Monday, April 16, 2007

Primary Music



Hi Ladies!
I'm the primary music leader in my ward and I got asked to give an inservice on using music in the classroom. I have some good ideas but I know there are more out there. What I'm looking for are ideas of ways to incorporate music in the classroom, examples of music being used in the classroom. For example, one of our teachers taught the "Books of the New Testament" to his kids this year since they're learning New Testament stories in class. I know we have a few music gurus out there (Linz!) so hopefully you'll have some great input! Thanks for any and all ideas!

4 comments:

Linz said...

Are we talking about music activities in the individual primary classrooms? That sounds like kind of a hard topic to do a whole inservice on! I'll give it some thought...

Liz said...

yes, ways to use incorporate music in individual classrooms. It's only a 10 minute stint, but that can still be a LONG time! :)

Kage said...

Ideas:
-Use music as an attention getter or to break up the class when kids start getting restless. Maybe you start with a reverence song, have some wiggle songs as back-up when the kids get bored, and end with a reverence song.
-Articles of Faith-along the same line as the New Testament, teach the A of F's in the class to help the kids pass of their A of F's
-Designate a Class Song...the class can sing it as a way to unify...whenever they do sharing time they can sing their class song. They could even rewrite the words for a verse, to apply to them.
-Play music--there are MP3's now on the web, you can burn your own custom hymn/primary music cd. Set the tone of class by playing it while they arrive, or during coloring time or pondering time.

That's it for now.

Linz said...

Those were great ideas (Kage rocks.). I definitely think wiggle songs are essential.

I suppose this is obvious, but teaching a song on the lesson's subject. Here's sort of a simplified version of what I like to do when teaching a song by rote:
Have the kids tap the steady beat on their laps (or kids' choice: tap on head, shoulders, lift up and down from heels on the beat, etc.) while I sing the song all the way through. Have the students echo my singing phrase by phrase. Gradually put more and more phrases together. Sing all the way through. Have the kids audiate the song: The teacher sings "Ready think" on the starting pitch and in the tempo/meter of the song and then all students sing through the entire song in their heads while tapping a silent beat with their fingertips on their laps. They raise their hand when they have finished singing the song in their head. It's pretty darn cool when everyone raises their hand at about the same time because they really were audiating the song and they learned it well.

Fun music games that work well with Primary:
Hot/Cold Game
Name that Tune

Another idea: Have your class prepare to perform a song either in a sacrament meeting, primary sharing time, or even in the primary program. This gives your kids a really special opportunity that they can be proud of and certainly builds their confidence to perform in a small group.