The country's newest museum features a 300-seat performance hall
Image 17 of 40 from gallery of DePaul University School of Music Holtschneider Performance Center / Antunovich Associates. Photograph by balloggphoto.com
Today I'm sharing some photos of my Music Center. Someone recently asked me about my Music Center and I realized I have all the other centers on the
Image 24 of 40 from gallery of Budapest Music Center / Art1st Design Studio. Photograph by Tamás, Bujonovszky
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
If you're starting centers in elementary music class, then you may need some ideas. These are my favorite rhythm centers for general music!
The arts are at the forefront of life at Brooks School, where every student pursues an arts curriculum. Since completion of the Center for the Arts, student interest in the arts has increased, so much so that the curriculum has expanded to reflect this enthusiasm. The Center stands in a premier...
Overview Seven years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc with ‘The Big Easy,’ 70,000+ volunteers led by artist/activists, Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. had accomplished a miracle. They raised the funds and contributed the sweat equity to build 72 single-family homes, 10 elder-friendly apartments, and the 17,000 sq. ft. Ellis Marsalis Center for Music/Musician’s Village Performance
Image 3 of 35 from gallery of Regional Music and Dance Conservatory / Studio 1984 + Boris Bouchet Architectes. Photograph by Benoit Alazard
The new Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center at UCLA, designed by Kevin Daly Architects, provides a pioneering new home for UCLA’s..
Image 15 of 40 from gallery of DePaul University School of Music Holtschneider Performance Center / Antunovich Associates. Photograph by balloggphoto.com
Image 2 of 15 from gallery of Linde Center for Music & Learning / William Rawn Associates. Photograph by Robert Benson
Image 32 of 40 from gallery of Budapest Music Center / Art1st Design Studio. Ground Floor Plan
Image 9 of 21 from gallery of Ofunato Civic Center and Library / Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design. Photograph by Taisuke Ogawa
Image 2 of 21 from gallery of Conservatory of Montpellier / Architecturestudio + MDR Architectes. Photograph by Marie-Caroline Lucat
It was supposed to create a space with an artistic spirit in addition to the renovation of a musical instruments store. in fact, the project goal was not just to show the instrument. For this purpose, by making changes such as removing the small balcony of the project, a higher space was available for the design. The back part of the store was also assigned to the storage space for equipment and also the rest area for the employees.
“Embark on a literary odyssey to elevate your academic prowess! Our handpicked writing services are designed to ignite your intellectual…
Image 12 of 72 from gallery of Voxman Music Building / LMN Architects. Photograph by Tim Griffith
Image 5 of 28 from gallery of Muxikebarri Center of Performing Arts and Music School / LMU Arkitektura. Photograph by Pedro Pegenaute
Image 12 of 27 from gallery of King’s College School Wimbledon Music School / Hopkins Architects. Photograph by Janie Airey
Image 7 of 18 from gallery of The Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center / Kevin Daly Architects. Photograph by Iwan Baan
Great ideas for Montessori inspired music for preschoolers. Don't miss the awesome free printables for musical instruments and Montessori Music activities
Explore Dave Grohl's iconic Los Angeles mansion. Discover its architectural beauty, historical significance, and how it reflects the rock legend's journey.
