AMAZING feeling to be leading Strings at a camp again (I miss Music by the Lake!) and especially with all three of my own kids as campers. I hope to bring some of my JLPS students with me next summer!

A tried and true June lesson plan. I love the build of excitement as they get 2 away, 1 away, BINGO! “I have 2 more 1 mores!”

We love using centres in Music class. I always change the activities but pictured above are a student-led jam in the back of the room (circle of ukuleles/guitars), music books on the carpet, music apps on iPads, and a centre with me exploring new instruments (cello, electric guitar, and drum machine). I have them point to the next station before they move. Centres are also great for assessment and getting to listen to a smaller groups of kids!

My Grade 2s and I wrote accompaniment chords and melody notes to our favourite words in this amazing story book. Amanda Gorman writes of hope and the need for change…it sings itself. I love how my students chose both minor and major chords.

Forest fire smoke?! I plan concerts very carefully but didn’t see this coming. We had very little time to pivot our set up from outside to the upper gym, but Ms Goggin, the kids, and I pulled it off! Gr 6/7 showed off our original Korean Drumming group composition, Gr 2s warmed our hearts with songs, 12 solo performers wowed us with their skills, and the School Band and School Singers? Well, there’s “Nobody Like You.”

Air time before the downbeat! I feel very grateful for our borrowed TDSB Community Korean Drumming Kit and instructor Charles Hong. We all jammed and composed with the janggos, sogos, and buks. Kamsahamnida!

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.