How To Teach Music with Jessica Grant

How To Teach Music with Jessica Grant is built from classroom specifics. Episodes name pitches, label forms and describe exactly what students do with their mallets, so the ideas are ready to try. The most detailed material comes from a series called 'Arrangements Inspired by Pop Music for the Classroom'. Grant refers to an earlier installment on choosing which songs to arrange, with tips on what to listen for and where a song's range sits. 'Paint It Black' by the Rolling Stones becomes a way to teach theme and variation. She lays out the pitch setup and notes that the melody moves by step. She also suggests having students click on beat one of each phrase, where a rest makes the timing hardest. Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do' is set for xylophones, with musical form at the center. Its verse starts right on the downbeat, which she points out many pop songs do not, and a short phrase repeats three times before a new one arrives. Students count or click five times to hear the bass line before the introduction, and glockenspiels take that opening melody. Marian Hill's 'Down' gets an AABA breakdown, with a bass-line introduction and a B portion that she says students need to hear and feel before they can play it. Grant sings bits of the melodies as she explains, and she cheerfully admits it when a lyric escapes her. Some of these episodes point to free Google Slides and arrangements on her website. Beyond the series, 'Drum Roll Please! Welcome Back to School with Rhythm and Speech' presents a speech and drum piece for upper elementary students. The idea is that students perform the classroom expectations instead of just hearing them explained. In one version, students write questions on cards, and during the B section the teacher draws one from a jar and answers it, setting aside anything inappropriate. Other episodes step away from lesson plans entirely. 'Annual Halfway Goals Review' checks in on her 2024 goals, including an exam she missed by one point and passed after more study. Her advice is not to take that exam during a busy spring. 'AMLE Institute Insights: Educating Middle School Students' reports from the Association for Middle-Level Educators institute in San Diego, which she attended with a friend and school colleague named Lori. She describes a small-group home base that worked through a book, sessions that each offered something actionable, and her ongoing thinking about leadership, managing, influencing and making positive change. For a first listen, the pop arrangement episodes are the most hands-on place to start.