Image 5 of 35 from gallery of Regional Music and Dance School of Saint Paul / Périphériques Marin+Trottin Architectes. Photograph by Luc Boegly
I love when we have an Olympic year in music class. This is the second one we've celebrated since I began teaching, and we went all out! I started off by selecting 8 countries and then dividing each of my classes into 4 teams (I have 4 risers, so each riser was a team). Students in grades 4-6 participated, so there ended up being one grade level each on every team. Each day, students competed in a different Olympic event. The events we competed in were the ski jump, speed skating, curling, bobsled, biathlon, and ice hockey. Each event focused on a different musical concept such as rhythm, singing, note reading, rhythmic values, etc. Here are the posters I created for each one. We listened to the national anthem of the winning country after each event and kept track of each country's medals on the board in the back of the room. The students loved checking the board to see which country was in the lead. Here is the final medal count from the end of the month. Here are some pictures of the students competing in each event. We used paper plates for ice skates, actual curling brooms for curling, floor hockey sticks and tennis balls for hockey, and laminated tag board for cross-country skis. The difficulty of each event was modified based on the grade level. It was a great month! Speed Skating Speed Skating Curling Ice Hockey Instrument Family target for the biathlon Cross Country skiing to the target in the biatlon Biathlon Biathlon: matching the instrument to the correct target
Walk into the Konan Ward Cultural Center, built by Chiaki Arai in the city of Niigata, 150 miles northwest of Tokyo, and you feel that you’ve stumbled onto a sci-fi movie set.
Image 2 of 40 from gallery of Budapest Music Center / Art1st Design Studio. Photograph by Tamás, Bujonovszky
In Vienna's interactive sound museum, the world of music is to be discovered - innovatively and unconventionally. Real and virtually created sound worlds invite visitors to directly experience, explore and create musical phenomena. With House of Music, Vienna, the city of music, has a place where the fascination of sounds can be felt.
Joe Ho Associates has designed the F.Buchholtz Art Center located in Guangzhou, China. We believe that good design is one of the things that can make […]
I had done a few different centers in the past, mostly with my upper grades, and not very well thought out. This year though, one of my personal goals was to incorporate centers in a way that was well-planned, gave students lots of ways to practice a concept, and gave me more than one way to assess students. I'll have another blog post coming soon about the centers I did, or you can see a video of them on my Facebook page. Today though I want to talk about how to prepare your students for centers in the music room. Before really diving in to centers this year, I talked to some classroom teachers to learn more about how centers worked in their rooms. Each person I talked to said, take the time to go over each center with the whole group before ever dividing the class for centers. Since I don't have as much time as a classroom teacher (my classes are 30 minutes and are back to back), I decided that instead of trying to cram it into the beginning of a class period and then starting centers that day, I would take a class period to discuss all my centers. So I'm going to share with you how that day went. Since this was my first time doing centers at my new school with these students, I had no idea how long it would take to explain all of the centers and how everything would work. I figured if I have lots of extra time, we will play some singing games that I pulled patterns from for these centers, but this actually took about 25 minutes