Concert Etiquette and Trivia Slides

 

My district recently hosted a performance of a youth orchestra from the area.  Elementary and middle school students from all the district's schools were in attendance--all the orchestra students plus other students not in orchestra.  I wasn't sure how students would do with the time before the concert started, waiting for students from all the schools to arrive and be seated, and I wasn't sure how much preparation classroom teachers would be doing in the area of concert etiquette, so I had an idea.  I wanted to create a series of slides that could be running on loop before the concert that included a slide welcoming the audience members, concert etiquette, information on the youth orchestra, and orchestra trivia.  For the trivia, I was imagining multiple choice questions, like what you'd see in a movie theater before the movie starts where the wrong answers disappear one by one.

Using Google Slides, I came up with a presentation that matched just what I had in mind.  I used different color backgrounds for each category of slides (trivia/etiquette/youth orchestra info).  In Google Slides, when you go to "Share" and then "Publish to the Web," it gives an option to auto-advance slides every 3 seconds.  That was fine for most of the slides, but others had more text and needed longer before advancing.  To solve that, I just duplicated the slides with extra text (sometimes a couple of times), ensuring they would be visible longer before advancing to the next slide.  There is also a box to check to "Restart the slideshow after the last slide" so it plays on a loop.

Trivia questions included:

• What does Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik translate to in English?
• How many symphonies did Beethoven write?
• What are the names of the two types of bass bows?
• A symphony orchestra is made up of which group(s) of instruments?
• Which string instrument reads alto clef?
• What is the name of the white stick that conductors use to conduct music?

To create more trivia questions, just duplicate the initial slide with the question and type in the new question/choices and add an image.  Then, duplicate that slide and delete one of the wrong answers.  Keep duplicating and deleting a wrong answer until you're left with only the correct answer.  I chose to add some additional information in a text box once the correct answer was revealed as well.

Concert etiquette included tips on being silent while the orchestra is performing, applauding after each piece, and staying in seats during the concert (or leaving between pieces if necessary).

• Concert etiquette and trivia template (Google Slides)

Feel free to make a copy and update to meet your needs!

100 Notes for the 100th Day of School

 

I teach at two elementary schools, and the 100th day of school is a pretty big deal, especially for the younger grades.  I'm always looking for ways to embed orchestra into the school culture, so I've made a tradition of playing 100 notes on my violin for the 100th day of school.  Depending on how much time I can spare that day, I'll pop into as many classrooms as I can to ask if students would like to hear 100 notes on my violin and then play what I've prepared.  I look for a piece with fast notes so it doesn't take long and then count 100 notes and write in a mark to stop there :)

Then, since COVID, I started recording a short video and sharing that with teachers.  That has worked our really well, as I can't be at both schools at the same time, and my schedule doesn't always allow me to visit all the classrooms in the school that I am at that day.  This way, teachers can share my video at a time that works best for them plus more students can get introduced to me and hear some violin music.

Some pieces I've played excerpts from in the past:

• Pachelbel Canon in D (the fast bit in the middle)
• Bach--E Major Preludio, G minor Presto, G Major Cello Suite Prelude
• Bohm Moto Perpetuo
• Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumblebee

My script is basically:

"Happy 100th day of school!  My name is ___ and I teach orchestra at (name of schools).  To help celebrate, I thought I would play 100 notes on my violin for you.  This is (name of piece) by (composer)

[play piece]

And that was 100 notes!  Have a wonderful day!"

The whole thing takes less than a minute.  There's one teacher at my school who likes to have her stopwatch going while I play to tell her students how long it took me to play those 100 notes--they're pretty impressed!  There are always students who I see in the hallway later who tell me they really enjoyed my 100 notes too :)

Stuffing Folders by Semester

During the 2020-21 school year, I had several students who attended virtually instead of in-person.  When thinking about all the sheet music and handouts I give students throughout the year, I had to figure out how to address that with my virtual students.  I couldn't assume families had a printer at home, and I couldn't assume they could stop at the school office to pick up something anytime I had a new piece of music or handout.  And what about in-person students who might be at home quarantining for a week, but still attending school virtually?  I decided to make copies of everything students would be getting from me for the entire semester, paperclip it together, and stuff folders that way.

