Music in the classroom

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Home : 2001 : July : 9

Music in the classroom
By JES

I have some CDs that are classical music, "Tune Your Brain with Mozart" and "Bach for Book Lovers" are two titles that come to mind. They are supposed to stimulate brain activity. We always listen to classical music before
standardized testing. I rarely play music while students are working because some are distracted by it. Sometimes if we are working on a project that requires some doing but not a lot of serious concentration, I put some music on. I NEVER play music while testing. I also NEVER just turn on the radio because I can't trust what the DJs will say these days.
I went to a workshop to

hear a motivational speaker, Spence Rogers. He was great! Everything he said and did was based on research. He played music as workshop participants came into the room and found seats, etc. The music Spence told us about using in the classroom was NOT classical. He told us about using music to make kids feel good/positive about school -- kind of mood control. Here are some guidelines for choosing music of this kind:
*The music has to be the music kids love and would choose for themselves -- music to evoke good memories/feelings.
*The tempo needs to be greater than our heart rate. (I'm not quite sure how to say this, but it needs to be upbeat!)
*The lyrics must be appropriate for school.
*And finally, Spence says, "The teacher has to be able to tolerate it!

I listen to lyrics on the radio trying to find upbeat songs that may be appropriate for my 4th and 5th graders, and they are not so easy to find. Some CDs I've bought for my classroom are N Sync, Brittany Spears, etc.

I use an N-Sync song "Here We Go" as a cleaning-up song. It's very upbeat and we all scurry around (singing along) trying to be all cleaned up and back in our seats reading before the music stops.

For transitions, I tell students that they have until the music stops to get ready for instruction -- everyone quiet and ready to listen. As the song nears the end, I begin to slowly turn down the volume until I finally turn of the CD planyer. It always works to a certain extent, but sometimes it works like magic!!!!!!

I play "Blue" (DaBaDe - DaBaDi) by Eiffel something or other and "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men. The students love that I have such songs since they know I am a grandma!!!!!!! Actually, my granddaughters help me know whether the lyrics will be appropriate or not because they can actually tell what the vocalists are saying.

I've had great success playing the students' music in my classroom. I still use classical as I described, but sparingly. I also have a several easy listening CDs by Yanni and John Tesh (Pure Movies). I also have those ones with nature sounds -- thunderstorms, songbirds, ocean sounds, and whale songs, etc. I am always looking for new, appropriate titles and groups. If anyone has any ideas for me, I'd be very grateful.