Music Teacher Coffee Talk

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #186: Tanya's Takeaways from World Music Pedagogy Announcement! We will be doing a live recording of Music Teacher Coffee Talk at the OAKE Western Division Mini-Conference on November 8th in Denver! If you plan on attending the conference, we'd love to see you at our session.  Want to cheer us on with some Music Teacher Coffee Talk merch? We are doing a pre-order of T-shirts, coffee mugs, and tote bags that can be picked up at the conference. Complete this form to order your swag! (Orders for WDOAKE conference attendees only- items will be delivered at the Western Division OAKE Conference in Nov. 2025) Main Theme: Tanya's Takeaways from World Music Pedagogy In this episode, Carrie asks Tanya about her experience taking World Music Pedagogy training this past summer. We talk about what the class was like, what Tanya has learned, and how she's implementing new ideas into her teaching this year. Things we mentioned in this episode: Smit...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #170: Peek At Our Week: 5th Grade Main Theme: Peek at our Week: 5th Grade Tanya:  These are the songs and activities I am using to as move move into the second semester. For the rest of this year, I will be focus on love and joy of music through active music making and also bridging between elementary music and middle school music for those who will be continuing on. I also want to focus more on multi-cultural music. We'll be doing a Tinikling unit that includes both traditional Filipino as well as moving to modern popular music. We'll also be doing a unit about the son clave rhythm pattern and its use in music throughout various cultures and genres. I'm also exploring a project where students will research one of their favorite musician's musical influences. We will also be doing ukulele and keyboard units this semester. Carrie : I am working with my 5th graders on preparing a musical performance based on the book "What Do You D...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #155: Realizing Diversity Check-In In this epsiode, Carrie and Tanya check in on how they have implemented things they learned during the 2023 Summer Book Club while reading Realizing Diversity: An Equity Framework for Music Education  by Karen Howard. Main Theme: Realizing Diversity Check-In After reading Realizing Diversity , we were inspired to create a "Music Culture Project," similar to the project outlined in Appendix D in the book. With the help of a few other teachers in our district, we created a 5-lesson unit that traces the "Son Clave" rhythm from Ghana to the Americas and how it appears in music of many cultures, genres, and time periods. Here are some resources we mention as we discuss the unit we created and taught to our 5th graders: 2023 Summer Book Club Episodes: Episode #135:  Part 1 Episode #136:  Part 2 Episode #137:  Part 3 Episode #138:  Part 4 Let Your Voice Be Heard: Songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe by...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #147: 6 Picture Books for the Music Room Happy Anniversary to Music Teacher Coffee Talk! We are excited to celebrate our 6-year podcasting anniversary this month. Thank you for listening and supporting us for so many years! Main Theme: 6 Picture Books for the Music Room In this episode, we'll be talking about our 6 of our favorite picture books for the music room and how we use them with kids. 1. Under the Sea  by Harriet Stone and Catharine Robertson and illustrations by Ella Bailey (Purchased at the Scholastic book fair - here is a similar book you can get on Amazon. ) We'll read this book to generate ideas of things that live in the ocean in preparation for singing Sea Shell: 2. Who Stole the Cookes from the Cookie Jar by Margaret Wang and illustratios by Christine Schneider.  This is a great book to read as a way to introduce the traditional chant. 3. Over in the Meadow  by John Langstaff and illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky. ...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #146: Icing and Sprinkles: Recipes for Success Pt. 4 Check out this episode on YouTube! Main Theme: Icing and Sprinkles We are continuing our Recipes for Success series and today's episode is all about transitions.  Think of daily lesson plans as a layer cake and the lesson segments are like the foundational layers of the cake. The transitions are like the layers between the cake that bring more flavor and texture. Now it's time for the icing and sprinkles. These are the activities that you include that may not necessarily relate to your main lesson segments or to a melodic or rhythmic concept, but are fun, engaging and contribute to the overall enjoyment of musiking. Types of "icing and sprinkles" that we like to include: Themed lessons Carrie shared a themed lesson for Kindergarten that has a sleigh ride theme. Here are the basic activities of the lesson: No More Pie : echo song Galloping movement to the Wild Rider by Schumann Sing...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #131: Subbing for Yourself   Upcoming Events: Tanya will be presenting a workshop titled "How Can I Keep Them Singing: Singing Games and Activities for Older Students" on Saturday, April 22 for the Plains States Kodály Organization (PSKOR) in Kearney, Nebraska. Get more information here! Main Theme Carrie and Tanya talk about lesson ideas and activities for when you are subbing for yourself, meaning you are not feeling well or have low energy, but you still need to teach. Here are some ideas for lessons where students are still actively making or responding to music, but you are preserving your health, energy, and sanity. Ideas and resources we mention:  YouTube play along videos Musication Ready Go Music Independent instrument practice time (recorder, ukulele, keyboards, etc) Stations or centers (only if students have done them before) Music listening, appreciation, and responding Individual listening (give choice when possible) Read-along ...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #129: "Real" Music and "School Music": Bridging the Gap   Upcoming Event: We will be presenting at the  Organization of American Kodály Educators National Conference  on Saturday, March 18 at 10:15 am. Our session is titled "Bright Ideas for New Performance Traditions." We'd love to see you there! Main Theme In this episode, Tanya and Carrie discuss the challenges of bridging the gap between "school" music (the music we teach in our classroom), and "real" music (the music students listen to and are familiar with from home and/or music from different cultures that is simply important to listen to).  When emphasizing "Real" music in the classroom for study and listening, we consider the following: How can we place emphasis on more diverse and meaningful listening and less on the traditional focus of music literacy (ie: doing research and spending more time planning intentional moments of lis...