With a grounding text, music emerges.

I was having a conversation with my friend, who is a high school choral conductor while I was driving about his day in the classroom. I was not surprised at what he said about him telling his kids to try and understand what the text in a choral piece is about. Now, this piece is hauntingly beautiful and it was (still is) one of my favorite choral pieces since I first heard it when I was an undergraduate at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. This piece is Water night, by Eric Whitacre

Now, while I NEVER thought I would sing this song. I have had the awesome experience of singing it in very VERY different interpretations first when I was in graduate school at Western Illinois University and the second when I sang it with the Des Moines Vocal Ensemble

I love how Eric was telling me his favorite part of the piece ( and his interpretation of the text, which weirdly, I have not even thought about it. What I always loved this piece mainly because of the text since it is origin is Octavio Paz. This made me think about the music that I have picked for my choir, especially the cantata that I am doing for this year.

And if you close your eyes,
a river, a silent and beautiful current,
fills you from within,
flows forward, darkens you,
night brings its wetness to beaches
in your soul.

Octavio Paz’s Water night

Music picked for Chancel Choir

The music that I picked for Chancel Choir this “semester” all quickly relate to the text. Haye’s We are called, which in this divisive and toxic world that we are living in has a really good message of what are we called to do (act with justice, walk humbly, love tenderly, care for one another).

Music picked for Chancel Choir

In the previous post I talked about Dan Forrest’s new “Come to Me”. The best part of this piece, is the importance of rest. While everybody knows the importance of rest and peace, most of us ignore this necessity and steam roll through life. In my 3 years of teaching, that exactly how I lived. No stopping, always going. There’s a reason why I still have huge bags under my eyes and felt exhausted (I still feel I have to catch on sleep that I have missed).

Come to me all who labor, 
Come to mean I will give you rest.
Come, my child 
For I am gentle and lowly…

Come, and you will find rest for your soul.

Dan. Forrest

A great choral piece is a one that has an intimate relationship with text. I remember my undergraduate professor Mons. Di Marco talking about this all the time. The music is there to help the text, and vice versa. He always asked us “Where is the soul?” with my other professor, Ruben Colon Tarrats, always pushing me in my year of studying choral conducting with him to ask myself “Why is X note in the music? Why are we singing X?”

Mons. Di Marco

But, isn’t that the point of choral and vocal music? To evoke a specific emotion and give life to a text (sacred or secular)? Isn’t that why music is poetry in motion? As teachers, this is not an easy thing to teach students. These are things that even in a prescribed curriculum it does not guide teachers in how to do (and even if it does, by the time you have it or are teaching the topic will be outdated or not relevant to your students).

My question for you would be: what is your relationship with music, whatever music you listen to? If you are a trained musician or a music educator, do you select music because it’s easy or challenging? How much time do you spend on focusing on the text in a song/piece?

Mindful Monday & “Come to Me”

My Chancel Choir will perform “Come to Me” by Dan. Forrest for Ash Wednesday.  Here’s what I sent to my choir this past Thursday after rehearsing it for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi6IZCJx3qA

Come to me by Dan Forrest (Official Video)

As leaders in our community, I love this new piece from Forrest because we can paint the sense of peace and comfort that we acknowledge the blessings and opportunities we have in life, especially in troubled times. With the Lent series we will begin titled: “Return to me”, I believe that we can help the congregation and community do exactly this. Return to Christ (and our spirituailty) and mend or as I said last night “strongify” (make stronger), and by doing so, make our own interpersonal relationships stronger and deeper.

It is deep in my heart that in these divisive times, that Music, worship, spirituality, and a deep sense of self will help us navigate this harsh and cruel world. It also reminds me of that prayer from a Carmelite nun from the 16th century and these words: 

“Nada te turbe, 
Nada te espante, 
Todo se pasa
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia todo lo alcanza
Quien a Dios tiene 
Nada le falta: 
Solo Dios basta.”

