band my first two years of high school, playing flute, mellophone, and trombone.  I auditioned to be the accompanist for the choirs at my high school and was admitted into the class to be the rehearsal as well performance pianist.  I even lead sectionals during the in-class rehearsals.  I learned so much from accompanying the choirs and learning from wonderful choir instructors.

Meanwhile, I continued taking my own private piano lessons.  I participated in both local and state competitions.  My senior year, I won 2  scholarships based on my performance for local music associations.  I participated in these competitions in preparation for applying to the BYU School of Music.

BYU

After applying to the School of Music, I was shocked to learn that I wasn't admitted.  I was devastated, mostly because I felt like I knew I would be a good music teacher based on my experiences teaching piano lessons, leading sectionals school, and learning  and arranging pieces for my friends and I to perform at church.  After applying a second time, I was admitted into the Music Education program and my formal education could begin!

My music education at BYU has consisted of theory, sight-singing, and dictation courses, piano lessons, choir, and specified courses for Elementary Music Education.  In these latter courses, I have received an education about children's musical and cognitive development, and several teaching/learning theories such as Kodaly, Orff, and Dalcroze.  I have learned how to create lessons based on the concepts we wish students to learn and the skills they can use to learn them.  I have had opportunities to go to elementary schools and observe music teachers, and I have even been able to teach a few 10-15 minutes lessons. 

Of all the music education I have received throughout my life, I believe that my formal education courses at BYU will certainly be the most helpful to me throughout this Arts Bridge experience.  Although I had a lot of music education as a child, I wasn't always aware of it and was definitely not aware of how my teacher was guiding my learning.  In my classes, I have learned techniques and processes to follow that create an engaging learning environment for the students.  I am still learning about how to best implement these processes and facilitate learning as a teacher, but having previous experience doing so under the guidance of my own teacher is invaluable.  Although learning how to manage a classroom is hard to do without experience, having learned how to format my lessons to be engaging and objective-driven before coming into the Arts Bridge experience I think will be very helpful.