X is for Xylophone

XYLOPHONE. The ubiquitous childhood instrument. It comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. It is easy to manipulate. It requires no breath control to make it speak and no special fingerings to make it play. It pairs beautifully with metallaphones, membranes and shakers. Because a xylophone is laid out in the same left-right orientation as a piano keyboard, kindergarteners can easily be taught transferrable concepts such as the music alphabet, high/low, and stepwise movement. Today, exploring the xylophone was first and foremost on my kindergarteners' minds.

Before ever touching the instrument, we watched a YouTube videoclip of a phenomenal xylophone performance of a piece entitled, "Log Cabin Blues," to get an idea of what one sounded like when proficiently played.



We looked at a diagram of a xylophone on the board and talked about "long, low, left." (The longer the bar, the lower the pitch.) We noticed that the bars got progressively shorter and the pitch got higher as we moved to the right on the instrument. We also discussed the funky phonemic blend (Xy=Z)at the beginning of the word. (One student informed me that the "ph" makes the sound "f" like in "Philadelphia Phillies." Can you tell his kindergarten teacher is from Philadelphia?)



We carefully removed five bars creating an octave (8-note sequence) from C-C; we practiced our mallet grip and technique, we played a C-major scale up and down at a moderately fast tempo and did our best to play as an ensemble; we labeled the different parts of the instrument on a piece of paper in pencil and finally, colored our xylophone picture with crayons to take home something tangible from the experience. All modalities of learning were touched upon in this lesson (aural, visual and kinesthetic). Inquiry-based opportunities for learning were also included.











The title of one of my favorite songs from the 70's sums up today's lesson exquisitely -"We've Only Just Begun." :)

Until next time...

Teachable Moments

Why is it that Asian children have such a propensity for musical greatness?

That question popped into my mind as I was introducing the Instruments of the Orchestra today in a second grade general music class. I always begin with the String family and work my way through the Winds, Brass and Percussion families in subsequent lessons. Today's teaching began with the work-horse of any symphony orchestra - the violin.

As I began to unpack my school-issue violin from its case, a precocious little second grader by the name of Sarah raised her hand and informed me that she played the violin. "Aha....another teachable moment is about to unfold in my classroom," I thought. "Just go with it..."

The lesson usually unfolds this way: I hold up the violin and explain that it has four strings, that it is tuned by turning these pegs, I show them the bridge and the neck rest, I explain that this is a bow and that the bow is actually made out of horse hair, etc. For my grand finale, I play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the instrument. (It is the only song I remember from my string techniques class.) The students are awestruck by my terrible violin technique and I quietly place the violin back in its case and move on to the viola.

Today, however, I invited Sarah to the front of the classroom to perform on the violin, instead of me. She is accustomed to playing on a half-size instrument and had to reach and stretch to make it work for her.


I assumed she would play "Twinkle" too, since that song has been dubbed the "national anthem" of the violin. Everyone learns it; it is required literature for all budding violinists. I was absolutely dumbfounded when she began to play Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Like my students, I was awestruck by a seven-year old's violin playing and completely embarrassed by my own!

Her classmates were mesmerized by the performance too. So much so, that they asked her to come back and play an encore at the end of our lesson.





Sarah serenaded her classmates until their teacher arrived to pick up the class. What an awesome way to end the day!

Until next time...

Fifth Grade Lesson

MU.C.1.2 states that "The student understands music in relation to culture and history." (Sunshine State Standards; Music 3-5)

Because we live in a global community, it is important for students to become acquainted with different genres of music from various countries and cultures. They should be able to describe how the basic elements of music (rhythm, melody, timbre, texture and dynamics) are used in different types of music around the world. They should also understand the roles that regions, events and historical contexts have in generating various types of music. In my classroom, I use a song from South Africa entitled "Kalimba" to teach the concept of form in music.

A kalimba is a percussion instrument (also called an mbira). At the beginning of the lesson, we talk about the kalimba and I play a sound file on my laptop so my students can actually hear one being played.

The lesson you are about to see gives you a peek into my classroom as I teach "Kalimba" to a group of 5th graders. The lesson was originally written by Mary Beth Yoder-White (Appalachian State University) and I have adapted it to fit my purposes here. My lesson synthesizes many things - music from other cultures, unfamiliar music vocabulary, directionality on a compass, rhythmic reading, body percussion, improvisation, form and structure. It is taught to the individual; the learning is then applied in a group setting. The lesson ends with a group performance in the back of the classroom.