Translation:
 “Let nothing trouble you; 
Let nothing frighten you; 
Everything changes (passes away), 
But God stays, 
Through patience
You will obtain everything; 
Whomever has God
lacks nothing:
Having God is enough (and gives us strength)

If you would like to listen to my favorite musical setting, by Jake Runestad, you can click on this link: 
https://soundcloud.com/jake-runestad/nada-te-turbe-nlc

If you would like to purchase said piece of music you can find it in his website: http://jakerunestad.com

See you soon,

-MP

Food post

When you work both Saturday & Sunday, you take the mornings lazy and easy! I was able to make these quickly! They taste delicious!!

In our diversity, we are unified at the table.

Here at this table
arr. Don Besig
Ankeny First United Methodist Church’s Chancel Choir- José Clavell, conductor

Worship Arts @ Ankeny First

At Ankeny First UMC we have many different music ensembles from Children to Adult you can be a life long musician here in this community! For Children we have Rattle & Rhyme, Little Cherubs (3 y/o to Kindergarten), Kids Music Collective (1st -5th grade), Celebration Chimes, Heavenly Metal (6-12th grade), Kids of the Kingdom, Illuminate & Visual Scriptures. For High Schoolers and Adults we have Chancel Choir, Men’s Vocal Group, Various Worship teams across all 3 locations, Bells of Faith, Praise Ringers,Walnut Street Players (string quartet) and Instruments of Peace!

Music Ensembles in Ankeny First United Methodist Church

Ever since I have started here this past July 2018, I’ve been wanting to showcase these ensembles and all the hard work they’ve done. For this last Christmas we collaborated all of our Adult ensembles and had our Christmas Concert “Amid the Darkness Christ is Born”. We had over 100 musicians that came together and made music. It was pretty special and I am looking forward in doing it again! In my search to showcase their talents we have isolated their anthems from our Sunday services and will begin to post excerpts of them online, mostly on this site and on YouTube. If. you a re interested search for us with the name of our church “Ankeny First”. If you are interested in viewing our services live, you can go to our website for more information at ankenyfirst.org.

Christmas Concert 2018

Here I will leave you with two of our ensembles: Chancel Choir & Praise Ringers with a song that they have performed this January.

“We are Called”- Chancel Choir,
José Clavell, conductor

Come to Worship, Praise Ringers
Elaine Ousler, conductor

Going paperless in a paper-full music world

Woah! I haven’t made a post in forever!

As I shared in the last post, I left education and am now in a full time music position. Ever since I began last July, I have been “On-the go” a lot more. What do I mean with that? That I’m not necessarily in one spot every day as I was as a classroom teacher. This has made me think on how I could be more mobile. I’ve always been a fan of my iPads so I decided I needed to go the extra step.

In my last year of teaching, while I was teaching a great sheer number of students (more than 350 +), I began to use my iPads to minimize my paper trail. I began using my iPad to take attendance (Safari version of infinite campus), began using my wireless speakers and my Apple Music/Spotify from my iPad to use music for transitions, but most importantly, I could edit my documents using my iPad and Apple Pencil and it could sync with all of my apple products (iPhone X, 12.9, 10.5 iPads, and my MacBook Pro). I started using my Apple TV in my classroom to show my students what I saw from my iPad, etc.

Flash Forward from the end of the school year to now being a full time musician, I am constantly using Good Notes (I just updated to Good notes 5), ForScore for iPad, and my Church uses Planning Center’s Services, Groups, and People.

GoodNotes

GoodNotes is an app for iOS. It is essentially an electronic notebook just like EverNote, Notes Plus, etc. While you do have to pay for said app, (I believe it was 7.99) I completely recommend it. All of my documents can sync instantly through my devices, You can bookmark documents or pages in a document for easy access, export your notebook (or pages) to share with a colleague, and be able to make notes on the go. My favorite tools are the lasso tool, so that I can move items around and with the Apple Pencil 2’s handy double tap, I can change colors at will so that I can color code as I go (while not a huge deal to people… I love to color code).

