How can I get involved in Music In Our Schools Month®(MIOSM®)?
Music teachers celebrate MIOSM in many ways by offering special performances, lessons, sing-alongs and activities to bring their music programs to the attention of administrators, parents, colleagues, and communities to display the positive benefits that school music brings to students of all ages.
NAfME provides several resources for teachers and schools to use in their concerts, lessons, and advocacy events that highlight the importance of school music.
Ideas for Celebrating MIOSM:
- Change your profile picture for Music In Our Schools Month® during March!
- Share photos of how you celebrate Music In Our Schools Month® with your students and your community on Instagram and Facebook using #UnitedThroughMusic and #MIOSM. Don’t forget to tag @NAfME!
- Advocacy Resources:
- Download a MIOSM Concert Program Insert Landscape, Portrait
- Download MIOSM Lesson Plans coming soon
- NAfME member Elizabeth Caldwell authored these articles that you and your students can use for ideas to celebrate Music In Our Schools Month:
- Music In Our Schools Month 2024®: "I See Me in Music Education" Song Bracket
- Music In Our Schools Month® 2023: “Music Is All of Us” Song Bracket
- Music In Our Schools Month® 2022: “Sound of My Heart” Song Bracket
- Music In Our Schools Month® 2021: “Sound of My Heart” Song Bracket
- Music In Our Schools Month® 2020 Ideas for the Classroom
- 2019: Bringing “All Music. All People.” into Your Music Program
Other Ideas to Get Involved
- Join your state’s advocacy day! Not sure if your state hosts one? Contact your State Music Education Association.
- Invite parents to attend and watch your rehearsals, not just your concerts! Have students share with their parents what they learned during the rehearsal.
- Go to a nearby senior living center and invite residents to join in a sing-along.
- “Toot your own horn” with an article on your school website or community newspaper.
- Invite your administration, school board, or other community members in for class.
- Share YOUR story with your students. Who inspired you? Why did you pursue music?
- Create a video for local advocacy. Record your students performing and include an introduction from your principal, mayor, or another leader demonstrating their support for music education. Use the video for outreach to television
- Make a “Music Month” calendar, and suggest that students dress for different musical eras. Play appropriate music as students arrive in the morning and at lunchtime.
- Add a musical touch to the morning announcements. Try having a “mystery tune” each day, or a music trivia question, with MIOSM prizes for the winner.
- Present faculty members with music buttons or lapel stickers and ask that they wear them every day during March.
- Sponsor a poster or poetry contest. Posters and poems should support Music In Our Schools and revolve around the current year’s theme. Have individuals from outside the school judge the entries.
- Have a talent show emphasizing music. Tell a story, a joke, or read poetry about music, and be sure to include traditional acts of singing, playing instruments, etc. Invite the parents, and choose a winning act from each class to perform in a winners’ assembly.
- Collaborate with the art teacher and have students design posters, banners, and buttons featuring the MIOSM theme of ‘Music is ME.’
- Ask students to draw their favorite musical instrument, have them design an instrument of the future, or bring in homemade instruments for “show and tell.”
- Collaborate with your school’s history or social studies departments to create cross-curricular activities based on the theme of the concert or the pieces being performed.
- Ask students to cut pictures of music and musicians out of magazines and create a musical wall collage for your classroom(s).
- Have students list ways in which music is a part of their everyday lives. Have them compare lists with friends and family members.
- Invite teachers in your school to sing along with your students at a concert. Better yet, create a teacher chorus or instrumental ensemble to perform at an MIOSM concert.
- Take a field trip during MIOSM to hear a local college group, community chorus or orchestra, or invite a group to perform at your school. Take advantage of MIOSM events to teach students about concert etiquette.
- Invite local Tri-M or NAfME Collegiate members to participate in your MIOSM plans through performing, teaching, games, and discussions.
- Share photos of how you celebrate with your students, and your community on Instagram and Facebook using #MIOSM and #UnitedThroughMusic. Don’t forget to tag @NAfME!