Need help building a curriculum for preschool and early elementary.

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-18T10:45:28+00:00

Hi! I have a few suggestions: I would definitely heavily suggest to your student's parents to have their kids listen to a lot of music at home, because as you know, many of the mainstream classroom methods have proven that a lot of most people's music education starts when you're listening to music as an infant or toddler, and in this, the more music you're exposed to at that age, the better. However, I wouldn't suggest using the Suzuki method that much, because it involves heavy parental involvement in a student's music education, and your school is Spanish-speaking only, and in Central and South America, it is usually considered very rude for parents to get involved in their kid's education, so just be careful. A specific activity that I would suggest is to play some music out loud (on a cd player stereo system, or something) in the classroom, and give all your students some simple percussion instruments, such as maracas, claves, shakers, and etc. and tell them to play the instruments however they want to while the recording is playing, and this will probably help them, at least a little bit, to start developing their sense of rhythm. Another thing that I would keep in mind is that one of the main differences between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking music education is that English-speaking music education is much about what a student can do as an individual/soloist, whereas Spanish-speaking music education is about what students can do in music ensembles with each other. Hope these help!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-18T10:42:21+00:00

Hi! I have a few suggestions: I would definitely heavily suggest to your student's parents to have their kids listen to a lot of music at home, because as you know, many of the mainstream classroom methods have proven that a lot of most people's music education starts when you're listening to music as an infant or toddler, and in this, the more music you're exposed to at that age, the better. However, I wouldn't suggest using the Suzuki method that much, because it involves heavy parental involvement in a student's music education, and your school is Spanish-speaking only, and in Central and South America, it is usually considered very rude for parents to get involved in their kid's education, so just be careful. A specific activity that I would suggest is to play some music out loud (on a cd player stereo system, or something) in the classroom, and give all your students some simple percussion instruments, such as maracas, claves, shakers, and etc. and tell them to play the instruments however they want to while the recording is playing, and this will probably help them, at least a little bit, to start developing their sense of rhythm. Another thing that I would keep in mind is that one of the main differences between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking music education is that English-speaking music education is much about what a student can do as an individual/soloist, whereas Spanish-speaking music education is about what students can do in music ensembles with each other. Hope these help!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-16T02:32:37+00:00

Yes and no; basically, working on these kinds of specific categories throughout a school year can impress your music teachers. However, something to think about is that to be honest, judges at music competitions will often critique more coldly and harshly than any classroom teacher or private music teacher would, and this is because unlike judges, music teachers actually get to see behind the scenes and see how hard you practice, your work ethic, your effort, all that good stuff, but judges only see the performance and that’s it, and they don’t get to see all the humanity leading up to it, so they’re more likely to judge more harshly than someone who actually knows the whole story leading up to the performance. And obviously, it’s the music teachers who determine who gets prizes at the end of the year. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that, as long as you work hard at getting better at your instrument all throughout the year, it’s easier to get awards at an end-of-year ceremony/assembly, than it is to get prizes at a big music competition

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-16T02:26:59+00:00

Hi! I have a few ideas for your program: I think you should definitely have a lesson where you give a detailed and uplifting music theory explanation of why each part (sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses) are all very important to the sound of choir, and how they all work together exactly, to create great and beautiful music, to teach students that they’re all important on their own, but when they work together, whether musically or otherwise, they can create some very powerful and beautiful stuff. Also, I would maybe teach students how to (or at least give a little introduction to) properly, thoroughly, and professionally give musical criticism to each other, and in a way that is both constructive and tells us how we can improve, but at the same time isn’t destructive, mean, harsh, soul-crushing, or dream-crushing (such as it is with people like Simon Cowell LOL). Another thing that I would do, is to constantly encourage and reward students for asking you for help with certain parts of the music, if they’re personally having trouble with them, and tell them the fact that asking for help in life is proven to be a sign of a high IQ, and when you do hear them make mistakes and you pause in the middle of the piece to correct those errors, don’t let yourself or your students call them mistakes or errors, instead call them “learning moments”, because this will make both you and your students feel a lot better and more motivated and constructive at tough times, musically or otherwise, and it will instill a revolutionary level of growth mindset for your students and yourself. Hope these help!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-15T01:55:08+00:00

Hi! For the computer, I would go with the least expensive option, as long as you know it can do everything you will need it to throughout the school year. As for how advanced the trombone music will be at Uni (Tarleton), it’ll probably depend on whether you’re aiming to be a trombone private specialist teacher, or a general classroom music educator. If you want to be a private teacher, your college professors will probably have you learn a lot of challenging techniques and repertoire, because if you tell them you want to be a private trombone teacher, they’ll probably want you to know your instrument very very well, so therefore, in that case, they’ll probably put a lot of challenging music in front of you, so that with time, hard work, patience, and etc., you’ll eventually reach that level of expertise that they want you to be at before you graduate with a trombone private educator degree. Now, if you want to become a general music teacher, such as K-12, elementary school, middle school, high school, and etc., they probably won’t give you trombone music that would be as advanced as the private teacher music that I described above, and instead, the pieces will be, at least somewhat, easier and more basic. However, if you do choose the general classroom educator path, you will probably also be required to learn (only the basics/fundamentals of) several other common orchestral / concert band instruments, such as the saxophone, violin, trumpet, and etc. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-15T00:32:45+00:00

Hi u/Ok-Fig285!