My heartfelt "thanks!!" goes out to Mr. Trey Vollmer of Vollmer Video for his assistance with this project.

Until next time...

"Sleepover Under the Stars"

Today was a big day in the life of our First Graders at Chets Creek. They celebrated the culmination of a unit of study on the Solar System. (For the record, they didn't really have a sleepover, but I bet they wished they could have!) The day began with a pre-dawn flashlight parade followed by a super-galactic pancake breakfast.

Mission Control preparing for the Flashlight Parade



This is me during the parade singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"



Our students then rotated through various centers. They went on an asteroid hunt, they learned new songs about "Spaceworms" and danced the robot to "Rap of the Solar System." They created picture frames for their (unofficial) NASA photo, they used a SmartBoard to test their skill at matching icons to space-related vocabulary words, they visited a blow-up planetarium and attended a Constellation Ball - all in their PJs!

Mrs. Tamburrino and the Storm Trooper. He hails from a planet called Landstar


"Spaceworms crawlin' in the night, spaceworms crawlin' outta sight, spaceworms love to talk and they love to do the Spaceworm Walk!"


Teaching "Spaceworms"


I closed out our time in the music center with a technology presentation entitled, "Blue Beauty." It was filled with spectacular photos of earth taken from the space station. Check out the following link to view it for yourself. It was awesome! http://www.greatdanepro.com/Blue%20Bueaty/index.htm

This grade-level event was completely revamped to address the first grade science standards and the kids absolutely loved it! Hats off to the Chets Creek Resource Specialists - without their help, this day would never have left the launching pad!! You guys are simply stellar!!

Until next time...

"Wilson" the Tennis Ball

At an Orff workshop several years ago, a teacher in St. Johns County pulled out a tennis ball that she had decorated with a patch of black hair made of yarn, two google-eyes, a red bow tie and a smile. The topic was "teaching children to use the voice correctly" and I couldn't understand what the tennis ball had to do with vocal instruction in my classroom - until I made one myself and tried it with my kids...

Allow me to introduce you to Wilson, the tennis ball. He has become one of my favorite teaching tools ever. I use "Wilson" (think Tom Hanks in the movie, "Castaway," except his buddy was a volleyball) in second grade to help my students understand the difference between "head voice" and "chest voice."

Children have four voices in their little bodies that they must be able to engage on demand. Each serves a different purpose. The "playground" voice (technically labeled the "calling" voice) is easy for them to use properly. Every kid I know can scream, holler, yell and shout. [We also talk about synonyms in this lesson!] The "library" voice (technically labeled the "whispering voice" is usually easy for them to engage and use properly. The tricky part is differentiating between the "head" voice (technically labeled the "singing" voice) and the "chest" voice (technically labeled the "speaking" voice).

I use my little tennis ball friend to help them learn to flip the mechanism in the larynx from their speaking voice to their singing voice without ever asking them to sing a note. This activity is non-threatening to the students and EVERYONE wants to have a turn.

The student can ask Wilson to do anything (within reason) using their chest voice, however, Wilson will not respond to their request. He shakes his head "no!" and sits very still in my hand. When the student asks the same question of Wilson using his singing voice, Wilson smiles and does whatever they ask of him. Of course, in addition to drawing on his smile, I cut a slit for a mouth with an Exacto knife and it delights the kids to see him "talk" to them using his singing voice. My only regret is that I am not a ventriloquist and they usually figure out that it's me operating the mouth by squeezing the ball and I'm the one using my singing voice, not Wilson.

The best part is when my kids return as 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Not a year goes by that several of them don't ask, "Mrs. Tamburrino - Can we play with Wilson today?"

To me, that is the best part of all!

Until next time...

FMEA Conference - Tampa, Florida

As a music educator, I belong to several professional organizations that provide content-specific teacher training for me. These organizations allow me to network with other music educators from across the state of Florida and across the nation. My students always stare at me with quizzical looks when I tell them, "I am going back to school for a few days so that I can become a better teacher." At the elementary level, they do not always understand the concept of "life-long learner" and "once a teacher, always a student."

