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
Recently, I had a project for some relaxing instruments funded through DonorsChoose.org. The instruments included a five inch singing bowl, a rainstick, some chimes and an udu drum. My hope was to have the students make relaxing sounds at the end of each lesson because our lessons always include amps up to 11, and kids generally rocking out and having tons of fun. It worked! No one talks while the singing bowl is ringing and the chimes and drum are going. They exit the room slowly and quietly. It's like their short time of Zen before they get back to the regular classroom. The most popular instrument in this time of Zen is, of course, the very cool and beautiful sounding singing bowl. For a machine made bowl it is quite resonant and pure.
We need another singing bowl that's 8 inches in diameter to complement our current 5 inch bowl, so we can trade between a low and a high bowl sound.
With this second singing bowl, I plan to have two kids stand at each side of the door like sentinels and play the bowls for a harmonious exit from music. The other instruments from the previously funded project will be out in the hallway keeping calm as each class waits in line for their teacher to pick them up. And with the funding of the project and the completion of our Zen instruments, none of the regular classroom teachers will be coming after me with pitchforks and torches because their classes are rowdy. So, this project is also a bit of self preservation.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Tillman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
