A Typical Day in Music Class & A Christmas Song (A Long Overdue New Music Monday, Plus Video)

In addition to being my first full year teaching science, this is also my first full year teaching music. I teach music at every level, from the first grade students all the way up to the high school juniors. I enjoy teaching both music and science, but I feel the most passionate about teaching music. Music is beautiful. Music is fun. And music tells us stories.

Our Music Class Routine

In music class, we follow the same basic routine each class period. First, we listen to a piece of music and then we discuss what we heard. I like to ask the students three questions about each piece: 1. What instruments did you hear? 2. How would you describe the music? and 3. What did the music make you think about? When the students answer question two, we typically end up talking about the dynamics of the piece, the key signature (major or minor), and some of the main characteristics of the piece (it went fast and then slow, it had a melody that was easy to follow, it repeated the same theme or two, it sounded happy, sad, etc.) When the students answer question three, they typically ‘narrate’ what they heard–they tell me a story that goes along with the music.

Next, we tackle some music theory, which, depending on the age level of the students, might include practice with solfege, repeating or reading rhythms, learning the vocabulary of music, distinguishing between melodies and chord progressions, or studying a specific piece of sheet music.

Finally, we sing! Earlier this year, we learned the folk song “All Through the Night.” We’re currently working on our songs for the Christmas program, which include “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “What Child Is This?”, “Silent Night,” “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” and “Stars” (more about “Stars” later).

What’s On My Music Class Playlist?

Here’s what we’ve listened to so far, along with the era of classical music from which each piece originated.

First on our playlist is George Frederic Handel’s Messiah. We listened to “Hallelujah!” and “I Know that My Redeemer Liveth.” Handel wrote music during the Baroque era; Messiah is an oratorio, which is a piece of music that tells a story from the Bible.

Next we listened to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Nocturnal Serenade” (serenades were pieces played as background music at dinner parties) and Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony,” which did, in fact, surprise some of my students (a symphony uses the entire orchestra and is divided into movements). Mozart and Haydn both wrote during the Classical era of classical music.

Then we studied Ludwig van Beethoven, who altered the course of classical music when he began to lose his hearing and thus began to compose music filled with emotion and passion. Beethoven spans the gap between the Classical era and the Romantic era. We listened to Movements I and III of his “Moonlight Sonata” (a sonata is a symphony written for one or two instruments instead of the entire orchestra).

Finally we listened to my favorite Romantic era composer, Johannes Brahms. Last week, we listened to “Wiegenlied” or “Lullaby,” one of Brahms’ most famous melodies. This week, we listened to the first six minutes of his Symphony No. 2, Movement I. Most of the students enjoyed “Wiegenlied” more than the Symphony No. 2 because the melody was familiar to them and they could follow along. I, however, prefer Symphony No. 2.

After our Christmas program, we’re going to finish off the second quarter of the school year by studying Modern era classical music composers. I plan to ask the students to listen to selections from Gustav Holsts The Planets (Jupiter is my favorite), “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, and also selections of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (another one of my favorite compositions).

Something Exciting

Finally, announcing my first ever YouTube video, here is me singing “Stars,” one of my original songs and the song I’m teaching the high school students to sing for the Christmas program. “Stars” tells the story of Abraham, and explains how Abraham and Isaac’s story points to Jesus as our Savior and King.