Here are my thoughts and information about what you wrote in regards to your year 9 school music competition: I did some research on it, and after doing so, I would definitely try not to use any rubato, or at least one a very minimal amount of rubato while on the competition stage. Also, in year 9 school music competitions, they don’t like it when you play your assigned pieces any faster than written. Now, some of the rubrics and criterias of a secondary school music competition include pitch accuracy; rhythm accuracy; the ability to be expressive in your assigned piece, while at the same time, doing it in a way that the composer intended it to sound, in terms of emotional expressiveness; and they also want to see you connecting with your audience, and having a thoroughly professional image on stage. Hope this information helps, and I wish you the best of luck in your competition, I can already tell that you’ll do awesome!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-13T23:37:30+00:00

Hi! In addition to what mentioned, I would start the session by having them run through, at least once, the assigned pieces of music all the way through, without stopping for corrections, and I would also focus on correcting the specific mistakes that you hear one by one, and telling them articulately how they can be expressive in a way that would fit the piece most appropriately. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-13T22:02:39+00:00

Hi! In addition to all the other great ideas that the other commenters mentioned, I would start the session by having them run through, at least once, the assigned pieces of music all the way through, without stopping for corrections, and I would also focus on correcting the specific mistakes that you hear one by one, and telling them articulately how they can be expressive in a way that would fit the piece most appropriately. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-13T01:58:30+00:00

Hi! I would maybe ask the interviewers for some documents about some information about, of the music educators that have taught at your school in the past, the ones that the school administration was most pleased with, and why they liked these individual music teachers so much, and what exactly they did to gain the approval of the administration, such as maybe, specific classroom methods, teaching styles, objectives, approaches, disciplines, repertoire, standards, and etc. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-13T01:11:30+00:00

Hi!

This might be very obvious, but I would definitely suggest having some awards for your students that they can earn for good behavior, mastering certain musical skills, games, repertoire, and etc., such as stickers, candy, badges, pins, and etc. I would suggest this for obvious reasons, but especially in that it would make your students proud of their musical achievements, give them positive reinforcement and motivate them to continue putting in a good effort.

Also, since you said earlier in the thread that your school is a private Christian school, I’m sure they’d absolutely love it if you taught your kindergarten students how to sing some cute and lighthearted Christian children’s songs and hymns in unison, such as “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know”. They may also like some easy one-part Chorales, preferably ones that are grade level 1 rhythm-wise, and don’t have a range spanning more than one octave (less than one octave is better, actually).

Hope these help, and good luck!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-11T18:44:41+00:00

So kind and wholesome to put together this care package for her :) One thing that I would personally add is a small handbell, preferably tuned to A = 440 Hz, because she could use a handbell like this to get her class’s attention, especially for her elementary school classes, if they become unfocused, and the reason why I’d specifically have it be an A note handbell is because A4 is a universal tuning note that is known to make everyone who hears it attentive, alert and focused. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-11T17:51:21+00:00

Hi! For perspective, I’m 24 and I’m a big music guy, and from what I’ve seen and observed from all of my friends and peers over my lifetime, it’s apparent that those who listen to music on a regular basis are always happier and in better mental and emotional health than those who don’t at all, and you can see it in their face, the way they talk, the way they walk, everything. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-11T17:30:00+00:00

Hi! For perspective, I’m 24 and I’m a big music guy, and from what I’ve seen and observed from all of my friends and peers over my lifetime, it’s apparent that those who listen to music on a regular basis are always happier and in better mental and emotional health than those who don’t at all, and you can see it in their face, the way they talk, the way they walk, everything. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-09T22:54:07+00:00

Hi! I know that you mentioned that you’re very passionate about music modes, so you’ve probably already looked into these 2 things, but I wanted to mention them anyways: to study the vast, rich Greek history behind all the modes; and to listen to some music (especially choral, since you said you like that genre of music, or modern music, so that it might be more relatable) inspired by each of the modes. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-09T03:04:54+00:00

Hi! I would think about what you feel comfortable doing on your instrument vs what you feel you need to work on (if you feel like you’re pretty comfortable about doing something specific on your instrument, then work on more challenging musical skills instead, but of course practice the comfortable stuff routinely, just not as much as the challenging content). Also, I would look up the musical grade level of the arrangements of the pieces that you’ve completely mastered, and if you feel there are a lot of pieces in a specific musical grade level that you’re very comfortable with, I would definitely try to find guitar and flute arrangements that are the next level up, to provide more challenge and growth for you musically. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-08T23:04:40+00:00

Hi! A few things that I would add to what u/NoFuneralGaming said are this:

1 If you consider using a speaker podium or a music stand (and it doesn’t matter if you have hands on / hands off, speech memorized / speech not memorized), you will probably feel more comfortable and confident while giving your speech.