Forscore

While I was apprehensive of this app at first, my best friend told me that I had to get it and after using it for almost a year, I completely understand why. Any music score that you have in PDF form can go directly to your ForScore app, if you have documents in a Dropbox, it can sync instantly, if you are an Apple user, you can scan in document through your notes app and then upload them to ForScore easily. In the app, you can highlight, color code (and we know now how much I like that), use a metronome while you are rehearsing, and record your music! It is so much better than having 5 different binders. As a Church musician which music changes from week to week, its good to have all of your music in one place. I do love that all of my music in one place. You can also make folders for each ensemble, and set lists for concerts, services, etc. I do love how quickly I can move music from Planning Center to my ForScore seamlessly.

Planning Center

Now, while I do not know the ins and outs of giant world of Planning Center and I am still learning how to use most of its uses, its great for any musician that wants to go paperless. While I mostly use the services portion of planning center (it lets you plan your service and add attachments, songs, and more) The “Songs” portion is simply put AWESOME. While our Contemporary Music Director knows how to work it way better than I do, you can do the following:

1. Add YouTube videos or any video to any song

2. Send email to musicians, request them for a service, send notifications and emails through the app, and send reminders about rehearsal, services, and performances.

3. Sync music and documents from CCLI./Song Select/or of your choosing. This automatically adds to any song a lead sheet and vocal part to whatever song you choose. Musicians can see the same document (CCLI/Song Select/Praise Charts, etc). If it’s a document that is not from CCLI or Song Select, you would need to upload it, but that is easy.

4. Easy Movement from Planning Center to ForScore. If you use an app like ForScore, you can send any score to ForScore and edit them (cross of repeats, notes for performance, etc) then you can upload this document to Planning Center and everybody can have the same notes.

While I know that there are many ways to go paperless and many more apps to use, these are the big three apps that I have used in the last 6 months as I began my full time music career. If you have any apps or ways you have gone paperless, let me know in the comments below!

Reconciling #musicalpoetry, #spanish learning, #CI, and #culture

I’m a music teacher. I’m a Spanish teacher. I am a both. I am a Native speaker. How do I reconcile both in my classroom? These were my thoughts throughout #CIIA2018 this month, especially when Laurie Clarcq was speaking in her breakout sessions.

As a Spanish teacher, I constantly use music in my room. Mainly in a indirect way for my non-native & non-heritage students (if you are ACTFL fan they are Novice to Novice-low, rarely a Novice-Mid as a Second Language learner because of contact hours). I mostly use my Spotify playlist “Songs in Spanish” to keep playing in the background. All. The. Time.

When I have commented to my coworkers about this during the school year (mainly a music teacher) I told them that it grounds me. It keeps me connected to music, but there IS a method in my madness.

The madness

My first 2 years as a Middle School, MYP teacher in an International Baccalaureate school, I have 35+ students. Every class period. Yes, that means that in 2 days (we’re in an A/B schedule) I teach a max of 400 students. In my classroom, I have free seating & “you have a phone, ok. Use it to your advantage.” Policy. Meaning, that if a student has a phone, I do not go “phone-Nazi” and take them away. I purposely teach focus. I did not realize that I did this, until our technology teacher told me that she did the same thing. I want to teach focus. Intentional focus. This is hard at the middle school brain.

I start the school year telling all my students that I am a music teacher, I conduct choirs, I sing in choirs, and that I conducted choirs in Puerto Rico, my home country. They are always “shook” and as one student told me this year “show me the receipts Brenda, or it didn’t happen”. I show them the “receipts” and they’re impressed (to say the least). Honestly, that was the point of “the art of musical poetry” when this blog began: how does music, language and culture works. As a Spanish teacher, while the core is still there, it’s been tweaked as I teach Spanish.

