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Pass the Baton
“All too often the music classroom stifles students with one-size-fits-all curricula and repertoire. With Pass the Baton, authors Kathryn Finch and Theresa Hoover turn that paradigm on its head, offering a vision of music education that empowers students as critical thinkers who exercise voice and choice to question, discover, connect, and play like never before—in and out of the classroom.
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Pass the Baton offers readers a comprehensive guide to crafting engaging music lessons that transform students from passive consumers to vibrant creatives. Whether you’re looking to rethink general music or overhaul your ensemble groups, Pass the Baton is chock-full of generative, actionable, and impactful tools. Finch and Hoover have drawn on deep research and years of experience in the music room to provide a guide for all music educators to create a learner-centered environment and give students the opportunity to truly own the creative process.”
Full STEAM Ahead
"Full STEAM Ahead is full of lessons to turn your music room into a place where imagination and creativity are not just encouraged, but essential. The lessons are divided into three sections: The Music Room as a Makerspace – Let your students’ imaginations go wild as they build shakers and shadow puppets, tell stories with apps and green screens, and learn all the elements that go into a Broadway musical. Coding the Music Room – With a few tech tools, your students will compose melodies and variations, explore modes, add sound effects to stories, and find solutions to help others solve issues that arise in the music room. Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) – Introduce your musicians to modern composition tools they can use to explore form, design sound, compose their own music, and unlock the mysteries of the synthesizer. No matter the lesson, your students will demonstrate their understanding of the concepts you already teach— rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, and form—using the tools, concepts, and standards of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. The key to this book’s effectiveness is that it trains you as a STEAM teacher today while detailing well-structured lessons for your students to help them become the empathetic creators of tomorrow. General music teachers— and STEAM and Makerspace pros—Abigail Blair and Kathryn Finch have truly given you all the tools you need to take your music lessons to the next level."
Everyone Loves a Story
"Everyone loves a story, but when children’s literature is given a musical twist, magic happens. General music teachers Kathryn Finch and Abigail Blair invite you to view picture books through a new lens, one that gives each book a musical purpose. Each lesson offers strategies for introducing a specific book, bringing it to life through music, and then exploring the music concept introduced in the lesson more deeply. Not only do Kathryn and Abigail offer lessons for your students, but they also share how they think about literature lessons, from finding great books and discovering the hidden lessons within them to creating a full-fledged lesson sequence. This book is the best of both worlds: well-sequenced lessons for your students and professional development for you!"