The Piano Guys

It’s that time of year again! Where has the summer gone? As the school year fast approaches classrooms are being set up, walls decorated, and last minute planning that we promised we wouldn’t do.

For the first post of the school year I wanted to share something that I personally don’t see to often discussed or shared throughout the teaching community generally speaking and that is music in the classroom.  Usually at this time of year we are going over how everyone is setting up their rooms and what activities we do to start off the year. However, I think music has an important place in the class and how it can have a positive affect. Now obviously we can’t play music all the time especially when delivering instructions. However, there are moments in particular that can really have an impact in my opinion.

One of the easiest ways music can have an impact is first thing in the morning when students are walking in; some full of excited energy, others in denial the school year has in fact started again, and some simply still sleepy from their summer. Music I feel can help bring a level of calm and relaxation to all students creating a balance if you will. How often is that when students first walk in and there is this kind of awkward timidness that creeps throughout the air as they try to navigate their new classroom, figuring out where to sit and hoping to see a familiar face from the previous grade. As a result  by music being able to help bring a sense of calm into the classroom from day one. I also feel that it can help being creating a positive classroom culture. Another instance in which I typically play music is when students are working quietly. I have noticed that having something quietly fill the air helps keep chatter down and students seem to focus more on their work. Overall, I think playing music in the classroom truly creates a positive atmosphere for the students to enjoy. I highly recommend if you haven’t explored with playing music in the room give it a try. You will become surprised how much students will begin to request to listen to music and eventually it can become a bargaining chip if you need it to be.

So the next thing you might be thinking is what kind of music do I play, especially because students can have such a wide range of musical taste even at a very early age.  You can easily go on to YouTube and and type in the search, “classroom playlist clean” to find music that would be appropriate to listen to, sometimes a song sneaks in that should not be there on the playlist. These are all good and typically I will find one I like and use it in the classroom. However, I have found a few years back while doing some searching for different music than the typical modern pop music that we all listen to I discovered a group called, The Piano Guys.