Developing a Strong Culture of Music at your School
Sometimes creating a musical culture at a school where there is none can seem like a daunting task. Ideally we all want to work in a place where the students, teachers, administrators, and families view the music program as an important and vital part of the school. How we get to that point, is less clear. When I started at my first job teaching elementary school music in Tucson, Arizona, the blankness of the slate for music at my school was matched only by the blankness of the stares from my students when I tried to get them to engage in some music making. It was clear we had a lot of work to do. In addition, the expectations on what the music program should be and what it could be were extremely low. However, by the time I gave my tearful goodbye at that same school 5 years later, the culture of music had transformed completely. The musical culture at my school had grown to reach an ideal standard of what a music program should be. With this article, I try to highlight some of the things (above and beyond good instruction and consistency in teaching) that I did that helped turn our school into a great place for music.
Keep it Relevant
From popular music to music representative of the cultures in your school, find ways to integrate music that is relevant to your students into your lessons and performances. Poll the class for song ideas or send home surveys that help you find out about the cultural backgrounds and musical interests of your students and their families. Many times, you will find there is not a readily available version of a song that suits your students. In that case, don’t be afraid to put your arranger hat on! Relevant music choices helped keep the students engaged and were a huge hit with parents and families at performances.
Make your students visible
As much as you can, find ways to get your students out in front of their peers, their families, and their community to share their music. It doesn’t just have to be traditional concerts either. Your instrumental students can visit the primary classrooms and demo their instruments. The kindergartners can sing some songs from class for the Volunteer Luncheon. Instead of a big recorder concert, I opted for an intimate Recorder Pot-Luck Breakfast in the music room. In addition I always invited teachers and administrators into our classroom and to be apart of our performances. Nothing builds community like a 6th grade teacher ‘soloing’ on triangle with the orchestra or your Associate Superintendent performing a speaking part in the 3rd grade musical.
One of my all time favorite groups to trot out in front of our community was our after-school 6th grade jazz band. We played at district events, concerts with the high school jazz band, our own concerts, and most enjoyably, we served as the ‘house band’ for our school’s monthly assemblies.
Make yourself visible!
In addition to having your students musical skills be visible, YOU should be visible as well. My first year I spent a lot of time sitting in the courtyard before school practicing various band instruments. Students and parents would come up to me and listen, ask questions, and on occasion bring their instruments to play (Parents too!). I was always out and about at school usually with my trusty ukulele in my hand. It’s one thing to be at the gate saying goodbye to students as they head home, it is a whole other thing to being playing a ukulele and singing while you do it. During lunchtime and recess I would be out on the playground talking with students, asking them questions, and pretending that I don’t know what a “pok-ee-maan” is (and that they would need to explain it to me once again. Within short order every student and parent at our school knew who I was; no longer just ‘the music teacher,’ I was Mr. Houchin.
Share Your Musical Self
Perform for your students. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in being the teacher that we don’t let our musician-side show. Perform something that really gets you excited about music for your classes. The students can sense the authenticity and will feed off your excitement. If you are still performing regularly, it is a great way to share what you are working on. If you’re not performing much anymore, what better reason to get back on the horse than for your students!? Make it a bi-weekly or monthly thing. Be a musical model for your students!
One of the ways I share my musical self was when I started singing a song every Friday over the morning announcements. I would rewrite a popular song each week to be about Friday and the weekend and then sing it live. Eventually upgraded and started recording these songs as YouTube videos. By uploading one every week, I was able to share my musical (and goofy) side with my students, their families, and my colleagues in and out of the school. In a way, these songs and videos served as a model how I wanted our school’s musical culture to be; a place where our students are encouraged to be musical and have fun while they do it.
Celebrate your students!
Post pictures of your students in action! Whether it is a picture from a performance, in class, or out and about at school, create a space to show off your students being musical. Kids LOVE to see themselves up on the board and many see it as an honor. Older students will revel in seeing themselves posted on your wall, and younger students will start to see themselves in the future as musicians. This was always a great discussion starter with students in 3rd and 4th grade as they started to think about what instrument they wanted to play in 5th grade.
Announce their accomplishments! Anytime a student does something notable (honor band, district choir soloist, outside performance) make sure they get a shout out on the morning announcements, school newsletter or social media, and your class website. Create a special music award and highlight students at end-of-the-quarter assemblies.
By keeping the music relevant to the students, sharing their abilities and celebrating their accomplishments, as well as putting myself out there and sharing myself as a musician the culture of music at my school saw a dramatic shift; from being an innocuous part of the school day, to being a core part of the identity and culture of our school.