It worked really well, so I've been doing it that way ever since.  While it is a ton of time up-front, I feel it saves a lot of time during the school year--no need to be in the copy room every week running off the next thing.  No need to keep track of who was absent the week I handed out which piece and make sure they get it the following week.  When someone forgets their folder, no need to give them the new piece and hope they put it in their folder when they get home and then have to give them a second copy the following week when that didn't happen.  If someone is absent, or attending virtually one week, no worries--they already have what they need in their folder!  

I have found that students are less likely to lose random pieces of music or handouts--everything just stays in the folder.  On rare occasions, a student will lose their entire folder.  After a couple weeks, if it still hasn't shown up, I may make a new folder for this student by grabbing the contents of a spare folder.  Then when I have some extra time, I can work on rebuilding the contents of the spare folder, but that's not so urgent.

So, how does this all happen?  I went to previous years' lesson plans and figured out which pieces/handouts students would need in a semester and roughly in which order we would get to them.  While concert pieces change each year, I can slot in a new concert piece in the place of a previous year's.  Before school starts, when I have more time and the copy machine isn't being used by anyone else, I will make copies of everything for the roster that signed up the previous spring plus extras for spare folders and in case of new sign-ups in the fall.  I color code each piece so they can be more easily found in the folder, and I color code compositions and other instrument-specific handouts by instrument (violin-purple, viola-yellow, cello-green, bass-blue).  As I'm making copies, I do each piece or handout in the same order (say, violin, viola, cello, bass), so each stack has the same instrument part on top.  I have a Google Doc with the list of contents and highlight or cross out the ones I've copied to help keep track.

Once everything is copied, it's assembly time!  I arrange the piles on a large counter chronologically through the semester and then start pulling the top piece of paper from each pile to make one student's stack of music.  I'll put a paper clip through everything except the one or two things that we'll use the first day of orchestra so that they don't have to pull anything out of that neat stack the first day and potentially make a mess of their papers already.

I'll stack up the new stacks to make a new pile.  If I've made the right number of copies and haven't accidentally pulled two papers at a time instead of one, all the pieces/handouts will arrive at the next instrument at the same time.  If not, time to double check for a student's pile that ended up with two of something or time to make a quick copy.

Finally the folders are ready to be stuffed!  The folders already have the student name/instrument/grade/teacher labeled across the top, a pencil on a piece of yarn taped inside, a fingering chart, and the concert dates for the year and list of contents also taped inside.

Any beginning 6th graders will also get some extra items in their folder--an open string harmony part to the D Major scale, an Alpha-note version of their D Major scale pieces, a double-sided "Jingle Bells" with both the 5th and 6th grade versions, and 5th grade parts for our String Fest pieces--so that we are ready for whatever they're ready for once we get there later in the year.

Once I have created the first small group schedule of the year, I will re-order the folders so they're in the order that I will see the students on the first day.  That way distributing folders is quick and easy!  Spare folders will go on their shelves for easy access when needed.

G Major Composition

 

In the spring, actually it tends to fall right around spring break, second-year orchestra students write their second composition of year, this time in the key of G Major.

G Major composition with toolbox:

• Word document
• PDF

sight read a number of pieces in the book in G Major and I ask a series of questions for each one: What is the first note of the piece?  (Ah, it's a note from the G Major arpeggio!)  What is the last note of the piece?  (Oh, a G, or Do?  I bet it will sound finished when we get to the end!)  Do you notice any arpeggios in this piece?  In the Orchestra Expressions book, p. 48, we play "El Charro", "El Tren", and "Happy Birthday."  Sometimes we have to play the piece a couple of times before someone spots the G, B, D or D, B, G, but students very quickly catch on that the last note will be G, Do, and can answer my question before I finish asking it by the time we get to "Happy Birthday" :)

On composing day, I'm also listening to students play their G Major scale playing checkup.