How do I use the madness to my advantage

Using my Spotify playlist, I put on music that I will teach during their 3 years in the program, music that is fun/different, music that my students (mainly my native speakers) choose to share to the “gringo students”.

It opens up conversation that yes, in Spanish-land you have as many musical genres as they listen to in English. From Taylor Swift-like pop, to hard metal, to Spanish covers of their “omg this song gives me life” favorite songs.

While it takes them some time (mainly new students and incoming 6th graders) to adjust, they LIKE the culture in the classroom. They KNOW that if they don’t have music playing something DIFFERENT is going to happen in the room. Students BEGIN to WITHOUT prompt sing the songs in Spanish, learn their favorite songs in a Spanish cover, and even better? ASK for SPECIFIC songs. This year Corazón sin Cara, Andas en mi cabeza, and La Gozadera were huge hits.

WHY?

We go back to the Why? Why would I do this? I do know that most teachers would think I am crazy for doing this. Well… I might be. But it goes back to who I am, what I do, and what I want my students to achieve and feel successful. In 3 years, in an A/B schedule, my students will NOT be awesome superstars with their output. I know that. I’ve accepted that. Now, this year’s 6th graders (next year’s 7th graders) might make me reject that reality. If so, #ChallengeAccepted.

In my room, silence needs to be important. Just like music. It has to have MEANING. It reminds me of what Laurie Clarcq said at CIIA (I’m paraphrasing)

“The Teacher is the conductor of the orchestra. They know (or should know) the music, the theory, and each student must bring their “instrument” or kill so that they can continue to improve.

But let’s be real, most of the students do not have some skills, what ever skill you’re looking for (reading, writing, social-emotional, etc) so we have to address it and teach it.

How do I teach it

1. Student’s who are notoriously late: Conversations.

As of this year, students have a grade that directly ties their attendance. It’s a small rehearsed conversation: Hola Maestro. Me llamo ____. Como estas? Now while it was surprisingly spanish (Sam Finneseth) who started this year, I followed suit and it gave me a lot of rewards. Students who are shy and are more receptors rather than “sayers” they have at least 1:1 interaction with me. Most importantly it teaches students that they need to be on time, is simple and parents are supportive.

2. It can be used as a warm up.

3. I use it to actually remember students and their names. (I am horrible with names)

4. Students with phones: Teach self-control

I am a phone-a-holic. I am. I let my students know this. I even check my phone (sometimes) while they are working. It’s part of life and these kids never lived in a time where people have smartphone (and I feel old about that). So I have to teach them, just like a part of the orchestra, they do not need it at the moment. IF you are grabbing the phone its to check time, listen to your OWN music when SPANISH music is not plating (which is almost never), using Quizlet in class (when we need to), etc.

5. What to do with silence

If we have silence in the room, we are using it when we play mafia (listen to be understood. Listen to comprehended), when we are reflecting on our process, when I am talking about our CFA’s, Scales, and/or “big things” like real-life connections of culture and what we are reading, etc.

Would love to hear from you, what are some things that some peers think is “unorthodox”, “crazy or mad ideas” or simply how do you mix music, culture in your classroom that might be out of the norm?

What to do if you have a Exploratory Spanish with self contained students

This school year, I had to teach an exploratory Spanish with self contained students. What do I mean by that? Teaching 10 students who were in our SLC (structured learning center) from our Special Education program. I had students that were visually impaired, hard of hearing, down syndrome, non-verbal among other Individual Educational Program & 504 (behavior programs).

I had to teach this exploratory Spanish twice a week (I teach on an A/B schedule) Tuesday and Friday’s. I had 2 awesome associates and me. I am grateful considering that before when I had them in a “gen ed” classroom, I only had one. So what did we focus on curricular wise?

