By John Churchville

Many elementary music teachers are eager to transform  their elementary music classrooms into dynamic 21st-century learning spaces through fostering music creation, analysis, and performance in today’s increasingly diverse and connected student population. As educators, we must learn to embrace new tools and teaching methodologies that encourage creativity, collaboration, and a sense of ownership among our students. Furthermore, actively seeking community resources and securing funding are crucial for implementing innovative and impactful musical initiatives.

My first question to students each year — ‘What music are you listening to?’ — serves as more than just an icebreaker; it’s a window into their vibrant and increasingly diverse musical landscapes. From pop to 8-bit, K-Pop to German video game music, their recommendations highlight genres like EDM, hip hop, R&B, and even unexpected gems like Italian opera. This explosion of diverse listening habits demands that our music education extends far beyond conventional song and dance. Technology, then, becomes the bridge, allowing students to not only explore the theory and skills behind these varied genres but also to take ownership of their own musical creation, moving from passive listeners to active composers and producers within the sounds they genuinely connect with.

 When I began teaching in Ann Arbor Public Schools, my classroom had Orff instruments, tubanos, maracas, shakers, tambourines, a piano,  a whiteboard laden with a musical staff, and a classroom set of ukuleles. Also, my district provided 1-to-1 Chromebooks and a Soundtrap.EDU account for every student. Essentially, every student had  access to a personal Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), and an array of technological tools for musical creation. It was a great start, however, I wanted to transform the room into what I call a Sonic Workshop, a musical creative space for musical exploration, discovery and audio production.

First,  I acquired a Public Address System (PA). A simple PA includes a couple of powered PA speakers, a small 4 channel mixing board, and a few dynamic microphones with all the cables and stands. A high quality sound system in your room is an amazing tool for listening to music, amplifying instruments, and allowing students to ‘perform’ using a microphone. A simple sound system like this can last for decades and is designed to be mobile, which makes it perfect for DJ’ing a school dance, or other school events. Teaching the students how to use it provides real life skills that they can use in many public speaking and modern performance situations. 

Next, I wanted the students to be able to utilize their Soundtrap accounts like  professional musicians. By utilizing a simple two-channel Digital Audio Interface (DAI) and studio condenser microphone, you can get a “studio sound” that is clear and present. My favorite 2 channel DAI is the Scarlett 2i2’s, and I love the MXL Condenser Microphone package. These two pieces of equipment allow the students to record directly into their chromebooks with professional quality sound. I use this system to record the class singing, and will even record my lessons into a Soundtrap session, which can easily be shared with the class. I have found that the process of recording and playing back their voices develops their self-evaluation skills. They hear themselves and become familiar and more comfortable with how they sound. As they listen to themselves,  they become more aware of their sound and  it becomes easier for me to guide them into healthy vocal production. 

*ProTip – Putting systems like these together is a breeze with the help of a personal sales representative at Sweetwater.com. They train every sales person for months on every single piece of equipment they sell before they work with customers. I have used the same sales representative for 10+ years. My representative helps me to compile wishlists that I can then take to my principal and PTO to ask for the money. They also follow up and make sure I know how to put my system together.

The latest and most innovative purchase for my classroom was a Silent Sound System. This system puts music through wireless headphones, which allows a large group of people to dance together in silence at events called “Silent Discos”. When I saw a group of 300 people all dancing together in silence, I immediately thought about utilizing the Silent Sound System in my classroom. The headphones are durable, fully adjustable, and the students absolutely LOVE using them. Classroom uses go well beyond throwing a dance party. Through my DAW, I can speak to the class through a mic in a whisper and they can hear me clearly. They can move around the room freely, and, most importantly, we can record their voices singing to music without the music playing in the room, which yields a recording of only their voices. With multiple channels available, I can have groups of students working on different projects at the same time. One group may be listening to an online lesson, while another group is recording or listening back to a recording. This one piece of technology has opened up a multitude of possibilities. 

Of course, everything I have described costs money. The good news, especially for public schools, is that there are many opportunities for funding and grants, especially in the state of Michigan. From community sourced sites like donorschoose.org to local and national community minded organizations like Kiwanis, there are many ways to find funding for your music classroom. MMEA Treasurer Ashleigh Lore wrote a must-have book called The Music Educators Guide to Grant Writing that serves as a wonderful reference to finding grants, organizing the process, and doing all the due diligence related to grant funding. There is also wonderful work being done by Michigan Arts Education Instruction & Assessment (MAIEA) to bolster Music and Arts programs in the state of Michigan. Connecting with MAIEA is what helped me to find and understand state-wide grant programs such as the Michigan Arts & Humanities Touring Grant, which I have used yearly to bring in artists for performances, workshops, and collaborative creation with my students. There is also the Michigan Department of Education’s Section 33 Grant, which is a large grant funding opportunity for developing music programs. 

To provide an example of how a 21st century music room can function, I will highlight a project from this past year that exemplifies everything how I have used these resources., involving four 5th grade classes from Pattengill Elementary School in Ann Arbor. The classes collaborated to write a song that exemplified their experience as 5th graders as well as their feelings and thoughts about moving up to 6th grade. We took a little time each class over the course of two months to come up with the lyrics and chord structure, resulting in a song titled “Once A Puma, Always A Puma”. We then brought in professional musicians through a Michigan Humanities Touring Grant to record the music. The recording sessions happened during class in front of the students while they listened through the Silent Sound System. Some students took on the role of audio engineer by setting mics and pressing “record”. Other students acted as producers, explaining the mood, feel, and important aspects of their piece to the recording artists, asking their guests to do take after take until it was ‘right’.  The students then became the artists as we used our DAW to record all four classes singing the song. Because of the Silent Sound System’s capacity to record everyone singing all at once, the students came up with the idea to record take after take until we had a total of 1000 voices recorded! The end result was an amazing song that will forever represent the culmination of their elementary experience. As an ‘easter egg’, the students included the titles of all the songs they had composed in their third and fourth grade music classes. Have a listen here: Once A Puma Always A Puma.

Building a 21st century Elementary General music classroom requires vision, resilience, and a desire to learn new technologies. Projects like this one provide opportunities for students to play the role of artist, engineer, and producer. Successful use of technology can  foster students’ creativity, bringing students into the arena of musical skill building, performance, and appreciation. Recognizing the lived musical experiences of today will foster deeper appreciation and involvement tomorrow, no matter what musical interests may develop. As you work to build your own 21st century classroom, always be sure to put the students at the center while providing the tools, time, and guidance through your musical expertise. Happy Creating!