Friday, October 26, 2012

Hot Rod Music Cart Update!

Today is a big day.  I finally received the cup holder that I ordered from Amazon.com to mount on my music cart.

Yesterday I tinkered with it a little, but figured I would need a couple bolts, a couple nuts, and some washers to make it work.  Thankfully I still have my bag of tools at school from when I did the initial Hot Rod Music Cart project.  In my bag I found two 1 1/2" lag screws that fit the bolt holes on the cup holder perfectly, so I knew I was in business.

The cup holder itself is made of semi-rigid molded plastic, and is intended to mount on the windshield bracket of an '88-95 Jeep Wrangler.  I miss my Jeep very much, so this is the best I can get at the moment toward having one again.
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the actual process of the install.  This is something I did by myself in the 5 minutes before students came this morning. 


I debated with myself about the placement, and had all but decided that I would mount it on the left end beside where I intend to mount an Ikea shelf (when the day finally comes that I head up to Ikea).  Then two things occurred to me: 1) I am right handed and 2) I could use the empty space on the front right corner without it being in my way.  Thank goodness.  I think having to use my left hand to hoist my coffee mug might have been a recipe for disaster - think less "Boy, that's awkward..." and more "Oh no! Hot coffee spilled on two third grade violin students! Potential lawsuit!"

We can't have that.

There's something wrong with this picture...  Something is missing...
The best news was that the install was extremely easy.  I used a silver Sharpie to mark where the holes were going to go, checked for level (I still ended up being slightly off, but not by much), and drilled out a pair of 1/4" pilot holes.  Then I held the cup holder with one hand while I inserted and tightened each lag screw.  Unfortunately I didn't bring a socket wrench with me, so I had to use a pair of channel lock pliers (what my Dad and Granddad call "Waterpump Pliers"), but it worked out fine.
Ah, hot coffee in the coffee mug, that's what was missing!  Install officially complete.
The completed install from the right side. Again, notice the boxes of ukuleles in the background!

The important thing is that in the end, I got a fully functional coffee mug holder that is mounted to my Hot Rod Music Cart.  Let's face it, having a fresh cup of coffee close at hand is all it takes to make me happy.  Most days.


Saturday, October 20, 2012

Mary Had a Little Misfire...

It occurred to me that when I assigned my beginning strings students the task of figuring out "Mary Had a Little Lamb (MHALL)" by ear, not everyone would succeed.  I expected that, and told the students that while I didn't expect it to be perfect that I did at least expect some progress from each of them.  What I had not counted on was to have 90% of my students come back whining about how hard it was and how they didn't know how and couldn't do it and it was so unfair.

Really?

Apparently I'm just a mean music teacher who wants to see my kids fail.

Wait, what?

Since I gave my students the starting pitch (F#), and told them it only used the three notes they knew at that point, I kind of thought that they would be able to at least get a rough idea of how the song went.  Especially after we sang it together several times in class, and I had a fairly solid feeling that everyone knew how MHALL went. 

So it looks like next week we will be discussing two things - the importance of sticking with an assignment, regardless of how daunting it may be, and how you can make a pretty good guess about what the next note in a song is just by knowing if it is higher or lower than the previous one.  Especially when you only have three choices. 

Now, in all fairness, not everyone complained, not everyone came in with tales of how impossible the given task was.  I actually had a handful of kids who could play MHALL or some approximation.  That's exactly what I was looking for, just a starting point to get them playing using the new notes they had just learned.  There were a few kids who, when asked to play what they had figured out, froze in the spotlight and couldn't seem to remember how to hold their instrument.  We'll work on that later.  For right now, I want to get the rest of the group up to speed on actually attempting an assignment rather than either giving it two or three halfhearted minutes and giving up or just not trying at all and giving me some lame excuse.

I hate lame excuses. (I forget where I picked it up, but I have been known to tell students "Excuses are like armpits.  Everyone has one and they usually stink!")

Next week I am going to teach everyone "Hot Cross Buns" and have them attempt to figure that out by ear.  This time, though, I will give them some more structure, spend some time dealing strictly with the rhythm of the song and have that written out for them to refer to. I might even given them a sheet with the rhythm written out and blanks for them to fill in the note names. 

We'll see how that goes.


Monday, October 15, 2012

More about practice...

Continuing the theme from the last post, let's talk some more about practice.  Specifically, how does one get a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader to practice.  Today I once again had the joy of having my third grade strings class (all twenty of them - holy cow!).  I'm already seeing the patterns in who practices and who does not.  Part of me thinks that there is not much to be done about that at this point.  But part of me thinks that there has to be some solution to get students motivated to practice.

