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!

Hall Pass

I was cleaning out a cabinet the other day and came across these playing card hall passes I forgot I had made :)  These must have been from my first year or two of teaching.  Students come to full orchestra directly from lunch, so I would have made these for students to bring to lunch and show to the lunch supervisors as their hall pass to orchestra (and as a reminder for students not to head out for recess that day).  The playing cards are published by Alfred and feature a composer and bio on one side.  I added the hall pass info on the back side and laminated them.  Students would pick one up the morning they drop off their instrument in the band/orchestra room, and then return their card upon arriving to full band/orchestra.  Now I meet students in the cafeteria, so the cards are not really needed.

• Text for back of playing cards (Word document)
• Text for back of playing cards (PDF)

Since then, one of my schools has bought badge holders (something like this) to use for hall passes, so I color-printed this document double-sided (see below) and delivered a set to each classroom.  Students grab one out of their class basket as they leave for their small group for the week as their hall pass to walk to band or orchestra.

• Hall pass (Word document)
• Hall pass (PDF) 

 

Women Wow the Music World! Bulletin Board

March is Women's History Month, and this year I wanted to create a bulletin board highlighting female musicians throughout history.  Thanks to my mom for coming up with the title: "Women Wow the Music World!"(and for cutting out and mailing me the letters)!

As with some previous bulletin boards (see the post "Celebrate Music with these Great Americans!" for Black History Month), I printed out the "condensed" file, trimmed and laminated each half sheet, and then attached them to a folded piece of colored paper.  If you'd rather save some steps, just print out the "double sided" file, fold each page in half, and you're ready to staple them to the bulletin board!

For each musician, I included her name and picture on the front and then her name, dates, country, instrument, profession, genre, and one famous title when you lift up the flap.

Here are the 24 musicians included (feel free to add your own):

• Martha Argerich
• Amy Beach
• Hildegard von Bingen
• Nadia Boulanger
• Regina Carter
• Cécile Chaminade
• Sarah Chang
• Sandra Dackow
• Jacqueline du Pre
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Aretha Franklin
• Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
• Jennifer Higdon
• Billie Holiday
• Alma Schindler Mahler
• Midori
• Soon Hee Newbold
• Florence Beatrice Price
• Clara Schumann
• Ruth Crawford Seeger
• Anoushka Shankar
• Bessie Smith
• Esperanza Spalding
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Women Wow the Music World!--heading

• Google doc

Names, pictures, and trivia (condensed)

• Word document
• PDF

Names, pictures, and trivia (print double sided)

• Word document
• PDF

Enjoy!

Composer Trivia Bulletin Board

One thing that I like about our method book, "Orchestra Expressions," Book 1, is that it highlights several composers including Bach, Beethoven, Bizet, Copland, Strauss, Jr. and more.  The featured composers each have a portion of a page with their portrait, a short bio, a listening map for a specific composition, and a timeline.  The CD that comes with the book also has a recording of that specific composition for each composer; students are encouraged to listen to that CD track while doing various warmups.

Anyway, I took five of the composers and came up with a bit of trivia for each.  I put the fun fact on the front of a folded sheet of paper and the corresponding composer's name on the inside.  This way, it's an interactive bulletin board--students can flip up the flap to see if they guessed the correct composer!

Here are the pdfs of the text and pictures.  I laminated each bit before taping it onto the colored paper so they would last longer.  I've also included some pdfs of the same trivia written as a word balloon coming out of the mouth of each composer. Enjoy!

• Composer portraits (pdf)
• Composer trivia (pdf) 
• Trivia with word balloons (pdf)
• Great job! plus trivia word balloons (pdf)

Celebrate Music with these Great Americans! Bulletin Board

With February being Black History Month, I wanted to create a bulletin board highlighting musicians and came up with the title "Celebrate music with these great Americans!"  It was hard to narrow the selection of who to include, so I think I will switch out some names halfway through the month (they won't all fit on my bulletin board at one time...).

I printed out the "condensed" file, trimmed and laminated each half sheet, and then attached them to a folded piece of colored paper.  If you'd rather save some steps, just print out the "double sided" file, fold each page in half, and you're ready to staple them to the bulletin board!

For each musician, I included their name and picture on the front and then their name/nickname, dates, instrument, profession, genre, and one famous title when you lift up the flap.

Here are the 24 musicians included (feel free to add your own):

• Louis Armstrong
• Chuck Berry
• James Brown 
• Regina Carter
• Nat King Cole
• John Coltrane
• Duke Ellington
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Aretha Franklin
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Jimi Hendrix
• Billie Holiday
• Scott Joplin
• B.B. King
• Wynton Marsalis
• Bobby McFerrin
• Jelly Roll Morton
• Thelonious Monk
• Charlie Parker
• Florence Beatrice Price
• Bessie Smith
• William Grant Still 
• Sarah Vaughan
• Fats Waller

Celebrate music with these great Americans--heading

• Google doc

Names, pictures, and trivia (condensed)

• Word document
• PDF

Names, pictures, and trivia (print double sided)

• Word document
• PDF

Enjoy!

Question of the Week

The last thing that we do in full orchestra each week is the "Question of the Week."  I read the old question, share the answer, and then draw a correct response out of the bucket.  Then I read and post the new question.  Students have until the beginning of the next week's full orchestra to submit their response.  This is totally optional for students, but it gets them thinking about lots of different aspects of music and how to use their resources to find the answers.  It also provides structure to our full orchestra rehearsals; students know that we do question of the week at the end and that it's time to start quietly packing up so they can still hear the answer.

Students know that good times to enter responses are before/after school when they are dropping off or picking up their instruments or before/after class--not in the middle of orchestra.  They also know that I do not say if their answer was correct or not--my lips are sealed until the end of the next full orchestra.

Slips are color coded by grade so everyone can all use the same bucket to drop their response into.

The prize?  I write the winner(s) a composition that they can play on their instrument, and I have it waiting on their stand at the next full orchestra.  It doesn't cost any money on my end, it's personalized for each student, and it shows that I am a composer too, just as they are.  Some weeks lend themselves to having more than one winner, but I usually keep it at one winner.  If a question has two parts (a bonus point) and the winner gets both parts, I'll write them a duet to play with a friend.

I try to include a variety of questions throughout the year--parts of the instrument, composer trivia, music theory, vocab words, a connection with one of their pieces, etc.  I use the same question for both grades each week, so it has to be something that works for both.  The answer may be something that students should already know or in their book or on the walls of the orchestra room or they may need to look up online.  I try not to repeat questions within a two-year cycle so that students are exposed to as many as possible (though there are a few questions that tend to be used each year).

When I draw the winning slip, I don't read incorrect responses (or the name of that student) out loud; I just keep drawing until I find a correct answer and congratulate that student.  I don't want to encourage silly answers or embarrass anyone for putting in the wrong answer.  Students may win more than once each year (I don't want them to stop participating once they've won), though I may draw a second winner that week just to get someone new too.

Note: Since the pandemic, I added a Google Form with the weekly question and paste the link into our class Canvas page so that students aren't congregating by the bucket to fill out their slip.  Students fill out the Google Form to enter, and then I fill out a paper slip for the different entries before class so I'm still drawing a slip from the bucket.  If someone has already won, I'll fold their slip a few extra times to make it less likely I'll pull it out of the bucket.  I still tape the question on the wall in the classroom so students have access to the seeing the question a few different places.  I've also been keeping track of which questions I ask each year so students get different questions between their first and second year of orchestra with me.  It's a few extra steps, but it doesn't take long.

• Sample "Question of the Week" questions (Word document)

• Sample "Question of the Week" questions (PDF)