Most students don't finish during their small group that day, so I'll take a picture of compositions still in progress with my iPad (in case students forget to bring their folder the following week when it's due...then they don't have to start from scratch as they finish their composition in class).  If students do finish, I'll collect them to get a head start on typing them up/grading them.  

Students earn a grade (4/3/2/1--exceeds expectations/meets expectations/basic/does not meet expectations) on rhythm (variety of rhythms, correct number of beats per measure), music literacy (using notes from the G Major scale in a way that clearly shows that G = Do), and evaluating (including two or more of the musical tools).  I don't emphasize the graded aspect of this, but if students follow the checklist, they will be fine.

I will type these up so everyone can play their classmates' compositions and see theirs in print.  This year I am trying to save paper, so instead of printing a packet for everyone, I'll share the Google Doc link on our Canvas page for students.  Now that I have a screen/projector at both schools, I'll show the document on the screen in class, and we'll scroll through it and pick one or two to try in class.  It's a little tricky if I have students on different instruments in the same small group--I'll have two windows open, one on the top of the screen and one on the bottom and scroll through both.  Or, if it's one student on a different instrument, I might give that student my iPad and pull up their instrument's document there.  We will play one or two of these for the spring concert, so those I will print out and tape into folders (after checking with the composer to make sure it's okay with them we perform their piece).  I'll improvise a piano accompaniment too.

Template for G Major composition packet (Google Doc):

• Violin
• Viola
• Cello/Bass

Happy composing!

--

Links to other composition worksheets: 

• D Major composition

• Composition #1 (open strings, pizzicato)
• Composition #2 (D-string notes, pizzicato)
• Composition #3 (A-string notes, arco)
• Composition #4 (G-string notes, arco)
• Composition #5 (C/E-string notes, with tempo/dynamic)

Link to Templates for composition packets

Scale Warm-up Sheet (D Major, G Major, C Major)

 

In about January of students' second year of string playing, I introduce this D Major scale sheet.  Before then, we often warm up in full orchestra with a D Major scale with different rhythm patterns or adding slurs or as a round.  In small groups, we go through each line and review technique.  The hooked bowing is pretty new for students at this point.  In full orchestra, at first we have to pause and regroup between each bowing, but I tell students our goal will be to play straight through the whole sheet.  Eventually a student leader will stand in front and give the breath to start (I'll call out the next bowing as we get close to the end of a line).  It seems pretty straightforward, but I'm always surprised by how much room for growth is evident the first week we attempt this as a full orchestra--and by how proud the students are when we are able to make it all the way through more-or-less together.  

• D Major scale sheet (PDF)

Pretty soon we move into our unit on G Major, so we transfer this warmup to the new key.  Violins and cellos also learn the upper octave in G Major (starting the G above open G), so I usually have them play the warmup in the upper octave too.  In past years, I haven't made a new scale sheet for the new keys; students just have to play the same bowing patterns but in the new key.  They can look at the scale written out in quarter notes in the book if they want a visual.  This year I've made a new scale sheet for both G and C Major, and I anticipate students will appreciate being able to follow along on the page as they play.  Maybe they will be less likely to forget the line with the single eighth notes exists :)  It's funny how often students just stop playing after the repeated eighth notes scale and we have to restart "the fast one."  Anyway, with our focus on the upper octave scale, that's what I typed out for violin/cello, with the scale starting on open G only included in the first line, as half notes.

• G Major scale sheet (PDF)

In the spring (usually around the time of spring break), we do a playing checkup on all the scale bowings in G Major.  We go through the rubric together the week before, and then during small groups the week of, students play individually for me while the other students in their small group are working on their G Major composition.

• G Major scale checkup rubric (Google Doc)--three per page to cut apart and write on for each student
• G Major scale checkup rubric (Google Form)--for any virtual students (I save the individual scores/comments as a PDF and email to the student afterwards)
• G Major scale checkup rubric (PDF)--one to share with students ahead of time for reference

Our last key of the year is C Major, so we apply these bowing patterns to this key too.  Violas and cellos get the higher octave written out (starting an octave above open C), with the scale starting on open C only included in the first line, as half notes.