So here is the plan:

Today's class was about using one and two fingers on the D string for the first time.  I spent a good five minutes just going around and correcting hand positions (why do students have great hand position until you ask them to move one finger?  Suddenly I had kids using the wrong hand, turning their hand around, and shifting way up the neck of the instrument!.  Once I felt we had some measure of success with basic finger placement I had everyone play a couple exercises out of the book just using E and F#.  Once they had been through those (though admittedly it was toward the end of class and I was trying to push for just a little more time), I gave the students their challenge - figure out "Mary Had A Little Lamb."  Yes, it's in your book, no it isn't called that.  No, I don't want you to find it in the book.  Yes, I am serious.  Yes, I do think you can do it, you know all the notes now.  No, really, this is completely possible.

The best part was that there were quite a few students who looked genuinely excited to give it a go.  That doesn't mean everyone, or even a majority, but it was nice to see what looked liked some enthusiasm for going home to practice.  The other best (bester? Bestest?) part? Even if most of these kids only give it a halfhearted effort, I would be willing to bet it's more practice than they've been doing. Given that some kids still can't figure out which hand to hold the violin/viola with, anything to get them playing has got to be an improvement.  I don't expect many of them to come back Thursday morning and really be able to play "Mary Had A Little Lamb," but I am hopeful that most of them will try.

This also highlights my beef with many strings method books - why, oh why do method books start on open strings and then immediately move to G on the D string?  Is going from no fingers to three fingers really the best way?  Instead I have my students find the E exercise (#14 in Essential Elements 2000 for Strings, Book 1), then once they have mastered that (and don't get nearly so many thunking sounds), we go backward to the F# exercise (#11 in EE2000).  Once they have the hang of that, we go to the G exercise (# 10 in EE2K - and I believe I will be calling it that from now on).  Once they have the idea down for each of the first position notes on the D string, then I have them fill in all of the exercises in between that we have skipped.  I also have several exercises that I wrote myself that I pass out and have the kids work on using only open D and first finger E.  All in all there ends up being quite a bit for students to work on in this very beginning stage of using only a few fingers on one string. 

I'm including a link to the scores for  my D& E exercises - hopefully you'll get some use out of them!
Exercise1  -  Exercise 2  -  Exercise 2.5  -  Exercise 3  -  Exercise 4


I will try to remember to update our "MHALL" progress after Thursday's class. My fingers are crossed!



Thursday, October 11, 2012

Practice makes... Something...

Today I got a piece of news that I love to hear.  A student of mine, a beginning violist, spent something like an hour and a half the other night practicing on her own in her brand new strings book.  She came in this morning and told me she's already done the first 11 pages (the class is still on page 5).  I love to hear that a student is so motivated and willing to push themselves beyond what we are currently working on as a group.  I wish I had more students like that, students who are so eager to learn and do and create that they don't wait for instruction to be given to them; instead they want to blaze a trail on their own and ask for help only when they feel they need it.

Of course, like all things, this comes with a caveat.  While it's great that she is so motivated, I worry about any bad habits she might develop forging ahead on her own.  I also wonder how faithful she is being to proper technique, and how in-depth her practice is going.  Is she actually working out the notes and rhythms to be able to play them correctly, or is she glossing over some things just to get to the end?  Is she focusing on tone quality and a good, characteristic sound, or is her viola just making whatever sound it makes and that's it?

I feel like I need to overhaul my method of teaching students how to practice.  Clearly it does not do to only have one or two students motivated to practice, which is precisely what I am hearing right now (strange, both students whose parents have told me they are extremely motivated are third grade violists...). Practice needs to be something that is both useful and fun, otherwise it serves no purpose.  But how do you get a student to understand that practicing is fun?  And that down the road they will reap benefits that they currently cannot see?  I remember the feeling of standing in my parents' basement holding my brand new trombone in fifth grade and honking away for 5 minutes or so before getting frustrated that I didn't know how to do anything.  I wasn't a strong enough music reader to be able to pick up much from the texts, and I couldn't decipher the more advanced music in our method book.  I tried halfheartedly to pick out a few tunes by ear, but felt like the instrument was too cumbersome to be able to accomplish anything.

I don't want my students to feel that they don't know enough to make the next step on their own.  I also suspect that in a perfect world the motivation to practice and the benefits of practicing go so obviously hand-in-hand that all students grasp the importance of individual work.

