MUSIC MAKING IN THE

CLASSROOM

REYMOND E. DELOS REYES

 So many classroom
teachers, shy away from
teaching music. At the
outset, you have the
preconceived notion, that
you can’t teach music
because you just don’t
know how.
 Your units in
music in college
seem inadequate
to meet the
needs of a music
class.
How do you
begin to teach
Music?
 If you are assigned to teach music
for the first time, you can start by
conducting the following listening
activities:
 Listening to sounds around the room
like the “hissing” sound of chalk as
teacher writes on the board.
 Nature sounds like the “thud, thud”
sound of raindrops beating on the roof,
thunder, and wind on the rainy day.
 Other outdoor
sounds like cars,
motorcycle,
kalesas, trains or
an airplane
passing
through.
 Here, you can classify sounds into
loud, soft; getting louder/ getting
softer; fast-slow; moderately fast/
slow; etc.
Listening Activities:
a.Have your pupils identify the sounds
they heard and draw figures
representing these sounds.
b. Ask them to imitate the different
sounds created by footsteps walking/
running, motor vehicles moving, animals
chirping, barking, etc.
Listening to Simple Music
It would be a lot of help if a CD tape is made
available for use. Choose lively and catchy tunes for
children.
 Let your pupils feel
and interact with the
music being played. Ask
them if the music makes
them feel like dancing
or swaying. Does It
make them happy? Or
does It make them sad
or sleepy?
 Repeat the music
as they organize
themselves into
small groups. Each
group may be
made to respond to
music in its own
way.
Rhythmic Games
Listening can be stretched to doing simple games
like the “Follow the Leader” activity through-

a.Simple clapping of the hands, that follows simple

patterns like

leader does / / / /
class follows / / / /
b. Snapping of the fingers creating improvised
patterns like:

/ / / /
snap clap snap clap

/ / / / / / ://
snap clap clap snap clap clap
c. Patting and rapping movements by tapping
hands over thighs, tapping desktops in a given beat,
and chanting in mono-syllables like:

/ / / / / / /
tsum gally gally gally

/ / / / / /
tsum gally gally tsum
Rhythm Band
After giving your pupils some
listening activities, you can
move on to using simple
instruments such as a pair of
good sounding sticks, a pair of
bao, castanets, maracas, ring
of bottle caps, triangles, drums,
etc.
 After you begin to
accumulate sound-making
objects such as empty
Yakult bottles, toy bird
whistles, and the like, you
will soon find yourself
forming a rhythm band.
 Once your rhythm band is prepared to
play certain beats in 2’s or 3’s, then
match their arrangements with a taped
music in 2/4 (march) and/ or a ¾ (waltz)
type of music.
These activities are simple motivational
activities. These could be done during the
first ten or at most twenty minutes of your
forty minutes class.
 For the next half or twenty minutes of your
music time, let your class learn a taped song
by themselves.
 You are expected to guide them in this
activity so be sure that you know the song
very well yourself before you teach it to
the class
The simplest way to teach
a song involves the
following steps:

a. Sing along with the

tape, guided by the
teacher through a
printed music score in a
chart.
b. Repeat the tape as the
class repeats the song line by
line.

c. Play the tape a third time

with the class getting familiar
with the tune/ melody by
singing in so-fa syllables or in
loo.
 Make the class sing the whole song by
themselves (without the tape) with the music
score visible to guide them through.
 To help your pupils learn a song
by heart, you could on the next
session, have the lyrics written on
the board, review the song, and
get the pupils memorize it.
 As repeated singing of the
song is done, gradually erase the
words of the song, until
eventually, all the words are
erased and your pupils have
memorized the song.
 You could also
consult more
experienced music
teachers to help you.
Observe how they
teach their music
classes.
 Music making in the classroom could
be made more exciting and alive
depending on how you feel about
music and how you prepare to teach it
in class.
Classroom Music Games:

Bucket Band is an easy and inexpensive way to help teach rhythm

Get to know
your students
ice breaker –
and helps
students get to
know one
another!
Spin and
notate
activity!
Survey Instrument

Enumerate the general issues and

concerns that should be immediately
addressed in the school relevant to
the implementation of the curriculum.
DISTRICT CHOIR CONTEST
December 1, 2017
THANK YOU !