The Musical Classroom: Backgrounds, Models, and Skills for Elementary Teaching, Sixth Edition

Rating:
Summary: MUSIC EDUCATION IS FOR EVERYONE
Review: Surprisingly, neither the online booksellers nor the publisher, Prentice Hall, refers to the audiocassette of all 60 musical selections in the model lessons for teaching music, which accompanies the Fourth Edition of this book. This is actually one of the main benefits to having it in a classroom or home setting. College instructors use this as a textbook to teach musician and non-musician teachers how to teach the art to elementary school students. Even parents who home school their pre-school and elementary school age children should find this a very accessible resource for teaching all basic musical elements: expressive qualities, melody, rhythm, form and harmony. I wish that I had found out about this resource guide and lesson plan library before returning to teach elementary school music full time after 30 years of pursuing a varied carrier in law, business and "higher" academics. The standardized essay exams for certification in music education should be a snap now. All the right conventional pedagogically sound verbiage is there to satisfy the most melancholy of lesson plan freaks. The cassette tape makes this book more helpful than Music Fundamentals, Methods, and Materials for the Elementary Classroom Teacher by Michon Rozmajzl and Rene Boyer-White(2nd Ed., Longman, 1996). For a complete (and much more expensive) library of childhood music experiences in the schools go to the K through 8 textbooks and teacher aids (ample CD recordings, overhead charts, wall charts, musical play scripts, and several video cassettes) in the Share the Music series published by McGraw-Hill (2nd Ed. 1998).

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Rating:
Summary: Must have for anyone seeking music in the classroom.
Review: This book and accompanying cassette are invaluable! I teach grades K-8 general music and this book has been very useful for lesson plans. There are step by step lesson plans and the cassette provides the music and excerpts needed to present an effective lesson to the children. I've found that these lessons tie in easily with the benchmarks and goals for all of my children. If you do not own this book- buy it. I'm now waiting for an addition to come out that includes my 6-8 grades.

Rating:
Summary: Must have for anyone seeking music in the classroom.
Review: This book and accompanying cassette are invaluable! I teach grades K-8 general music and this book has been very useful for lesson plans. There are step by step lesson plans and the cassette provides the music and excerpts needed to present an effective lesson to the children. I've found that these lessons tie in easily with the benchmarks and goals for all of my children. If you do not own this book- buy it. I'm now waiting for an addition to come out that includes my 6-8 grades.