Unfortunately, I suspect that so often in this world of standardized testing and group-think that the importance of each group member working out their own difficulties and facing their own barriers is downplayed.  The worst part is that students are avoiding practice because of the things they don't know during a time when the information they need to improve and succeed is more available than ever before.  In a brief search of YouTube I know I can come up with pages and pages of trombone lessons or clarinet lessons or violin lessons.  I'm fairly certain we can even find lessons on the serpent or ophicleide if we wanted.

But do students know this?  And more importantly, do they understand the incredible power that can give them?  Granted, watching internet videos, no matter how hi-def and in-depth, will never replace having a good teacher; the hands-on supervision of a lesson or ensemble can't be duplicated by the internet.  I find myself thinking that maybe my practice focus needs to shift on teaching students not only how to play and how to practice, but also how to find guidance and inspiration outside of class. If I can get a handful of students each year to find inspiration to work on their own who wouldn't otherwise do so, that would be a major victory.

I wish someone had told me just how much I could accomplish on my own with the right tools when I was in elementary music.  I can't help but wonder where that might have taken me.

Thoughts?

Monday, October 8, 2012

Hot Rod Music Cart

Today was parent conference day.  Being a music teacher, that means that I don't generally get much in the way of traffic to my room, especially since I am out in the Mobile Music Mansion.  I did get a few parents that came through, though, and had some good conversations with them.  Hooray for awesome parents!  That definitely makes my job much easier, since I'm usually the one who gets to call or email them and let them know that they need to spend more money for their kid's musical endeavors.

Since I knew today would be a bit lonely, I came prepared.  I knew I needed to grade some student work, but more importantly, it was time to build something I've been dreaming about for 4 years: the Hot Rod Music Cart.  Now, to be clear, I do not teach from a cart, I have my own classroom - the Mobile Music Mansion isn't that mobile. Thank goodness.  Instead, I was hoping to have some means of organizing the things that I use a lot during the day.  I initially had lusted after a kitchen cart from Ikea, with plans to hack it into the cart I wanted, but since it cost $100 I kept having to put it off.  Again.  And again.  For 3 years.  Including several times where I was in Ikea and they didn't have that particular cart in stock.  Ugh.

After striking out so many times, I decided it was finally time to look for another solution.  Thankfully when I moved into the Mobile Music Mansion last year, someone was kind enough to leave behind a black plastic media cart.  Since I used it in plain view of just about everyone last year and no one said anything, I decided that meant it was mine to use.  Hooray!  Then I had to decide what to do with it.  What exactly did I want?  Well, for starters I needed a music stand that didn't require me picking it up and moving it constantly, so that had to be attached to the cart.  I also wanted storage for writing implements, as I am prone to putting them down and walking away, then forgetting where I put them.  I wanted easy access to some of the tools I use for day to day instrument repair.  I wanted storage space that was close at hand for band and strings method books and teacher manuals.  I also wanted to be able to sort sheet music, worksheets, handouts, etc. I wanted to be able to use the top of the cart to tune violins and violas.  And most importantly, I needed a place for my coffee.

Wow, that's quite the list.

So here is where I started:


Wow.  Quite the pile, eh?  Hey, is that a Kinder Chinder?  And masking tape?  And a clarinet?  Nice pencil cup.  My goodness.




Thankfully these things clean up easily.  Here we are nice and cleared off.  See those brown boxes in the background?  That would be 9 ukuleles!  Woohoo!


First up is cutting the post from the music stand to length.  This was an old Wenger stand that wouldn't stay at the desired height.  The clutch inside had worn out, so I took it apart using delicate but persistent (read: repeated and moderately violent) force.  Nothing a pair of pliers and a flat bladed screwdriver couldn't handle.
Since the stand was going to rest on the middle shelf, it had to be cut down about 3 inches to keep it from being too tall.  I didn't want to give my students something to hide behind, so I figured a little adjustment would be just the right perscription.  I marked my cut with a Sharpie and cut it using a clamp and a hacksaw on the rear steps of the Mobile Music Mansion.



Here is what the stand looks like attached to the cart.  I'd say I got the height just about perfect.



 This is how it looks from the back.  It's attached to the cart using a metal hose clamp and a block of 1x3 that I had in my shed at home.



 Here's a closeup of my high-tech fastening solution.  The hose clamp is screwed into the cart using a self-tapping screw, then the post of the stand is slid through the opening, which is then tightened.  I will probably end up needing to put some sort of gasket in here to prevent the stand from twisting, but it's already pretty solid.  The base is a piece of 1x3 cut down to roughly square, then attached to the shelf using two deck screws.  The center of the square piece has been drilled out halfway using a 3/4" paddle bit, which just happened to be the perfect diameter for the post.  It's not exactly elegant, but it will do.  I'll probably paint it black at some point.




