Music in Our Schools Month

Each year during "Music in Our Schools Month", we not only celebrate the music in the school, but ways that music is in our lives outside of school. I usually ask the students to listen for music outside of music class and music lessons and to report back to me. The students typically mention that they hear music in the car, in the mall, in movies, and in commercials. 

Here are the various ways we recognize music in my school:

1. Mystery song-  I put the notes for a well known song on large staff paper and hang it up by the front entrance of the school with a box  and answer sheets nearby. The students enter the guesses for a chance to win a MIOSM button. I love seeing a crowd of students standing around the song in the morning or at the end of the day. Some students actually write down the notes and play the song at home. Since there are so many guesses, I typically announce all of the correct guesses in class and then do a drawing if there are more than three students in a class that guesses correctly.  The students were getting so good at figuring out the songs that I have tried to make the songs more challenging. 

2. Musical Visitors-  Parents, teachers, and relatives of the students who have a musical skill (or interest) to share may visit a class and perform for the students. Many visitors give a short presentation about how music has been part of their life, whether they are an amateur or professional musician. Because there were not as many parent visitors participating over the years, I starting inviting the fifth graders (the oldest students in the school) to visit the younger classes. Many of the students actually voluntarily make PowerPoint presentations about the benefits of music or talk about how they started playing an instrument or singing. Some students have actually reported that they became interested in learning an instrument after a fifth grader came to visit their class. I feel very proud watching my students in a teacher role for a little while. If the student visitor does not have a presentation prepared, I ask them questions and ask them to demonstrate some things for the class.

3. What Music Means to Me- The students fill out a paper describing what music means to them. I often use the current MIOSM logo on the paper. (Ex. "Music makes me_________!")  The kindergarten students may draw pictures of their favorite musical activities or instruments.  Some of the younger students write a sentence or draw pictures. I encourage the older students to express their feelings about music in a few sentences. If they are unsure of what to write, they can list their favorite songs from school or outside of school. I also encourage teachers to write about music or use a music related quote.The papers are then hung all over the building.    

When I was in graduate school, we discussed ways to encourage our students to see a connection between music in school and outside of school. The students should not think that "school music" is not real music. I hope that by having student role models visit the younger classes and looking at the words and pictures their peers and teachers wrote about music, they will see that music is something meaningful in everyone's lives and find ways to enjoy music on their own.