Have you heard? My friend Gina from @musicpluscoffee and I have partnered to create a community-driven platform called Music Room Reads where music educators across the globe can come together to share music book recommendations on our new Instagram page: @musicroomreads. If you’re a music teacher who is interested in being featured on our page, let us know HERE.
This week on Music Room Reads, I share one of my favourite books, Nighttime Symphony, written by world renowned hip hop producer and artist, Timbaland. Nighttime Symphony is a captivating story about a little boy who experiences the sounds of the city night as he gets ready for bed. This book is a great resource for music educators to teach students that music is literally everywhere and how to be active listeners to the world around us. Get your own copy of the Nighttime Symphony HERE (Amazon Affiliate Link).
Additional Music Teaching Resources
Here are some music teaching activities and resources that go well with this story and that you can incorporate in your music classroom:
Watch this video version of Nighttime Symphony.
In this video, Timbaland has teamed up with the artist, Verbal Ase, to accompany this rhythmic lullaby to an incredible piece of music.
Take your students on a sound walk.
Tell your students that they must be silent on the sound walk so that they can hear and take in all the sounds around them. Walk through the hallways, the playground, in a nearby park, or anywhere where they can hear sounds.
Students can then record their responses on a whiteboard or clipboard. @musicpluscoffee offers a no-prep music worksheet that is perfect for this sound walk! Get it HERE.
Get your students to reflect on sounds in their environment.
We tend to associate certain sounds with specific places or moments in our lives. In a subtle way, sounds make up the soundtrack of our lives! Have your students pause and reflect on the sounds that they hear in their own lives, both at school or at home. Use this free and no-prep music worksheet that is perfect for this activity!
I hope this helps give you some ideas on how you can incorporate this story into your own music classroom!
For more music teaching ideas and activities like this, make sure you are following me @teachfromthestage and @musicroomreads on Instagram! Happy Reading!