Teaching Music in a Pandemic part 3

 Hey There!

So here is the final installment of my face-to-face music lessons during this pandemic. If you haven’t read the previous 2 blog posts, please go back and check them out. They will explain the first 6 sections of the lesson. Now I will talk about the last 3 parts: the Instrument of the Week, the Musician in the Spotlight and the Bonus Video.

The Last 3 parts

For the Instrument of the Week, we cover a new one each week. Prior, I mapped out all the instruments that I wanted to cover. Then I searched for 2 videos of people performing on each instrument. I tried to find a variety of music but the kids definitely respond to current songs that they recognize. For example, I showed my students this YouTube video for the flute . This young woman has a beautiful tone and the kids really like to hear the song.

The Musician in the Spotlight is near and dear to my heart. Kids are so interested in learning about musicians and their music. We use my products and I insert the pics into my presentation. The kids see the faces of the artists, read about some important facts, identify the genre or style of the music and listen to a song. We study the same musician for a month – revisiting the facts and listening to different songs.

Finally, we watch a BONUS video!

This can be a great management tool to motivate the kids to settle down and get through the lesson so there is time for this highly anticipated video. Sometimes it’s a video by the quirky group called Walk Off the Earth. Mixing a classical piece with a pop song is a specialty of The Piano Guys. The Melodica Men and Line Rider are always hits as well. This ends the music lesson on a happy note.

I hope you found this series of blog posts helpful. Even adding a few of these ideas into your lesson can relieve the stress of planning/teaching during these difficult times. If you have any questions, please reach out to me. We’re all in this together.

 

Hang in there! Ellen