Today was one of the best days of my teaching career. And I truly mean it. There have been moments in class where students faces light up from understanding a new concept. Moments where students fall in love with a piece of music and sing it from the depths of their hearts. When students work together to create their own song and stay after class to sing it for me with pride. When we laugh at a funny moment in class or discover that a teacher can make mistakes too (and not on purpose!).
There were so many moments from today that I will always remember and look back on with pure joy inside. The day started with Mrs. Lewis' class. They are a group of 4th graders and a great group to teach. We have been working on a piece of music called "Shepherds Song." It is actually a piece of music that some of my piano students work on when learning the pentatonic scale (five note scale). I loved the melody of it and decided to add a bass line, change a few things around and create a canon out of the piece. It's a really beautiful song.
The students have all learned each part (bass line, melody line). Today we added it in a canon using two parts. Students practiced with fingers first to make sure they had it. Then added the mallets. I loved watching their faces as they enjoyed the process and counting of making sure they were playing on the right beats to create a beautiful piece.
We then had a discussion in class about who should start first. They decided the bass should go first. Then a student chose how many times we all play the melody together. They agreed on 8 times. *** I must admit I thought this was a long time to play the melody, but when we practiced it, the students loved it. And being that they are in charge of the piece and played it so nicely, they voted afterward as to if they wanted to keep it or change it and every student agreed that it was so beautiful that they should play it eight times. So eight times it is!**
Another student was asked to decide how many times they should play the canon. Then we chose how to end the song together.
The students played through the song. When their version was finished, they stopped playing and looked around with sparkles in their eyes. It was so amazing to hear their comments: "Wow... that was amazing." "That was SO cool!" "I loved that!" "Can we do it again?"
This was definitely a class period I will remember and one of the reasons I love my job!!!
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