Currently, I am president of the Duval Elementary Music Teacher organization which provides training for elementary music teachers in our district on teacher planning days throughout the school year. I am an active member in the Florida Elementary Music Educators' Association (a component organization of the Florida Music Educators' Association and Music Educators' National Conference). I am also a member of the Northeast Florida Orff Chapter and served on its Board for two years as Professional Development Facilitator for Duval County teachers.

Each January, FMEA hosts our state conference in Tampa, Florida. Members of the various component organizations (Florida Vocal Association, Florida Bandmasters Association, Florida Orchestra Association) converge in Tampa for four days of continuing education opportunities and hands-on training. Performance groups from around the state share their unique and wonderful music with us. I cannot express how refreshing it is to be an active participant in the audience and not have to concern myself with conducting or troubleshooting the sound system. I can simply sit back and enjoy...

The Disney Main Street Philharmonic performing for us



Kim Rose's session "Imagination + Creativity = Musicianship"
Kim teaches at Wards Creek Elementary in St. Johns County



This is me receiving an award from Karen Bouton, President of FEMEA for achieving National Board Certification. I was one of three teachers in the state of Florida to achieve this honor in 2008-09



This year's conference was entitled -
"Music and the Creative Mind: Wired for Success."


We now have hard data that shows the correlation between the Arts and Academics. Our brains are "wired for success" and students who participate in arts education from their kindergarten years through their high school years are more likely to graduate with their cohort than those who do not. They also score higher on the FCAT in reading, writing and math. Complete data is now available on the FMEA website (www.flmusiced.org)

At our conference, there were numerous opportunities for learning. We could sample music software in the Mac lab, observe master teachers from across the country in various teaching settings; sing, dance, play, perform on world instruments and listen to various genres of music in "live performance" settings from jazz to orchestral music and choral groups to steel pan bands.

World Drumming with Kalani




It is always an uplifting and rejuvenating experience to attend FMEA each year and re-fill my tank. A big "thank you!" goes out to my principal for allowing me to do so.

Until next time...

Dress Rehearsals and Holiday Musicals

Dress Rehearsal for "Once on a Housetop"




'Tis the Season for dress rehearsals and holiday musical performances!

Our second graders will be showcasing their talents this week in a production entitled "Once on a Housetop" by Roger Emerson. They have been working on the music since the school year began and using the lyrics to the songs for memorization purposes in their classrooms during Reader's Workshop. They are very excited about the production, and for most of them, this will be their first time on stage.

Student learning is impacted in several ways while preparing for this production. Shy students come to life on stage. They sing, dance and interact with the audience. They learn to follow me as I conduct the music. They sing with expression. Various genres of music are presented. Various styles of singing are taught. The elements of music are explored as we rehearse each song. Students are exposed to the beauty of harmony and so on. I use the rehearsal setting to teach good vocal technique, ear-training, ensemble singing, part-singing and stage presence. I have had numerous parents tell me that their child is shy and will never be able do this. On many occasions, the parents come to me after the show and say things like, "I never dreamed my child was capable of such a thing." It is a very sweet moment for me as their music teacher.

Producing a quality musical production is a monumental task. The process is a collaborative effort between parents, teachers, students, the music department and the art department. Parents assist with costume construction and set design. Teachers build confidence in their students by rehearsing on the stage and creating the visual experience for the audience. I help the students find their voice and teach them to use it properly. I also conduct each performance which will include three dress rehearsals and three evening performances this week. Mrs. Snead designs, paints and installs the set each year. Even our Security Officer is moonlighting as our sound technician!

During the week, every student in the building will be invited to attend one of our dress rehearsals and practice their "good audience behaviors." My principal lends her unwavering support and attends each evening performance throughout the week. It is truly a labor of love for our learning community and creates a life-long memory for all of our students.

On December 8th at 6:00 p.m. - Ross/Russell/Timmons/Lipsky will perform.

On December 10th at 6:00 p.m. - Chant/Wallace/Morris/Metzger will perform.

On December 10th at 7:30 p.m. - Ruark/VanAlstyne/Walag/Shaffer/Nelson/Rossignol will perform.

All performances will be held in the Chets Creek cafeteria.

As a service to our second graders, the Chets Creek Recorder Club will perform pre-show holiday favorites in the lobby 30 minutes prior to each production.

I hope you will be able to join us!

Until next time....