Youtube Uses for Music Class

Over the past two years, I have begun a newfound appreciation of Youtube. Sure, it has things on there that are not wholesome, and one must be careful. It can be very useful for music teachers, however. Here are four basic ways I use Youtube in teaching:

First, you can show my students videos of topics of discussion. Two examples will suffice. The first example is taken from my sixth grade students. This semester we are talking about world music. I have used Youtube to demonstrate how native people play their music. We have already seen a russian play a balalaika and an Israeli folk dance. Second, my fifth graders are learning about music history. We discussed the boy choir. What better way to show what that looks and sounds like than to play the Westminster Cathedral Choir singing Hide Not Thou Thy Face by Richard Farrant?

Second, you can find new music for your band or choir. Many bands and choirs will post their (hopefully) better performances on Youtube. If you are curious about a certain piece but can’t find a good recording, look there. Another way to find new music is to look in the related videos section (obviously after clicking on a video).  I can’t tell you how many times I have found a new piece by listening to recordings from other schools’ concerts. Chances are that if the students on the video look like they enjoy the song, your students will enjoy it as well. Two examples of songs I have found this way are Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin and Calling My Children Home by J. Jennings.

Third, you can use Youtube to locate musical issues and problems. As a  choral director, I am faced with a lot of rehearsal dilemmas. Listening to other choirs’ mistakes gives me a clue as to where those problems will arise.  Also, you can make performance decisions such as how fast or slow to take a song, or how loud or soft to sing a piece.  Many times, you can incorporate a fellow director’s idea into your own performance. A good example of this would be a piece that my choir is performing this semester, Zion’s Walls arr. Glenn Koponen.  There are so many different speeds and articulations in which this piece is performed. You can listen to them and see what works best.

Fourth, you can play a recording for your music group. I have found my students are more acceptant of a new, difficult piece if they can hear how it’s supposed to sound. This is especially true if the piece is a little more esoteric in nature. They may even perform the song better the first time if they hear it before they perform it.

These are just four basic uses I have found for Youtube in my music class. Youtube is fast, cheap, easy, and extremely useful resource. I encourage you to use it in your classrooms.

Our Heroes

I recently heard someone talk with a great deal of nostalgia about how people used to be able to lift up professional sports players as role models. Since I am relatively young (although my students might say otherwise , I do not think I can speak on that subject with any experiential authority. My theory, however, would be that perhaps there is simply less privacy than there used to be. Therefore, people like Michael Vick or Tiger Woods cannot get away from scrutiny. Cable and sports news stations all over the world dedicate themselves to publicize every failure that will ensure good ratings. That’s the world we live in now.

People need heroes. Young people need to be able to model their lives after people who discipline themselves. Sports players can fill that role, but only to a certain extent. You may point to Tiger Woods and tell someone, “Look at how he is continually improving his game. Look at how he is disciplining himself in order to win!” Mr. Woods is a great golfer,and the fact that he worked so hard to become great is commendable. Other than this fact, he might not be a good role model. As Christians, we should not expect more than that. Most sports players are unsaved men. We should not expect them to be Super Men.

My father once said, “Flesh is flesh, no matter whose bones it’s stretched over.” That truth has come to my mind more and more frequently the older I get. We are all weak and sinful. Even the apostle Paul said that he sometimes struggled to do the right thing (Romans 7:15). That’s the rub. No role model is a perfect one except Jesus Christ.

I say this not to discourage looking for role models. The apostle Paul also told the Corinthians,” Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). When pointing out role models, we need to explain this fact to our peers, parents, students, and children. A twinge of uneasiness hits me when people talk only in glowing terms of others. What happens if those role models we exalt fail? Will it crush our faith? Will it crush others’ faith?

Growing up, my father was my hero. I am very thankful he never professed to be greater than he was. He was the same person at home as he was pastoring a church. I was able to see him persevere through hard times. I was able to see him make mistakes and ask for forgiveness. I was able to see him study diligently to exegete a passage so that his congregation might learn, not his personal opinion, but the Bible’s. In short, I was able to see him strive to be like Christ.

Let’s be a little more hesitant to exalt great men. Let’s settle for following good ones instead, especially as they follow Christ.

VOKE Choral Festival

Well, I don’t have a whole lot of time for this, but I figured I would write something anyway. I recently attended the VOKE Choral Festival in Fairfax, VA. My kids did a great job. They worked hard and performed well.  I’m very thankful to the parents who helped wrangle kids. I’ll tell you a little about what I learned later.

The Music Teacher’s Fainting Fits

There comes a time during every semester that music teachers just lose it. They’re ill, they’re exhausted, and their students aren’t listening. The concert(s) is/are coming, and the students aren’t close to having learned the music. What’s more, they don’t seem to care that they don’t know their music or how they perform.

Such was the position of despondency I found myself in this semester. However, I was reading 1 Cor. 3:5-15 this morning. God showed me how I should be viewing this avenue of ministry.

Paul was talking to the Corinthians, who were behaving very sinfully. They had split themselves into factions, claiming to be followers of Peter, Paul, Apollos, and Christ. I imagine that Paul must have been quite disheartened by their behavior. But Paul doesn’t draw attention to himself. He tells them that he and Apollos are merely “servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

All we have the ability to do as teachers is teach the students godly character as best as we can. In the end, it is really not up to us how they do; it is up to God. We need to give it up to God. Let Him handle it. He’s much better at handling stress (and students!) than we are.

And my concerts went pretty well anyway.

