Being a Middle School Choir Director


The following link is a video I presented to the class

Music Helps for Class Time

Since my last post, I've been working in a new position. Instead of worship leading, I'm working with Middle School age 6th and 7th grades as a choir director. My class is small, 14 students, but that leaves more for a personal approach. 

The class is pretty structured and I've put together a curriculum that has kept them busy. We started out the semester with music history and I used an online free course. Lately, though, that same link is no longer available. I used a place called music history lessons which was made on weebly. One day, as usual, I would go to the link but received an error report. I'm thinking they must be revising the link.

Anyway, we began our history from the year 0 to 450 A.D and proceeded to the current era. I found the "Odes Project" cd that recorded music to several hymns written during the 3rd and 4th century and taught them one of the songs.

We continued through the semester with Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Modern and Post Modern songs and examples from each period. I also used online videos to help with the various eras and a place where they could learn to read music called Sight Singing. I also taught them theory using lessons I had as a piano teacher. 


The poster was a project I asked the kids to add post-its with what music is to them.

Now, we are getting close to the holidays and we have a Veteran's Day program on Tuesday where I combined all of the military hymns together and we'll sing the Star Spangled Banner and This Land is Your Land. Then we'll practice songs for Thanksgiving and we'll be working on the Christmas program. 

Unfortunately, my hours were reduced as I had worked in the after school class too. I'll have to find more work or find new customers for my Avon business. The lady that is taking over also is losing hours. So, hopefully, I'll have some subbing to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE 1982 DENVER BLIZZARD

Image
This story is about the trip we took to see my mom at Christmas, 1982. She lived in Evans, Colorado and we lived in Page, Arizona. We had decided to take our four sons in our Dodge van not knowing what the weather had in store. We packed several bags, blankets, water and our cosmetic case for what we though was a two or three day vacation. We were supposed to be at my mom’s house Christmas Eve. We left Page and drove toward Kayenta, Arizona and onto New Mexico. We started toward Raton and hit a huge snow storm. Just outside of Raton, the winds were severe. Our engine died just outside of town. With ropes my husband tied himself to the front of the van and checked the motor. He said the guys that serviced our car didn’t put the lid back right and the carburetor, situated in the center of the air filter, was iced up. So we poured through our cosmetic bag and found some men’s cologne. We both knew that alcohol would deice the carburetor. The van started up and we pushed forward. It was s...
Read more
Image
The war had begun and it was given the operation name “Desert Storm”. My son Steven was in the marines and already had traveled to the Philippines, Germany and then he was sent to Saudi Arabia where he and several other marines would push through to Kuwait. His responsibility was to defuse land mines placed in the desert floor by the enemy. My husband Richard and I and children all nestled snug in our beds in Mesa, Arizona while all of this was going on. We fervently prayed each night for his and his fellow soldiers safety and protection. I believed in my heart that he would return but it was very difficult to think of him in harms way. He is my eldest son and I spent years preparing him for his future as a leader. Many months passed with no word from him. Steven was stationed there from August to the month of March the following hear. During Christmas I put up a special tree, a small pine with lights which would be called “Steven’s tree”. Since he was not there we were to remember him...
Read more