Writing with Music
Exposing children to a range of different musical influences has benefits beyond broadening children's musical horizons. It can also provide an engaging context for developing literacy skills.
I have one particularly vivid memory of primary school. I was 10 years old and Freddie Mercury had just died. My Year 6 teacher played the music of Queen really loudly all day. It was an emotional day, though I am not sure I knew why at first. I remember the whole class singing his songs together.
As a child, music was everywhere in my life; cassettes for long road trips, Radio 1 playing while a Sunday roast was being cooked. I was one of those children who taped the U.K. Top 40 on a Sunday to make his own radio show, roping in my younger sister for good merit. As I got older, I loved finding new music, discovering a new artist and catching songs that would remind me of a moment or place.
I am not musically skilled, I cannot play or read music, but I admire those who can. For me, a powerful song can completely change your mood or enhance the one you're currently in. In my very first year of teaching, I started introducing a Musician of the Week. I still hear a few songs to this day and remember that class fondly. Twenty years later I continue to use music in my classroom.
When I select a different musician, it is important to strike a balance. I make sure that I am choosing from all genres of music. No matter age, colour or gender; everyone gets a chance to be heard. I usually start the year with someone quite popular to capture the children's interests. For example, my recent Year 2 classes have all started with Harry Styles. Someone they have heard of but do not know too much about.
In those first few weeks I hit the facts hard, sharing the musician's age, musical value, adding dates to a timeline as well as explaining some of the terminology like album or charts. I quickly alternate my musicians as each week goes by, swinging to Ella Fitzgerald then to the feisty Foo Fighters.
While I play a lot of the artist's music in class, we focus on just three songs and usually watch these music videos. I am careful that should a child wish to investigate an artist's music further that their entire back catalogue is appropriate for young ears.
A lot of children have never heard of some musicians, so it is always interesting watching them express their opinions.
Like reading a short story, a song can have a huge impact in just two or three minutes. Children form their opinions quickly and are happy to share; songs make great talking points. There is surprisingly a lot of inference to be gained from watching a music video or hearing a song.
At the end of the week, I ask children to take a whiteboard and write down a sentence about the musician of the week.
This is usually linked with an opinion they have formed about one of the songs. Each week I use a different spelling, grammar or punctuation focus. In those first weeks we start with capital letters and full stops. I might try and get them to use the word because in a sentence. 1 loved listening to San Cisco because their music makes me want to dance or
'I really didn't like Taylor Swift as her voice is just too loud!
After they have written on their whiteboard and I have checked their work has the expected features, they are given a post-it-note, where they rewrite their comment. This is then stuck upon an A3 piece of paper with the musician of the week in the middle. Everyone has their opinion on display. Parents enjoy reading these notes as they are pinned outside the classroom door a day or two before the new musician goes up.
As time moves on, I incorporate different areas of writing to focus on each week, for example, similes, commas, and apostrophes. The format stays the same. I can revisit any area of writing they have not mastered. The children's ability to write at greater length increases as does their presentation.
'Oh, I noticed a few parents had trouble reading some of your opinions, do we think we could make it neater?' I might say. The children become more assured in explaining their opinion and saying what they thought of a particular style of music. Each opinion poster finds a home in the classroom and by the end of the academic year we have a story book of musical thoughts.
At the end of the academic year, we incorporate this rich data source into our mathematics. We conduct a poll and find out who was the favourite musician and count down our favourite top ten before the end of year class party. Even though he was the first ever musician of the week, Harry Styles always features in the top five.
This feature within my teaching remains to this day one of the most commented upon aspects of my classroom environment. Teachers stop as they walk by and comment Oh I love their music!' or 'l have never heard of those!' Parents though, have been with the class from the start. I make a simple Spotify playlist with a QR code for them to add at home. Each week I add the three songs to the playlist and by the end of year we have a huge back catalogue of songs. On a Friday afternoon we listen to the whole playlist in class. Parents always share just how much they have loved their child coming home singing Al Green, 7 SENSES or Dolly Parton and it seems to be one of their favourite learning moments from the year.
Opportunities to write letters to a favourite musician, to draft questions in a Tweet or to compete in dance competitions to favourite songs are all different ways I might use music in the classroom. It provides me with a quick light touch to check in on the children's writing and provides instant feedback via whiteboards.
It is not a big writing project, rather an opportunity to express opinions. Ultimately though, I love music and getting to use it as a writing prompt remains the most important aspect of why I incorporate music into my classroom. It can add much more focus to a writing opportunity and gives meaning to the children's words in so many ways.
