My students need an udu drum, a singing bowl, and some ambiance instruments like a rainstick, energy chimes, and wind chimes to create a relaxed atmosphere after our more rocking music lesson sessions.
My classroom is performance oriented with a stage, a full set of risers, and more instruments than you would expect in the average elementary classroom. We make music with our own hands and breath, and we do it well. I'm in my fifth year at this school, and in the time I've been here, my students have become multi-instrumentalists on the bass, mandolin, piano, and drums. Some students like to switch around between the instruments, while others have "specialized" and concentrate all their learning on just one. Either way is fine by me, as long as they're learning and enjoying music and school.
My Project
In all grade levels, we actively make music for most of our 50 minute lesson per week. Active music making includes moving around the room, carrying different instruments from one place to another, being on our classroom stage (see classroom picture), and oftentimes being loud is part of it. Kids really enjoy this active, lively culture that we foster in the music room. Though I know that classroom teachers also have interactive lessons, group work and collaborative environments, it's still not as loud and crazy as we can get.
When my students leave the music room, they need to be ready for walking in the hallway quietly and getting back to regular work in the classroom, and these calming instruments will provide all classes a way to calm down after an active music lesson.
My plan is to carve out 5 minutes at the end of each class where a small group of students can use the singing bowl, udu drum, and other ambiance instruments to create calming sounds where the class sits quietly, almost in a meditative state, to get ready to walk quietly back to their class. Without that small amount of down time, the kids have trouble getting into a straight line, standing still, and entering the hallway quietly after music. We're looking forward to being able to create this calming environment while exploring new sounds on new instruments.
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