Music Educator Spotlight
This month we spoke to Merritt Graves, Elementary Music teacher at Savannah Country Day School in Savannah, GA . Ms. Graves is a 2017 and 2021 graduate of the Georgia Southern School of Music.
What do you think is the most challenging part of teaching elementary music today? What advice do you have for facing this challenge?
The biggest challenge I find in teaching elementary music today is making sure the materials I use in class are appropriate for students vocally, academically, and socially. A lot of my students want to sing the way they hear artists on Spotify/TikTok/etc... sing. I fully acknowledge with my students that this kind of singing is legitimate and fun but emphasize that we can also sing using our head voices with our shorter, music class songs. I often endure a few minutes at the end of class with whatever my students want to perform that week. This seems to assuage their desire. I have also struggled with materials I have had in my rotations for a while, even songs taught to me in elementary school and undergrad that have a negative and hurtful past. Finding out the origins of every piece of music we teach is imperative in today’s music room. There are countless songs, pieces, and games we can use to teach the same concepts we have always taught. It might hurt a little to throw out old lessons and songs that perfectly meet the musical needs of our students, but we will all be kinder and more inclusive when we do.
What are your favorite resources for elementary music education?
I love to get ideas and lessons from my peers, whether at our In-Service Conference, a quick text with a friend, or even other music teachers on Instagram and Tiktok. I also really enjoy checking out blog posts like Pancoco Jams and Decolonizing the Music Room. I also have loved creating lessons through children’s literature, which was sparked by Stories that Sing,” a book by Jeanette Shorey, which saved me during my first three years of teaching. If I am ever in a pinch, I also know I can check out the American Orff Schulwerk Association’s website for lesson plans.
What encouragement can you give to first year elementary music teachers?
What you are doing really matters! We help students find their spark for music at an early age. Each student you teach won’t grow up to become a music major in college, but you can help them begin to understand why music makes us feel the way it does. There will be days, lots of them, when you drive home in silence and wonder who thought it was a good idea to give a room full of 9-year-olds recorders, but there will be many more days that you get sweet letters and drawings, hugs in the hallways, and shear joy from watching your students grow. There will be more moments with tears in your eyes when you see the impact music has made on your sweet students.
What is your favorite song you teach your students and why?
Right now, I love teaching “There was an Old Woman all Skin and Bones” to my 3rd graders. Not only does it set a great example of a minor key, but it also allows them to learn and discuss why it makes us feel so scared. Is it just the sound of the song? The timbre? The tempo? The dynamics? The contrast? I like to record this activity. I usually sing it for them, telling them, “My friend wants to see what it’s like in my music room,” so that when I get to the BOO! at the end, we can go back and watch their reactions when they were scared! Once we’re done laughing our heads off, they then get into small groups and explore the sounds each line would make, working together to perform for their classmates. This is the first time I can see a lot of the kids really getting into creating music themselves.
What is the best piece of advice you've received as a music teacher?
Dr. Stambaugh, one of my Music Education professors at Georgia Southern University, told me that an elementary music teacher (or art, media, other specialists) teaches the same students for the longest amount of time out of any teacher at school. Kindergarten (or Pre-K, if you’re lucky) through 5th grade is a long time. Working with the same students through 6 or 7 years of their lives, you really have the opportunity to make a difference in how they see the world. In my classroom, it is not only about the music but the things I teach through it. Not only can we open up their musical experiences to other cultures and ideas, we can open their hearts to accepting others, no matter our similarities and differences.
Who influenced you to become an elementary music educator?
In college, I was convinced I would teach high school chorus for the rest of my life. As I got deeper into methods classes and was shown glimpses of the Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze approaches, new windows started to open in my mind. At Georgia Southern, Dr. Jeffreys, Dr. Langley, and Dr. Stambaugh really encouraged me to take my elementary experiences seriously and dig deeper into what I could accomplish as a music educator at that level. I took an elementary position as my first job, thinking I’d put in my time and move on. In grad school, I started thinking more about how much of an influence music teachers have on young students. Each of my Orff Schulwerk teachers encouraged me to use my strengths in the classroom. Meeting and connecting with friends in these classes has encouraged me to dive deeper into what we can accomplish every day with students. Going through this process, I really encourage new elementary educators to take some classes in an elementary education approach. As Tiffany English and Mandy Gunter say, “It will change your life!” The state of Georgia has some incredible elementary music teachers to look up to, and I can only hope that one day I can be as influential to others as they have been in my life.
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