Music is Music

My job at VCS is made easier by the existence of my coworker, AKA the Band Teacher. You see, while I teach 3rd-6th grade general music and choirs, she teaches the bands. Her expertise in instrumental music has been invaluable to me. She focuses on her strengths (instruments/band); I focus on mine (vocal/choir). We are able to ask each other for help, ideas, advice, and commiseration.

The band teacher and I both teach a portion of  3rd grade music, and this has been a great arrangement. She teaches the recorders, and I teach the choir. The downside to this is that sometimes the students get a little mixed up. Recently, my coworker came to me and stated that my 3rd graders were having difficulty transferring what they learned in my class to what they were doing in hers. Apparently, they thought that using counting syllables (ta, ta-a, ti-ti, etc.) was only useful in general (i.e. vocal) music.

I set about to fix this problem. I had my 3rd graders bring their recorders to general music. Interestingly, both classes asked if they were supposed to bring their recorders that day. It just didn’t seem right. I was merging two worlds that they had separated in their minds. I casually responded that “yes, they were supposed to bring them today.”

My next step was to teach them a simple ostinato to “Cotton-eye Joe,” a favorite from earlier in the semester. We looked at the ostinato. We clapped it while speaking rhythmic (counting) syllables. Then they played it while other members of the class sang.

At the end of the lesson, I tried to bring home a simple, specific, and profound point: music is music. A quarter note played by a recorder will take up the same amount of time if sung. A g played on the recorder will be the same pitch that a singer sings, pianist plays, or trumpeter trumpets. Eventually, I hope they will learn that good musicianship is eerily similar in all realms of music-making.

New Article on Recorder Teaching

I had the recent privilege of reading this article on using recorders in a singing-based general music curriculum. I heartily recommend it, and will try to incorporate the ideas into my own classes.

MuseScore

Recently, Finale started charging for their Notepad program. I certainly didn’t want to pay for a program that doesn’t even have everything I need to do. Thankfully, I found another program, MuseScore. This program is open source, so maybe one day it will work very well. Right now, the program seems functional. Not being a technology expert, there are still some things that I need to figure out.

The Christian Teacher and Discipleship

My ‘91 Dodge Shadow died a few weeks back. At the time, I was both relieved and stressed out because of it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that a sword of Damocles was hanging over my head while it was around. I never knew when the old car would die. Thankfully, the Lord provided a 2002 Mazda 626 for me to drive just a few weeks later. Little did I know that the timing would be of great spiritual benefit to me.

I had initially planned on visiting my sister and brother-in-law much sooner.  They live in Greenville, and I had not seen them in a while. But whenever I planned on seeing them, my car started acting up. I finally made it to Greenville a couple weeks ago.

While there, I attended their church, Heritage Bible Church in Greer, SC. That morning one of the pastors spoke on the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Even though I had heard sermons on that passage before, this one stood out to me. The speaker brought some things to light I had not seen before in that text. The passage is as follows:

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The KJV edition of this passage tells us to teach all nations, but the ESV really hits the nail on the head. We are to make disciples. There are two aspects of this command: we are to give the gospel, and disciple those who believe. Most preachers I have heard speak on this passage concentrate on the former aspect rather than the latter.  Both are important, however.

In my vocation, I do get the opportunity to give the gospel. Unfortunately, many times I neglect discipling. Why is this? Giving the gospel is quicker and requires less work. Think about it. It takes less than five minutes to give the gospel. Discipling takes years of effort. The discipler would have to commit him/herself.

Another reason why we fail to make disciples is because it’s safer to just give the gospel. Well, at least in this country, anyway. The person we are trying to evangelize will usually either become a disciple of Christ or he/she will not. Perhaps you might be cussed out, and that’s it. But when we disciple, we take the chance that years of emotional and spiritual investment might be for nothing. The student might reject us, the teacher. Personally, I know I have struggled reaching out to people because of this fact.

The last reason I can think of is that Christians might feel inadequate to disciple a fellow believer. As a Christian, I know how often I fail. I am often crushed by the weight of my sin. How could someone follow and learn from me?

All Christians are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God. Our Christian life is in a progressive state of sanctification. We are pressing toward the  mark, but we have not attained perfection. It follows that God intends Christians to be constantly building each other up because and in spite of our sinfulness. But don’t just take my word for it.

Col. 3:16-Le the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to the Lord.

Heb. 10:24-And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

It is our duty to follow the great commission. It might not be your job as a businessman, lawyer, nurse, doctor, or teacher to make disciples, but it is your duty and privilege as a Christian. This is something I will be working on in the coming weeks/months/years. I invite you to do the same. As for the obscure mythological reference at the beginning of the post, I apologize. I’ve always wanted to use one of those.:-)

Diaphragmatic Singing

Over the course of the year, I have been teaching certain vocal techniques. These techniques are essential to good choral singing. I think of techniques like inhalation, posture, raised soft palate, and sustained exhalation.

This week, I introduced the technique of diaphragmatic singing. After introducing the idea, showing them what the diaphragm was, and teaching them how to feel it (pant like a dog), my choirs did a simple warm-up exercise. We sang do, mi, and sol staccato using diaphragmatic action. Then we sang do, mi, and sol legato. I was amazed at the change in sound! They sounded breathy before. Now, their sound was full and much more mature. We will definitely be doing more work with this in the future.

BJU Competition

Next week I will be attending the annual BJU Fall Fine Arts competition. Please pray for my girls that they will perform well and to God’s glory. We still have a few things we need to get right. What has been scary is that the swine flu (as well as other flus and sundry diseases) have infiltrated my school. I already had one girl back out because of it.