Change is inevitable

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?  To be honest, I have been avoiding this because of my own pride.  If you've been following me (and if not, go ahead and read previous blogs to get the gist of it), you already know that I lost my job last spring.  To make things even more bittersweet, I had to move far away from a place I had grown to love because we simply couldn't afford to live there any more.  Now, I face the challenge of new surroundings, new people, a new way of "doing things" but, sadly, no new music teaching job.  And with the school year now into its 2nd month, the chances of that happening are getting slimmer.  Oh, I'll keep putting myself out there just in case that elusive mid-year position pops up (in fact, I'm waiting on a couple of prospects right now).  I've signed up to be a substitute teacher with a few school districts and hope that starts rolling along pretty soon.  I have joined my local Orff chapter and have already made plans to present a couple of mini workshops in February.  After learning a lot about how the job search goes around here, I'll be much better prepared to jump on the jobs that do open up.  Consider that the Lessons Learned portion of today's post.

So, what now?  In my current situation, I will probably focus more on the Musical Memories aspect of things.  And, with that in mind, here's something I have used with my younger students that has always been met with rave reviews!

I bought 16 of these little guys and drew differently shaped eyes on them with a Sharpie:  rectangles, triangles, Ts and circles.  They were then scattered around the perimeter of the classroom to make a "pumpkin patch."  Students sat in a circle and we sang Paw Paw Patch, changing those words to Pumpkin Patch.  Students were given instruments that corresponded to the shapes drawn on the pumpkins:  sand blocks, triangles, tick tock blocks and hand drums.  Then we played a little game.  One student was selected to be Johnny, who walked around the room collecting pumpkins as we sang the song twice  (I made a rule that he could only take one at a time and bring it to me before getting another, otherwise we might have run out!).  When Johnny was finished, the pumpkins were arranged into patterns like in the picture and used as a score for playing instruments.  They had a great time and loved the game!

Here's a variation that ties in a bit of rhythm reading skills:  Circle game without instruments (or with if you want....):  each student receives a pumpkin (die cut, toy or real) with a quarter note, paired eighth notes or quarter rest (or whatever you're working on) drawn on.  Select a student to be Johnny and sing the song.  Whomever Johnny stops next to at the end of the song brings over his pumpkin, then becomes the new Johnny.  Repeat until four pumpkins have been collected to create a pattern.  (Of course, you could also draw four beat patterns on each pumpkin and cut down on the repetitions, but I find that students don't mind singing songs over and over as long as there is a chance they might "get a turn.")  Then select a student (or whole group, whatever) to say/clap/play the pattern.  Repeat the process as many times as you want.

Enjoy!