the eugene bean

The Power of Music

As a teacher in a classroom full of emotionally disturbed, behaviorally challenged middle schoolers, I’ve fine tuned my senses. I have become more aware of the whispers, the grumblings, and the covert glances. I have learned to read body language and facial expressions, and I’m becoming a pro at diffusing difficult situations.

I can sit on my stool and take one look at the faces in front of me- and I can feel the emotional undercurrent in the room. I know immediately who is about to burst from frustration or grief or rage. And that means one thing and one thing only.

It’s time for a Dance Party.

Nothing eases tension like a loud song. Nothing frees the mind and releases frustrations the way that music can. Our recent dance party picks include Beck’s Guero, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium, and Galactic’s Ruckus. In my classroom, nothing can get a kid happy as quickly as a good tune.

Music is an integral component in my classroom. I can’t count the times I’ve included my CD player as part of my lesson plan. I use music to inform, educate, entertain and inspire. Natasha Bedingfield’s song, Unwritten, was truly inspirational for my girls, and after one week of listening to that song, I had a classroom full of poets and songwriters. The amazing singer Nina Simone aided us during our discussion of slavery and the Civil War. We listened to her music, and my students came away with a picture of that time period that I couldn’t possibly have drawn.

We start and end our day with music. Happy songs play as the students arrive in the morning- music to welcome and awaken. Instrumental music helps us through journal time and SSR. Pianist David Lanz’s CD, Return to the Heart, keeps the classroom calm and helps my students to focus on their work. During group projects and center time we usually listen to the Beatles, James Taylor, Bob Marley, or teen favorites such as Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne. These music artists inspire communication between my students and keep the room from becoming a place to take an afternoon nap. Our day ends with meditation and for accompaniment we listen to Chinese Feng Shui music.

As a teacher, I believe that kids are supposed to make noise as they learn. Asking a classroom full of 13 year olds to stay quiet all day is a sure way to loose their respect, and their attention as well. Music keeps my classroom alive, it entertains us throughout our daily routine, and it provides an invigorating backdrop to the lessons of the day.