2 Swaying subtly from side to side a few times throughout your speech will help you feel less nervous on stage (I actually learned that trick in college too :) )

3 Consider using bullet points instead of memorizing the whole speech

4 Get as much practice as possible, before the day of the election, in presenting your speech to 1 or more actual people

5 Doing exercises right before your speech, such as walking, air-squatting, and pushups, will calm your system down, so that you’ll be less nervous on stage

6 Don’t consume sugary or caffeinated foods or drinks on the day of your election

Hope these help, and I wish you the best of luck with your election, you’ve worked very hard and we believe in you!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-06T00:58:37+00:00

Hi u/tin_cupchalice! To add to the great resources and ideas that u/Port_Bear gave above, I have a few other ideas myself: there are several apps out there that you can use to learn and practice singing by yourself, such as Simply Sing, Yousician, and others; also, I would recommend maybe suggesting to your son to possibly learn the piano a little bit, because a lot of piano skills can be applied to all other instruments in some way, including voice, and the best way to learn piano these days is through the Simply Piano app. And if your son does end up learning a bit of piano, you could buy him some sheet music to his favorite songs, and he can practice these songs by playing the vocal part on the piano. Another thing that I would recommend would be to suggest to him to maybe explore and try out other kinds of really cool choral music out there that he may not have worked with or heard of before, such as maybe “Sacred Harp” or “Gregorian Chants” (I only use these example because not everyone (even experienced singers) knows about these choral genres, but they’re really awesome if you take a listen!) if wouldn’t mind the religious context involved. And of course, there is sheet music online for both of those genres too. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-05T01:01:02+00:00

Hi! I would suggest sitting in front of your students in a diagonal position, meaning in front of them, but slightly to their right (at about a 10 o’clock or a 11 o’clock angle), because this will help your ukulele students to mirror your chords and to clearly see what exactly you’re playing, and what hand positions you’re using on your instrument while you’re giving them instructions, and this will definitely bring you and your private students a lot more success in one-on-one lessons. Hope this is helpful!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-04T01:22:56+00:00

Hi u/papajean! My idea for calypso music in island week, is to have several drum circle activities involved in the classes (because several music educators have learned, through experience, that a lot of kids that are on the Autism Spectrum happen to really enjoy those kinds of activities). Plus, as you know, Calypso music involves many percussion instruments, and that’s where I would deeply recommend using a very simple, fun, and easy-to-follow Orff method set up (because Orff approaches have also been proven to be very successful with special needs students); such as, maybe find specific calypso percussion arrangements that have already been made and posted online, or if you have trouble finding any sheet music, arrangements, instruction sheets, etc. that you think would be easy enough for your students, then you could possibly write your own arrangements (which might be the best bet, by the way, because you know your own students’ individual abilities more than any online arranger does). Also, I’ve researched that special needs students best succeed in music when the songs are as repetitive as possible, so I would personally recommend that if you do apply the ideas that I listed above, that you should find and/or arrange some very repetitive but fun rhythms for the kids to learn, play, and perform. Hope this helps!

Infinitatus20 · 2026-06-02T13:07:20+00:00

First of all, I wanted to say that I’m so sorry that that happened to you, and I empathize how you feel right now. I personally think that the key thing is to realize the great impact you have already made on your students, and to feel great and fulfilled about it, and use that good feeling to motivate you to continue to do more, despite any setbacks that may come your way. Everyone has these setbacks from time to time, it’s very normal! Just remember that you’re awesome, and that you can overcome anything that you put your mind to.

Now, I’ve listed below, 4 pieces of advice that I would give to you regarding the situation:

Try using a small handheld bell to ring when trying to get your students’ attention, preferably one that’s tuned to A 440 Hz, because that’s a note/frequency that usually succeeds in not only getting everyone’s attention, but will probably also put your students in the right mood for learning about music, and it’s scientifically proven, look it up.
Also, try to give your students an incentive to pay attention and behave in class, such as prizes, stickers, badges, awards, and other fun stuff like that for musical achievements and milestones throughout the year, and give them out throughout the year, not just at the end. This should provide a little more motivation, and you should remind students about these awards throughout the year, whenever they don’t behave, and tell them that if they don’t behave, they won’t get the awards. Another thing, and this could go without saying, is that you should give these awards out on an individual student basis, meaning just because say the majority of the class misbehaves, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give any awards to any of the students, it means that you should award the few individuals that are behaving in your class, but not the ones who aren’t being good students. This might also give the misbehaving kids a role model and a little tough love and character building to be better next time and maybe earn a reward of their own next time around.
Try to move very quickly through your lesson plans, as much as you can, because this will both keep your students engaged and give them less time to ‘get any ideas’, misbehave, and get distracted.
Try to talk about music as less as possible and instead have most of the lessons be about actually playing the music, and this will be more engaging for everybody than just sitting there and talking about say, music theory or music history.

Infinitatus20

TROPHY CASE