Non-traditional instruments (1st in a series): Beatboxing!

Happy Monday!

One of our warm ups in music class is an activity called "echo clapping". It's a "follow-the-leader" style game, and we do body percussion (stomping, clapping, etc.), vocal warm ups (sirens, consonant work, etc.), and a little bit of beatboxing! Beatboxing is an excellent way to warm up the facial muscles in preparation for singing and helps us get ready to clearly articulate the various sounds in given languages.
Practicing beatboxing skills can also help improve speech difficulties. Check out this article about World Champion Beatboxer Kaila Mullady. She tells the story about showing her brother's speech therapist different beatboxing sounds to help the brother practice and improve his speech: 
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-april-13-2018-1.4616838/music-in-mind-and-mouth-how-beatboxing-is-helping-kids-with-speech-problems-1.4616923
For a demonstration of beatboxing, here is a link to a Ted Talk of an Australian beatboxer demonstrating his wide range of skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNZBSZD16cY&feature=youtu.be
The voice is a traditional instrument, but using your mouth, neck, and face in such a wide variety of ways puts beatboxing in the "non-traditional instrument" category for sure.

Why we speak rhythms, notes, and lyrics in music class!

Hello again!

I shared this article with students in January of last school year to help them understand why we say almost everything verbally before we try to internalize it. Spoiler alert: it helps you remember what you're supposed to do! :P
Unfortunately you have to pay to read the full article, but you can access the brief overview of the study on the University of Waterloo's site here:
https://uwaterloo.ca/news/news/study-finds-reading-information-aloud-yourself-improves

Music Education helps Children's Brains Develop Faster!!

This is a recent article on the benefit of music education on your child's brain development:
https://musiceducationworks.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/a-childs-brain-develops-faster-with-exposure-to-music/
The areas of the brain especially effected were responsible for "language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception."
What a great reason to encourage your child's musical interests and development!

Welcome back to school! (August Newsletter)

Hello Little Hawk families,

I am extremely excited to be returning to MTE for my 4th year as the general music teacher and choir director! There are some exciting things happening this year, including moving into our brand new school! If you haven't seen the progress lately go check it out, it's really coming together.

On this blog I will be sharing information about what has been happening in the music room at the end of each month. Additionally, I will be posting useful documents, recordings, etc. on the related pages as the year progresses. This first post is long, but worth the read if you can set aside 5-10 minutes! Below are some websites you should have bookmarked in your browser in order to stay up to date with everything MTE-related throughout the school year. Also below is some information about an exciting personal goal I will be pursuing this year and how it benefits your student and the community.

The MTE staff truly appreciates the effort it takes to get your student ready to come back to school and learn after a long summer break. Thank you for your dedication to their education! We can't wait to see them :)

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer,
Mrs. Harreld

This Blog (all music programs) - I will be posting information about grade-level performances once a month, information about choir/band/orchestra peformances and field trips as they come up, resources for various ensembles, and information about my journey to become National Board Certified! More on that below***

PTO Website - Are you a member of our amazing PTO? If not, SIGN UP NOW! We need families to volunteer to help run events in order for all of our amazing PTO celebrations to continue. You can sign up for various events/volunteer needs throughout the year on their "signupgenius" website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f49aead29a6f49-needed
You can also text "PTO" to 88202 to receive text message updates from the PTO about all of their events, meetings, and opportunities to support our students. These messages are administered through your fellow humans, not by machines, in case you're wondering :)

Our School Website - This is a great place to check the school calendar for special events, see if your child's classroom teacher has a website/blog/classdojo or seesaw page, and keep up to date with special programs at our school that are run by the district, or someone in the building.

ClassDojo - This is a website designed to help teachers communicate with families. Teachers create classroom pages, invite families to connect to the page via their account, and then you can see pictures of school work, videos from the classroom, and special reminders from your student's teacher about upcoming events or homework. There is also a message center within the website that allows you to have an instant message style conversation with the teacher that created the online classroom. Additionally, there is an app you can download (for all smart phones). This makes conversing with the teacher super easy, and keeps your feed updated with all of the latest posts from the classroom. I will be using this app for choir and ukulele club this year, so please keep an eye out for those invitation forms to connect if your child brings one home!

***Never heard of the National Board Certification? Basically, it's a super rigorous assessment for teachers to determine if they are an accomplished educator in their area. We have many NBCTs (National Board Certified Teachers) on our staff, including: Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Knowles, Mr. McCarthy, and Mrs. Gloth! (and there may be more, if I missed you let me know!)
The NBCT assessment is extremely thorough. I'm pursuing this high standard of accomplished teaching to benefit your student's music education in my room, and to have a greater influence in improving music education in the district. :)
I will be sending home release forms at the beginning of the school year in order to meet requirements for my submission. The release forms let the test administrator (Pearson Assessments) know I have your permission to share your students' written work from class. The release form also tells them that I have your permission to submit a video or audio recording of your child's performance in class. The videos, audio recordings, and all written work for my certification are for Pearson's assessment of my skills only. None of this information will be published and available to the public. I cannot submit materials if I do not have the signed release forms from families, so please mark "Yes", sign the form and return it to me as soon as you are able. I really appreciate it! Remember, this is all to benefit your child's music education at MTE and in the Edmonds School District.