with both of my classes. I brought my classes in and had them go to their assigned seats in front of the board. I said that we would be doing something kind of new in music the next few times we have class so I wanted to share with them about it today so that we could spend all of our time in centers the next two times. Instead of having all of the centers spread out around the perimeter of the room, which is where I put them when we were actually doing centers, I lined up all my centers at the front of the room under the board. On my computer, I had the zip file that contained all of the PDFs for each file pulled up so that as I was going through them with the whole group, if I wanted them to be able to see something better, I could show them the PDF version instead of the tiny cards I was holding for some of the centers. We walked through all of the centers in order. I read through the directions and we "played" each center one or two turns. For some centers I would have a small group of students come up and be the demonstration group as the class watched. I asked if there were any questions about each center before moving on to the next one. My students knew that they needed to ask any questions they had on this day so that they wouldn't come up asking me questions on the actual center days. The students were really interested and engaged the whole time. I think there was a little bit of mystery to it, like "OOO, I wonder what is going to be at the next center" or "I wonder what those manipulatives are going to be for" and that kept them really focused on what we were doing. Students asked good clarifying questions about the individual centers. They also asked about their groups. I have about 28 kids in each class and set up 8 centers. Most of my groups had 4 students in a group, some had 3. I assigned all groups by typing up a list. I emailed the list to their teacher and asked their teacher to line them up in that order (so the four students in group 1 are first, followed by group 2 and so on....) the next time they came to music. I also had her double check my groups to see if there would be any issues that I maybe hadn't foreseen. This was a really good idea because the next time they came to music, I met them in the hallway and they were all in the right order. I had the centers so that center 1 was closest to the door and then they went in a circle around the perimeter of the music room, so as the students followed me in, I basically dropped off four at a time in the order they were in at each center as we went around the room and I was with the last 3 or 4 students at the "teacher center", center 8. I didn't have to waist any time putting kids in order or reviewing directions for any of the centers. I had directions for each center posted at each center in case they forgot or were absent when we went over the centers, but there seemed to be no issues with students knowing what to do at each center. I only had one student come up to me the entire two days of doing centers and it was because of an issue with a group member, so I think that is pretty darn good for our first time! I hope this gives you maybe a new idea about how to prepare your students for centers so that they feel set up to succeed at each one without needing to ask questions during centers. I feel like taking that day to go over them at a relaxed pace, sending the centers groups to the teacher, and having students come to music on centers day already in order really helped everything to go smoothly. Do you have other ideas that I haven't thought of? Share below! Wanting to take the guesswork out of creating centers? Here are centers sets I've created and used with my classes:
Culver City, California based firm, SPF Architects recently presented their design concept for the Cantos National Music Center for Calgary. The...
