Ideas for Spending Money

[nafmeadmin]

If you taught 6-8 choral/general music, and had nothing in your room other than a piano, computer, smart board, and had $1,000 to spend, what would you buy?

[nafmeadmin]

Oh, and about 30 students per class!

[nafmeadmin]

risers come to mind, or do you already have those? Sheet music/octavos would come in second. From there it would depend on how much is “general” and how much is “choral.”

[nafmeadmin]

A starter library of arranged popular and traditional songs, auxiliary instruments (tambourines, triangles, finger cymbals, claves, etc), a nice variety of drums (I love SoundShapes; they’re cheap, easy to store and are perfect for lessons about physics and sound (larger instrument = lower sound etc). These you can add to songs and use as hooks to get their interest and teach a variety of concepts. Also, you might get a few sets of classroom posters. Music Is Elementary has a bunch of nice poster sets for about $10 each. I got a set and laminated them; been using for years.
I agree about risers.

[nafmeadmin]

GarageBand or MixCraft; a speaker to hook up to your computer or laptop; sibelius or finale; iPod and speakers.

[nafmeadmin]

Risers! Unless they’re too expensive – not sure how much they run? I inherited them in my current teaching situation. Along the same lines – maybe you could get them donated by someone else in the district, if they have extras.

Christopher Roberts
Seattle, WA
Council for General Music Member-at-Large

[Author]

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