Why am I doing this? A note to music teachers…

On my week off, I’m feeling compelled to elaborate a little more about the purpose of my project, as well as what my project is not.  

If I were to be completely honest, the beginning of this project started because I miss teaching immensely. I will never forget the music educators  I had, from my first piano teacher teaching me middle C, to my college percussion professors, helping me get that perfect cymbal crash or using recording software to break down my playing, stroke by stroke. There were so many light bulbs they turned on for me, and I really want to give that to others! The teaching videos have been a way for me to hopefully turn on some light bulbs for people out there while I take time off to be at home with my toddler. 

When I was in the planning stages, I figured my videos would be a great resource for homeschool students or kids who don’t have a music program at their school. I hope to gain more traction with those populations over time, but as I have continued making videos I realized I really need to be supporting music teachers out there. 

This brings me to my next point, what this project is not…

Miss Mari’s Music is not intended as a replacement for school music programs. I will never, EVER replace a live music teacher. A quality, live music teacher offers so much I am unable to do through videos. Recorder lesson 1 is a few seconds shy of fourteen minutes, but in a class of thirty students, I guarantee it would take the entire fifty minute class period. When I’m teaching through a video, I am moving through the steps with the assumption that the end user is following all the steps correctly. The reality is that, we all have slightly different learning styles, absorbing verbal and nonverbal instructions differently from one another. A student with a similar learning style as me may get what I’m saying right away, while someone else will interpret my instructions in a different way. For example, if I say “left hand on top,” I would hope students interpret that to mean their left hand is at the top of the middle section of the recorder, but technically the “top” of the recorder is the head joint, so a student may put their left hand over the head joint. It happens! This is one example among hundreds of other examples I could give during a single lesson.

Here’s another example, but with a student that completely understands the teacher’s instructions as the teacher intended. The reality is that most people aren’t thinking about controlling parts of their bodies like their fingers, down to the angle of the pads of their fingers! This means that, even if a student DOES understand the directions I’m telling them to do, they may still not produce the desired sound because, while they think they are successfully doing something, such as completely covering the holes, they can be unsuccessful without realizing it because, when was the last time they have had to have control of the pads of their fingers? They think they are “doing everything the teacher’s telling me to,” but they still get that dreaded squeak because they’re still learning how to control parts of their bodies they haven’t had to think about before. Metacognition, anyone?

SO, back to what this project is for. Teachers, I want to help you. You have your pedagogical styles that work for you, and I’m not here to change that. I’m here to offer supplemental home materials that can be used to reinforce concepts covered in class. When I was in the classroom, I made a TON of videos like this that were much lower quality, and do you know what? Even without the fancy lighting and microphone, the students were watching them because they needed guided practice at home! Instead of taking more time out of your day to make videos, why not just use these free ones I have for you?

Another thing- sub plans – _ -. I would go in cycles of trying to make these elaborate sub plans with instructions on how to play certain singing games, instruments, etc., only to find out later that these instructions were very confusing for a sub, especially the 95% of them with no music background. Even for the subs with music backgrounds, unless they have a background in elementary music, the instructions for activities take some getting used to since the activities are so hands-on. When these sub plans didn’t work out, I would resort to movies under the veil of “educational” by making Disney musicals like Mary Poppins about the characteristics of a musical vs. an opera. The educational element was technically there, but I think we can all agree it is a bit of a stretch, especially when this is what the 2nd graders watched every time I had a sub! None of my video lessons are more than twenty minutes, so if you’re like me with a 50 minute block, I understand that leaves a lot of time, but what if your students could get 20 minutes of solid, productive educational instruction? Maybe the SUB could be learning along with the students in the video, so when the video is over the students could keep practicing and the sub could actually HELP them? Did I mention all of my sheet music visuals are available for free download on Teachers Pay Teachers? Just saying!

So yes, I’m still trying to make Miss Mari’s Music a resource for students who would otherwise not have access to music lessons (homeschool, schools without music programs), but I also want to be clear that I want to help all of you teachers too! I would be just as happy to offer a little bit of relief to teachers with students eager to learn! 🙂 If you are a music teacher and you do end up using the videos, I would love any feedback you could provide. 

Music teachers- I am sending all the warm wishes and positive juju I can! Don’t forget to go to bed early, store some fruits and veggies in your room to snack on in between all the treats the students are bringing you, and PLEASE drink lots of water! Bring a gallon a day if you need to. If you’re getting overwhelmed (as I constantly was), stop and remind yourself of all your students have accomplished so far! You got this!