Image 9 of 23 from gallery of Tianjin Juilliard School / Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photograph by Zhang Chao
This is the second blog post in a series devoted to Music workstations. Check out the first blog post about Getting Organized for Music Workstations to learn about planning and setting up your teaching space. In this post we are going to talk about what students will actually do at each workstation. Often the activities that I have students complete in centers are ones that we've already done as a whole group. This gives students confidence and results in less off-task behavior. Not every activity lends itself to this kind of introduction so I always try to include a task card or directions at each station. In the lists below you'll find links to blog posts (mine and others) and products (mine and others) that may help you in planning and creating activities for your students. So...what can students do at a music workstation? Sing Use puppets and Wee Sing songbooks, lyric sheets from songs you are working on or seasonal songs to get students singing! I always tell students that the puppets can sing only. No talking. Include lyric sheets and have students cover part of the page with sticky notes, poker chips or painters tape and sing through it. Great for memory work! Vocalizations-Such a fun way to help students explore their voices. My kiddos love this one and this one. Encore-I love this game! Play Instruments Print out simple folk songs that are color coded to Boomwhackers or hand bells. Rhythm Stick Reading (also try Maraca Rhythm Reading, Triangle Rhythm Reading, Tambourine Rhythm Reading and Rhythm Instrument Reading which uses several instruments.) Pick a story or poem for students to read. Have students add sound effects while reading it out loud. Recorder Composing Station Xylophone Composing Station Work on Rhythm Swat the Rhythm Noodle Notes Craft Stick Rhythms Rhythm Blocks (Mega Blocks) Play Dough Mats (get them here) Musical Yahtzee (Layton Music) Use Martha Stanley’s Mighty Music Grid to practice drawing notes, composing simple rhythm songs to clap together and more. Rap It, Clap It, Music Match It (I love this one and this one. Oooo! And this one is free!) Practice Identifying Pitch Names Treble Clef Twister Staff Wars on the Smartboard or tablets, kids love this! (Shhh! Me too!) Flashnote Derby Bottle Cap Staff-Such a fun way to practice placing notes on lines and spaces, identifying pitch names and “spelling” on the staff. Create an Original Mnemonic Device –Have students brainstorm new sayings to help remember the lines and spaces of the treble clef staff. Matching Games Flashcards and Worksheets Swat the Staff Caterpillar Rhythms-See them in action here. Learn About Instruments Mystery Instruments A brown paper bag, a classroom instrument and a detective sheet. Read about instruments. Apps to Try: JazzyABCs, Garage Band, Virtual Drums, Mini Harp, Music Keys, Piano Pals. Wow...there are so many more amazing apps I could list here, but to save time I'll let you link me up in the comments section. Instrument Family Punch Cards Misspelled Instrument Punch Cards Instrument Coloring Sheets Watch videos about instruments from YouTube. I love the ones that show how an instrument is made. Read Books and Articles about Music and Musicians Set up a classroom library! There are many great books about music, instruments and composers that students love to read. Books that are also songs are great choices as well as books that can be read rhythmically. Composer biographies are great for upper elementary. Check out www.makingmusicfun.net for free biographies and worksheets. Music Alive Explore Composers of the Month Composer Coloring Sheet and Bulletin Board –Bulletin Board pieces could be used in a center. Listen to Great Music Set up a listening center in your classroom and choose music that coordinates with things you are studying in class. Add listening sheets to the station to encourage students to listen for specific musical elements. Color and Write About Music Color by Symbol Color by Dynamics Meet the Composer Coloring Sheets Composer Writing Prompts Younger students can write or draw about music. Musical Writing Prompts Play Games Dynamics Dash and Dynamics Tower-from Denise Gagne’s Music Centers Kits 1 and 2 Bop-It and electronic Simon Says -They are great for rhythm, coordination and melodic memory. Candy Land-convert and use for note differentiation. Musical Jenga Amy Abbott from Music al a Abbott has a great selection of music themed games. Check them out! Everything Else Talk About Tunes- Students pull out a topic and everyone in the group takes a turn answering. Teacher Time-Be a workstation! Use your time with each of the groups to assess pitch matching, instrument skills and more! You can get a bundle of music workstations in this set: Music Workstations MEGA Bundle Whew! That's quite a list to get you started! This is really just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many student centered activities that we can plan as part of our regular curriculum that really let students take the lead in their own education. They are fun and engaging for students and easy to set-up and assess for teachers. Do your students work in centers or workstations in your classroom? What kind of activities do you do? Share with me in the comments. I'm always looking for another great idea to get kids singing, reading, playing and moving! The next post in this series is filled with tips and tricks for making workstations work in your classroom. Music Workstations Tips and Tricks Like these ideas? Pin them for later!
Image 11 of 15 from gallery of Linde Center for Music & Learning / William Rawn Associates. Photograph by Robert Benson
In this blog post I'm going to talk about what I think are the five best activities you can use in your learning centers rotations!
Built by Integrus Architecture in Wenatchee, United States with date 2012. Images by Lara Swimmer Photography. Located in a popular park-like area of the campus, the new Music and Arts Center was thoughtfully designed to reflect...
This educational poster was designed and drawn by yours truly! This eye-catching, Montessori-style alphabet poster features musical instruments from all over the world. The inclusion of some interesting, lesser-known instruments makes this poster truly unique and a great addition to any kids area. Perfect for any room in the house, classrooms, daycares, librarys and more! Help kids learn their ABC's while introducing them to the WORLD of music! *This is a digital file download, no physical poster will be shipped. You will need to have this printed yourself*
Here are three steps you need to take to ensure a successful and enjoyable experience in music centers for you and your students.
