Customer Reviews

Ready-To-Use Music Activities Kit

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First the pluses, Progress chart, great for tracking students progress. Everything is divided into concepts. Concepts progress in a logical manner. Answer key is in a handy place. Minuses, some of the questions are not presented in a consistent manner. For instance, when comparing whole note values to those that are smaller the question should have always read "The tone of a whole note is ___ times as long as the tone of a quarter note." Then Half note is __ as long as a whole note" In my experience students understood better when the larger note value was placed first. It is also confusing when the answer is sometimes a fraction and sometimes a whole number. Some terminology may need to be changed if you only use the word tone for the sound of a note and not it's duration. Overall a valuable resource, I mean, who wants to reinvent the wheel when Ms. Adair has done such a good job?

I have used many workbooks to teach music literacy; this is the best by far. There are pages that teach everything from how to read rhythms to how to analyze the form of a song. I had this book last year and used it almost every day. Somehow it got lost over the summer and I have wished I had it many times as I looked for a suitable replacement. I am happy to get another copy! I recommend this book to music teachers of grades 4-8.

This book is a Music Teacher's dream! No matter what concept you're teaching, this book always seems to have an activity to reinforce what you've taught, and see if it is being understood! Very Useful!

If you're a music teacher, just starting out or already a seasoned campaigner, you will sympathize with not being able to find just the theory and note speller books that you would like for your students. This book is exactly what you need!

This book is wonderful! I teach K-12 music at a small school and this book works great for teaching the music fundamentals to 3rd-12th grade! I mainly use it for my high school Music Appreciation students and it is easy to read and understand for the students. It is packed full of great worksheets! I used this while student teaching and now that I am a first year teacher I HAD to get it! I am sure I will be using it for years and years to come!

It's been a while since I've used this book - I borrowed and used it for a few months a few years ago, when I first started teaching and had almost no other resources. I did not like it enough to buy my own copy.

This is maybe a little better than some other books I've seen, but I don't seem to like *any* pre-made worksheets. The idea of notes "spelling words" strikes me as pedagogically flawed, and the ways of explaining rhythm are very dry and meaningless and don't seem to help students, in my opinion. I've seen so many students who have had music for years and yet have no idea what the difference between a half note and quarter note are. Kind of makes you wonder what we're doing wrong.

Anyway, now I personally create all my worksheets for all grades and find that the amount of learning is much greater.

One other point, although I'm not absolutely positive it was this book, I think it was: when I was first teaching, one day I needed a warm-up worksheet and was in a hurry. I quickly flipped through this book (I think) and xeroxed a sheet about spelling words with notes on the clef. When my middle schoolers completed it, I was stunned and embarrassed to realize that one of the words was "Fagged"! Needless to say, some of my eighth graders did not handle it very well. So watch out for that one!

Please don't waste your money on this book. I "inherited" a copy from a retired music teacher several years ago. Originally, I used it in the classroom, and also in private music lessons. However, the prevailing philosophies used in this book are terribly out-of-date. Students today will not only be bored, but also confused.

The book attempts to teach a concept first, before the student has experienced what is being taught. As a comparison, this would be like teaching a baby how to write the letters of the alphabet BEFORE teaching the baby to speak, with the child experiencing sound and trying to emulate the sounds heard.

Please do yourself a favor and rise above this old type of teaching, which produced dry, mechanical music knowledge. Instead, look into a more enlightened process, like Kodaly and Orff Schulwerk approaches. You will not regret it!

As a beginner at the piano I thought this book could help me, since it is a "teaching" book. After getting part way thought this "thick" spiral bound book I found things in the book went beyond the beginners' understanding. Beginners can gain something from the book if they use it as a suppliment to a more basic book. It is not for beginners trying to learn on their own.