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nafmeadmin.
nafmeadminThe middle school here is looking into doing some reworking of the music program. Currently, 6th graders are required to take general music for the entire year and may choose choir and band as an elective. Choir and band compete with many other electives and they only get to choose one. Consequently, since they already have a music class in the day, the numbers in choir and band are not great. 7th and 8th graders do not have general music but the low numbers in 6th grade effect the band and choir numbers there as well. I would like to know how other middle schools have their programs set up to gather some information about how to change things for next year. Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Karen
nafmeadminIn my district, 6th graders are required to have at least 1 semester of music in 6th grade. They may choose from general music, choir, band or orchestra. They can take band or orchestra for a full year, but general music is only a semester. This current year, chorus is a semester option, but it used to be offered full-year as well. Our 7th and 8th grade chorus numbers are very low, and one reason is that the students can take piano class or guitar class as an elective. The other reason is that our district cut the 4th and 5th grade choruses that we used to have several years back.
nafmeadminIn my PreK-8 school, 6th graders choose either General Music (me) or Band (colleague). Then in 7th and 8th grade Band is their only option for music, as they just changed the 7/8 specials block to the morning when I have PreKs. (Thank goodness!) I have offered my after-school choir to Grades 2-8, but I only get grades 2-5. Kids north of 5th grade traditionally don’t like singing a lot.
nafmeadminMiddle School music has it’s challenges for sure. I have developed a curriculum that I use with my students that combines music theory and composing original music in a very progressive way. I’ve made the curriculum available for other teachers to use. There is a small fee associated with the web courses but the proceeds go towards allowing us to provide the program to NYC Public schools for free. You can learn about the program on my website here: http://www.yciw.net
Let me know if you have any questions!
Christopher M. Johnson, Professor of Music Education and Music Therapy, is currently the Chair of the Music Education and Music Therapy Department and Director of the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas. Johnson earned his Ph.D. from the Florida State University.
Since his arrival at The University of Kansas, Johnson has taught courses in Instrumental Conducting, Teaching Instrumental Music, Managing Behaviors in the Music Environment, Psychology and Acoustics of Music, and Research Methods in Music Education and Music Therapy. Johnson served two terms as the editor of the International Journal of Music Education: Research, the research publication of the International Society for Music Education. He is currently serving his second term on the National Association for Music Educations Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Research in Music Education, and one earlier term as the Chair for the MENC Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. Johnson also served as the Chair for the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education.
Johnson’s research interests include applied research in music education, and basic research in all aspects of the psychology of music. He has published articles in many journals including the Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Music Education, the Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Band Research, Contributions to Music Education, and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, among others. Johnson has also been an active member and contributor to the Research Seminar of the International Society for Music Education and World Alliance for Arts Education.
Johnson received a university teaching award – the Ned N. Fleming Award for Excellence in Teaching and received the recognition for Graduate Teaching Achievement from the Center for Teaching Excellence. Johnson was also awarded a lecturing & research award as a J. William Fulbright Scholar and recently received the Ella Scoble Opperman Citation for Distinguished Achievement from the Florida State University College of Music.
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