are my favourite parts of music education. My students continue to astound me with their creativity and willingness to take musical leaps of faith. Their favourite listening games are “Clap/Double clap,” “Shoe Songs,” and “Pass the Paper in Silence.” Gr. 2-6s have also composed their own music using some “Western European Notation” – making sure we discuss that this is one way, and not the only or best way, to write down our music creations.FullSizeRender

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2dQPwVNHU0YM7qDnsozJ1w

Check it out! After our “Internet Famous” concert, JLPS Gr. 4-8s used a cool program called Soundtrap to each create music that they thought would go viral. Next students voted in anonymous class competitions. There were so many great pieces! The 9 winning pieces (two ties) are up on my brand new YouTube channel and the one that gets the most likes+views=the winner. It’s fun to hear and feel the excitement spread throughout our school community. We’re listening to each other.

Honestly, these kids deserve to be famous! This fall we made a long list of songs that have gone viral and each class chose two songs to learn. Students helped me figure out the melodies and accompaniment parts and chose their instruments. We arranged and re-arranged our pieces…and rehearsed! I don’t think I’ve ever had so many instruments playing in one class ensemble: drums, bass ukulele, ukuleles, guitars, keyboards, bass xylophones, metallophones, xylophones, glockenspiels, vocals, violins, violas, and cello! Our 7-class grande finale was with the 15-year-old singer/songwriter, BoluSings, all performing her famous piece, “Just Breathe.” Ahhhhh

I feel lucky when I’m asked to present about my passion for creative and student-centred music education. Working with Doug Friesen is always the best.

JLPS’s first full onstage concert…ever! I can’t even. During this fall’s music classes my primary students and I made magic happen. We walked to our local Toronto Music Gardens and learned about the music of J.S. Bach. Then each of the 7 classes chose a different Bach melody and took it on a rollercoaster ride. We remixed it. We added body percussion, lyrics to notes, mallet/ukulele/percussion parts, and arranged our new pieces. Students chose their performance instruments. Then we rehearsed, discussed, and rehearsed some more. Students’ voices made all of our musical and concert decisions. We set performance goals and, dear audience, we met them! What a show! When we reflected together on our concert each class told me that they can’t wait to perform again – they’re begging for a concert this spring! They loved being celebrated. Thank you JLPS community!

Introducing…JLPS School Singers! Our Gr. 2-5 choir is such a fun ensemble! They were excited to be “hired” to sing at our Dec. assembly and even did a spur of the moment 2nd tune. Something I noticed about them and our School Band…no sheet music. We take the music stands off the keyboards. We make up our own songs and arrangements so it’s all in our magical music minds!

My oldest students often pair up with JLPS’s youngest students for reading buddies and this year I added the idea of Strumming Buddies. The big and littles sing and strum together and it’s all kinds of magic.

Joy Lapps-Lewis returned to JLPS this year to help us set up our very own panyard. At our November assembly she performed for the entire school community, then she met with a Gr. 8 set-up crew and helped us prepare our pans, and in the afternoon she led workshops for the Gr. 7 and 8 students. We learned that in a panyard there is a role for everyone and that it is important to bring your whole self to the space. I will be sure to pass on what I learned to other JLPS students!

I was happily honoured to present a “Fiddling For All” workshop at this year’s Ontario Music Educator’s Association Conference. I also got to catch up with/make new music teacher friends, learn from other presenters, and even tried DJing!

BoluSings is a 15-year-old singer/songwriter from just outside toronto and we at JLPS think she’s wonderful (just like her manager/mother, Sibu). At our first assembly of 2022/23 she played with us as we sang our JLPS School Song (School Band members taught it to her moments before showtime) and then we all sang with her as she performed her song, “Just Breathe.” Gr. 4-8s will continue to work with Bolu in the New Year as we prepare for our February concert.