The curriculum

I honestly had little to no formal feedback for their “Spanish curriculum”. My class is essentially a break so that their SLC teacher can have her planning time or her lunch. I mainly focused on:

1. Colors
2. Numbers
3. Estoy (emotions and school locations using CI methodology)
4. El/Ella/ (person) es (bueno/a, malo/a, amigo/a, enemigo/a)
5. A LOT of children’s songs, motions, dancing, etc.

The day-to-day

After taking attendance we always began with the Buenos Dias song. Every.Single.Day. Most of these students had little to no formal output in their L1, Native language, choose your favorite title or simple they were non-verbal. I had one student, an 8th grader, who NEVER talked to me before this year. In MAY, he looked at me, said his name and then looked at me in the eyes and said “EO… IA”. Which mean EO = buenos, IA= Dias. GOAL. HIGH FIVES. Insert me aggressively dabbing in the classroom because of the teacher win. Yes, I did that. Yes. I am THAT teacher.

After the Buenos días song, we had days that were “brain break days” which easily meant, we just did Spanish Dance Revolution to songs in Spanish OR a song that was sung by a Latinx artist. These students needed a chance to move, dance, and do something that was different from what they see day in and day out. I used a LOT of Atención Atención, which if you don’t know who they are, you need to. They’re essentially the Wiggles of Latin America and they come from Puerto Rico (shameless plug in from my country). Most of the days we just did part free draw as we listen to songs in Spanish.

If you have had classes with Special Education students, let me know!!

Reflections of a Native speaker teaching native and heritage Spanish​ speakers.

The school year is over. OVER. Is this the time where I do my happy dance? Is this the time where I begin to burn things from the previous year and purge myself of all the bad juju? No to the first one. Second one? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am still having “teacher dreams”. You know, the ones where you are still lessoning planning in your sleep. Telling Bobby to “sientate por favor” for the millionth time. Also the “I need to start planning for next year” bug began to itch… 2 weeks before the school year was done. I think I have a problem. But, hey. If you are not doing that…. #blessyou.

So, what was I going to talk to you again, oh yeah. That thing we teachers have to do (or should do) at the end of a school year. Reflect.

If you have read some of my previous posts, mainly Building an MYP Spanish program, you will see how the Spanish program in my school works and How to integrate music… on some reflections on what I’ve done in my class. For the sake of this post, I will make a quick view of our Spanish program.

The program

This year we had 3 Spanish teachers (we will go back to a 2 teacher team because of budget cuts). Our school has roughly 800 students so I had around 250-ish students every 2 days (next year will be up to 400). We are on an A/B schedule with rotating Wednesdays and next year it will be a fixed A/B schedule. I teach 6, 7, and 8th graders on the south side of Des Moines, Iowa.

This school year

This school year was the first time I actually had a classroom. I was a traveling teacher for two years, so I felt like I received a promotion. No longer was I traveling between 6-13 classrooms per week. Spanish would have a home base, and we would all be close to each other. I was also not teaching ALL of the native speaker classes and we actually had a plan. My partner-in-crime Surprisingly Spanish collaborated throughout July and created a scope and sequence that made sense for our students. We built on what I had done the previous year and she pushed me. A lot.

She challenged me constantly through the year to advocate for our students, mainly our Heritage speakers, more than I did before. She also was pushy (in a very good way) into poking at my thought process for my instruction so that it wasn’t in an “I am a native speaker, so therefore here’s Spanish”, but to go through the lens of “what will be attainable and comprehensible for students”.

This was my first year teaching with some CI (comprehensible input) techniques and methodologies. I, surprisingly found myself being “me” not a “native speaker teaching gringos”  and creating authentic materials that were fun. I jokingly tell coworkers that this has been my best year ever. Not because of “I have a classroom”, but I was more “me” and kids received it.