 On the handles I attached a roll of masking tape using a zip tie.  It hangs loosely enough to be able to use it for all of the masking tape situations I encounter on an average day (a surprising amount, really).  I also looped two rubber bands together to make a sort of sling to hold my mouthpiece sanitizer spray bottle.  Speaking of which, I need to make some to refill the bottle.  More on that later.




Here is what the front looks like after the stand, masking tape, and spray bottle are attached. For a brief moment I thought I would stop there, but felt like something was missing.  

Notice the Sharpie and pen on the front right corner?  Me too.  

Something must be done about that.




Fortunately, I have been drinking sweet tea that comes in rectangular prism-shaped bottles.  In the best spirit of recycling I cut the top off to use as a funnel (I swear I'll be brave enough some day to have the kids make maracas out of cans and beans in class), then I attached the bottom to the front left corner to hold my writing implements and anything else that needed a vaguely cup-shaped container.




Here is a three-quarter rear view of my completed (for the moment) Hot Rod Music Cart.  Notice the music stand, pen container, and stack of books (with the binder of Turning Point clickers underneath!). I can only hope that things will stay so neat and organized.


Plans for the future - 

Hot Rod Music Cart 2.0 - I want to add a set of organizers to hold sheet music, a Lack shelf from Ikea on the non-handle end, and a coffee mug holder along the lines of this one.  I also had a small plastic set of drawers I picked up at Walmart several years ago that I used for the smaller tools that I need for repairs from time to time, along with rubber bands, valve oil, a spare violin bridge, and some cork grease.  I imagine that the contents of these small drawers will evolve over time, but I think this is a good starting point. I also would like to come up with a means of mounting a clarinet stand and a violin hanger, but I can't decide if that is just reckless endangerment or a useful idea.  More on that as it develops.

So there it is, the Hot Rod Music Cart!  Hopefully the idea will inspire someone to build their own.  Have you built your own Hot Rod Music Cart?  Or something along those lines?  Please share in the comments!

Mr. Earley










Update - 10/15: Today I realized I had no place to put my conducting baton.  I often forget that I have it since I'm usually worried about it getting broken or lost.  Solution?  I drilled a 1/4" hole in part of the handle of the cart.  Now my Mollard sits just to the right of where I stand in front of each ensemble.  Good to go! (Picture coming soon)

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Grand Opening!

Greetings, and welcome to the Mobile Music Mansion! I am Mr. Earley, and I will be your host here at this blog.  This is my third or fourth attempt at a blog, and I think I may have finally decided on something that was worthwhile enough to keep updating - music education, and more specifically, my classroom!  

Currently I teach in Southern Maryland at a small elementary school of about 270 students.  My classroom is a trailer *ahem* learning cottage that I have dubbed the "Mobile Music Mansion."  My students think it's just a goofy name.  The parents and other staff members generally seem to find it quite humorous.  Personally, I thought it was a stroke of brilliance, but I may be slightly biased.  

So, what might you find here?  Well, my hope is to keep current on the goings-on in my classroom and how I apply my personal music education philosophy to the day to day things that make up an elementary music classroom.  Since I teach total program (general music, band, strings, and chorus), I unfortunately don't have room in my schedule for Pre-K, but I do teach grades Kindergarten through 5 all day, every day Monday through Friday.  I love to hear classroom teachers grip about how 25 kids is too many; I just respond with how my 270 are a good number!

I will be posting some pictures of my classroom setup soon, along with a few projects and ideas that I will be trying out in the coming months.  Hopefully running this blog will be a motivator to stretch my comfort zone with that sort of thing.

I am a pinner on Pinterest, and as soon as I figure out how I will post a link to my boards there. (Edit - I figured it out - http://pinterest.com/natebone)

I also have a store on Teachers Pay Teachers where I post music-education related items that can be purchased and downloaded. If you are a music teacher who hasn't been to TpT, I highly recommend it.  There are tons of great resources, and lots of freebies!  Soon I will also be posting examples and samples of some of the items I have available in my store, so be on the lookout!  For starters, how about a poster to help motivate students to practice?




The information in these posters is something I worked out based on Malcolm Gladwell's "Rule of 10,000."  I hope I did the math correctly, if not, could someone please let me know?  I would be most grateful!

Well, that's it for this first update.  I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts here, and hopefully hearing from others, whether they are music teachers, music students, or just wanderers or the internet (perhaps arriving through the series of tubes...).

Mr. Earley