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
• Sarah Gillis: Astronaut/Violinist
• 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!

Inspirational Quotes for the New Year Bulletin Board

Happy New Year! For my first bulletin board of 2017, I displayed four inspirational quotes with images of fireworks.  For the two shorter quotes, I used my mom's Cricut to cut out the large letters, and then I just printed out the longer quotes.  A few colorful markers brightened up the fireworks, and then colored borders matched each quote to its author.

Quotes included:

"Whatever you are, be a good one."
—Abraham Lincoln

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
—Oscar Wilde

"The expert in anything was once a beginner."

—Helen Hayes

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

—A.A. Milne

• Google doc of quotes and clip art

Happy New Year!