The #strugglebus

I’m very appreciative that my administration authorized me to go to IWLA this year AND to the National Heritage Spanish Speakers symposium in Iowa City, Iowa. I think that one of my #strugglebus moments this year was ironically my native speakers class or Heritage. Not because they were Latino/a, but because it was my 3rd year with my 8th graders as their teacher. They knew me. I knew them. And collectively (in a macro perspective) we didn’t grow as much. Them as students, and quite honestly me as a native Spanish teacher. I know that surprisingly Spanish grew a ton mainly because it was her first “go” with a full native speaker class.

I think that, again, I bit more than I could chew with them. Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe that overall, my students enjoyed my class. We had awesome and deep discussions about Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Latinx rights. We talked about immigration, we listened to a lot of music, we talked about Argentina and the Dirty War. My 6th graders talked about Agentes Secretos y el Mural de Picasso (not in the way that I thought we would, but hey it was still a win). But quite honestly, I struggled on how to teach “my people”. How do I teach Native Spanish or Heritage students about our language and culture when they are on so many different levels in their Language Acquisition.

This weekend, I am attending CIIA or Comprehensible Input Iowa. I will be attending a crash course on what is CI and CI methodologies, activities and strategies. Hopefully, I can learn a lot more about how to service our latinx students in the USA. My non-native students or students who are just beginning their Language Acquisition journey, those are fine. I have struggled to some extent with them on how not to overcomplicate concepts, but there are quite frankly so many resources and strategies for them, that I just need to go back to basics and just “do”. But for Native/Heritage students? Everything feels still overwhelming. Most of it in a good way. The doors are unlimited and open to experimentation. But the perfectionist in me. The musician in me. The “musical poetry” in me is still striving for excellence. I believe we, not just me as a professional, we’re green. as in REALLY GREEN when it comes to this population. I know one size doesn’t fit all with ANY student, especially students who are ESL, Native/Heritage Spanish speakers, students that may have a language core (many or most do not have one), but we have to do better. I have to do better. I should and must do better. Next year my focus or goal (for now) is to use what I know. Help these students native, heritage or just beginning students acquire knowledge with music. We’ll see how I do…

 

How to integrate music with a Native/Heritage Speaker class or Non-Native Speaker

Since I am a music teacher first, many people have asked me how I integrate music into an L2, Heritage, and Native Spanish classroom. Every day I use my Spotify playlist “Songs in Spanish” (which I am trying to also make one on iTunes since I’m trying to slowly integrate Apple products into my room).

I use the playlist as a way to never have unintentional silence in class. As a musician, silence has always had meaning. A purpose. I want the same thing in my room.

I also use my playlist as a classroom management skill because if students are talking in their pods my go-to is: “Si no puedes escuchar la musica, estas charlando/hablando demasiado de alto” (If you cannot listen to the music, you are talking too loud). I use the playlist as an ice-breaker at the beginning of the year. My native speakers give suggestions to the Spotify playlist and that way they can show songs that they want their peers to listen to, especially our non-heritage/native speakers.

The music I pick vary in tempo, instrumentation, countries, and genre (style). I pick music from my college music friends with their EP’s, #throwbackthursday 90’s music to the Top 20 of 2017. I have not done “muévete miércoles” or “Baile viernes” like some other blogs suggest as activities, mainly because it doesn’t work with my students in my district. They do better with a CLOZE listening or listening to various styles of music.

Here are my suggestions if you’re creating your own playlist:

1. If you like the song, just add it.
2. If a student gives you a suggestion and it’s school appropriate, add it. You will be surprised at the relationship you can have with a student just because you add a song that they like.
3. Add songs from different genres, eras and topics. Even if the students cannot truly comprehend the message, they are at least getting used to the speed and accents of the artists and their respective countries.
4. If it’s songs you will do as a CLOZE listening, put it in your playlist and let the students listen to it through the school year.
5. Too elementary? You will be surprised. I have students who have listened to a Buenos Dias song from “Atención Atencion” and they will sing it as silly as it sounds. If you teach a song with motion, they will still do the motions as they’re working individually, sometimes without them knowing it!

If you have some suggestions, ideas, or feedback, let me know!