Tiny miracles in a busy day

I am only going to write a short post tonight because the play is tomorrow and I was at school until almost six-thirty working on lighting cues with our new board etc. (more about all of that later), but I just had to write about a little miracle that happened today...

Ever since Christmas and in particular over the last week, I have been madly running around sorting out props, costumes, lighting cues, sound equipment and directing actors etc., so I have very little time to prepare for my music classes (part of the reason I chose to focus on improvisation and composition this month). It is ridiculous to expect that a person can focus on so many things all at once! It seems like there is always one subject where I am letting things slip a little... this month, it has been my music classes.

I have been trying to get in a few mini theory lessons as part of the composition process, but I am realizing that these kids really need to have a lot more information about the structure of music, and I wanted to try and make it fun, so... today at lunch I finally took the time to create a giant piano out of masking tape on my floor. It was something I had in mind for a while, but today I decided to take the time and do it. Part of my strategy was that I wanted to distract the kids from playing with the costumes my drama kids had placed in the room ready for our dress rehearsal, but I thought it might bring some life into my theory lesson.

What fun!

Finally the kids enjoyed learning about the names of the notes, how to make chords and what sharps and flats are. I had them playing games and creating music with my "giant piano" almost the whole class. I didn't have much of a plan for how I would use it- it was a spontaneous decision, but it was really fun improvising the lesson as we went along. I'm really excited to see how it works with my other music classes tomorrow.

I need to go write out sound and light cues for the play now, but I will try and "keep you posted" on what happens with my giant piano. I hope my other classes enjoy it as much!