Like most teachers I am such a fan of dollar stores. I can shop there to organize my classroom, create new workstations and add a little flair to my bulletin boards. I'd like to share with you just a few of my favorite finds! Flyswatters My kids are always a little in awe when they see my collection of flyswatters. (This pictures shows most of my collection.) I sometimes use them as pointers when projecting things on my white board, but most often these are used for Swat the Staff or Swat the Rhythm games. With Swat the Staff, I use masking tape to create a large staff on my board. Two students (from two different teams) stand at the board. I call a pitch name and the first person to correctly swat where that pitch should be gets a point for their team! Fun! You can check out some of my Swat the Rhythm games in my store. Plastic Fruit, Veggies and Food I try to do all of my singing assessments with my primary students in a game like setting. "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone" and other singing games help them relax and I can assess their ability to match pitch, sing in head voice or whatever we are assessing that day. The plastic fruits, veggies and food are great for this kind of thing. The teacher sings "Who has the lemon?" (sol mi la sol mi) The student with the lemon sings back "I have the lemon!" (sol mi la sol mi) Little Cars At one time I'm pretty sure I had a thousand of these little cars in every nook and cranny of my house! It wasn't quite that many, but it certainly seemed like they were constantly multiplying. Now, they are a music workstation! I added stickers to them and used the Music Town Parking Center file to create an interactive activity that my kiddos really enjoy. I've used this fabulously with 2nd and 3rd graders. At some dollar stores you can get 3 little cars for $1. Score! Clothespins I love using clothespins for assessment. Yep. Assessment. I painted some wooden clothespins, drew rhythms in various meters and had students pin them to a piece of paper that I had drawn a 2, 3 and 4 on. If the pattern had four beats, they pinned it to the side of the paper with the 4 and so on. Another GREAT activity for assessment is Clip It. I have several of these sets that you might be interested in: Animals, Camping, Careers, Christmas, Presidents, Thanksgiving and Instruments. Students match the syllables of each picture with one of the rhythms by clipping them. Balls I like to use balls to bounce to the beat and for workstations like Note Toss (click to learn more) and Snowball Scoop (click for more details). Alphabet Puzzles These inexpensive alphabet puzzles are great manipulatives for Kindergarten and First Grade. We sing the alphabet song while touching each letter. Then I'll pick a letter and we will all remove that piece. Next we sing through the alphabet song again but when we get to the missing letter we say "shh". Later this knowledge translates to a quarter rest. In first grade, the students can handle this activity on their own in small groups and I set it up as a workstation. Craft Sticks Craft sticks are handy for many reasons. Two of my favorite uses are creating groups and rhythmic dictation. To learn more about how to create classroom groups with craft sticks read THIS post. For rhythmic dictation, I show students how to create quarter notes and barred eighth notes with the sticks. I clap patterns and the students "notate" them with the craft sticks. When they have mastered that we figure out how to create a quarter rest with the craft sticks. I've found that students are really creative with this! Pipe Cleaners My pal, Kristin Lukow, introduced me to this idea and I LOVE it! The kids do too! We listen to some soothing music while fashioning pipe cleaners into different notes. For some notes or symbols students really have to use their problem solving skills to create them with only a pipe cleaner. This activity gives students a chance to identify notes and symbols in a new way. Flashlights I have just started to experiment with using flashlights as manipulatives for listening activities and movement. I've used them in performance before (see THIS rendition of "Fireflies") and I've been in workshops with the aaahhhmaaazing Artie Almeida who used them during listening activities. Artie calls if flashlight painting and it is an amazing way to keep 100% of your students engaged. Here's a video that might explain a little more. Play Dough There is just something about play dough that makes me smile. The kids love to have the opportunity to use it in music class. I use THESE play dough mats as a workstation. The mats name each symbol or note and contain and brief definition. Styrofoam Coolers Weird, right? These little coolers are PERFECT for creating the Snowball Scoop workstation I've described in a previous post. They are also great for decorating a winter/snow themed concert. At a buck each you can by dozens and create a wide variety of "snow" structures. Dip and Veggie Trays Once I started creating workstations with these dip and veggie trays it was pretty hard to stop! Check out: Dip and Chip Workstations Dip Tray Workstations: Instrument Families and Note Values (freebie here!) Dip Tray Workstations: Bottle Cap Pitches Pool Noodles If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am a big fan of using pool noodles in creative ways. Noodle ponies, steady beat swords and unique bulletin board displays are just some of the ways that I have used them. You might like to check out these pool noodle posts for more information: How to Make Pool Noodle Ponies Pool Noodle Ponies: What to Do with Your New Herd Steady Beat Swords Unusual and Incredibly Fabulous Bulletin Board Borders Like these ideas? Pin them for later!
Image 17 of 40 from gallery of DePaul University School of Music Holtschneider Performance Center / Antunovich Associates. Photograph by balloggphoto.com