• C Major scale sheet (PDF)

Parts of a Note Beginning-of-the-Year Bulletin Board

 

For this year's beginning-of-the-year bulletin board, I wanted to label the different parts of notes and eventually came up with the title "Take note: We are all PART of what makes our school community shine!"  It's a little wordy, but I liked that it included both "note" and "part."  You could insert your school name in place of "our school community" too.  This bulletin board can also double as a year-round reference, simply titled "Parts of a Note."  

Parts labeled:

• Note head (the internet is telling me it's really spelled "notehead" but I just can't do it...)
• Stem
• Beam
• Flag
• Dot

I used the pictures of the different rhythms from this blog post and rearranged them for each note part (see links to printouts below).  I did use a black Sharpie to round out a couple places that looked a little cut off.  For the large version, I printed as-is, then cut a half-inch off each side to be able to use an 8 1/2 by 11" background.  For the smaller version, I set the print settings to 2 pages per sheet and then cut each to 3 1/4 by 4 1/2".  The colored background was a half-sheet of paper, 4 1/4 by 5 1/2, with a bigger black background behind that, again cut to make a half-inch border.

For the large pair of eighth notes, I didn't trust my free-hand drawing skills, so I greatly enlarged an image of an outline of eighth notes, printed/cut/traced onto black paper and then cut/attached the pieces.  I used a Cricut for the text (Fontastic Fonts, DJ Smooth) and arrows, but created a Google doc with everything here to print out.

• Text (Google doc)
• Rhythm printouts (Word document)
• Rhythm printouts (PDF)
• Template for large eighth notes (Word document)
• Template for large eighth notes (PDF) 

Feel free to use!

Music for Life Bulletin Board

 

In an effort to help with retention in orchestra between elementary and middle school, I created this "Music for Life" bulletin board.  I was hearing from students saying that they wanted to become engineers or something else that wasn't directly music-related, so they weren't sure there was room for music classes in their middle school schedules.  I want students to be able to visualize themselves as musicians--no matter what they may end up studying in college or choosing as a career--and to understand that music classes are for everyone--not just those who are planning to become professional musicians.  This bulletin board showcases highly accomplished individuals who didn't necessarily go into music as a career but still had musical backgrounds (or sometimes musicians who also studied other disciplines).

The text on the bulletin board says: 

Music for life!  You don’t have to become a professional musician to enjoy playing music—music is part of a well-rounded education and is for everyone!  Music is something you can take with you for the rest of your life :) 

Check out these individuals who are well-known in their own fields and are also musicians—or are famous musicians who studied other disciplines too!

Here are the 15 individuals included (feel free to add your own):

• Neil Armstrong: Astronaut/Pianist, Baritone Horn Player
• Louis Braille: Educator, Inventor of braille/Cellist and Organist
• Charles Dickens: Author/Accordion Player
• Albert Einstein: Physicist/Pianist and Violinist
• Mahatma Gandhi: Lawyer/Concertina Player
• Art Garfunkel: Singer, Poet, and Actor/Studied architecture; degrees in Art History and Mathematics Education
• Donald Glaser: Physicist/Violinist, Violist, and Pianist
• Madeleine L'Engle: Author/Pianist, Choir Director
• Steve Martin: Comedian, Actor, Writer, Producer, Musician/Banjo Player
• Henri Matisse: Artist/Violinist
• Brian May: Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist of Queen/Doctorate in Physics and Mathematics
• Condoleezza Rice: Political Scientist, Diplomat/Pianist
• Oscar Robertson: Basketball Player/Flutist
• Fred Rogers: Television Host, Author, Producer, Minister/Pianist
• Molly Yeh: Cookbook Author, Blogger/Percussionist

Who else should I add to the list?  One idea for an extension would be to keep in touch with a school's graduating seniors from music classes and showcase their involvement in music and their field of study/career.

Music for Life bulletin board:

• Google doc

You could print these out on white paper, single-sided, as-is, or I put the text about each person by itself at the bottom of the document in case you'd like to cut out the picture and text and paste onto a colored background as I did.

I also added information about and pictures of community bands and orchestras in the area to show what kind of musical opportunities exist for community members.

Enjoy!