BEFORE MUSIC

Huge congratulations to our winners from last week's episode!! Thanks so much to both of you for tuning in and stopping by to share your thoughts!

Laura Roettiger, You are the winner of the jump drive from Annie Lynn!  I know your third grade students will enjoy the music -- and I hope you'll share Annie's expertise and wonderful music with the teachers you're connected with as well!

Jany Campana, You are the winner of your choice from Jolene Gutierrez -- a zoom call, a copy of MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE INVADER, or a PB Critique of a mss (less than 800 words). 

I'll pass. your emails along to Jolene and Annie for prize distribution :-). Congratulations!

Video interview with Annette Pimentel, author of BEFORE MUSIC

Join Annette and me as we talk music, inspiration, layers, writing nonfiction picture books, instrument classification systems, the importance of Arts in the schools, and much, much more.

PB (Picture Book Tasting) -- BEFORE MUSIC

This is a longer NF picture book, with a running lyrical text throughout the book to provide some structure, and that younger kids will absolutely enjoy as a read aloud.  But there are amazing sections throughout the book that highlight various ways of classifying instruments (organology), craft pages that show you how to create your own hand-made instrument, pages that introduce innovators in music, and 

A Little Jam. . .(The Music Kind)

There are lots of other great jams on the YouTube playlist here This one is a fun one involving movement and several different types of instruments.   Not only can you dance and move, you could classify these instruments in some different ways, sing along, practice spelling these instruments, practice syllabication, make up their own moves, add in more instruments , etc.  Have fun boogying with this one and check out the playlist for more jamz!

Teacher Tips/Curriculum Tie-ins

Since this book runs to the upper end of picture book range: 2nd - 5th grades, you can use it in multitudinous ways to support instruction for those grade levels:

• Timelines (Integrating math and social studies)
• History of music (integrating social studies)
• Geography (integrating social studies)
• Features of text (ELA)
• For math integration, you can use the timeline to solve story problems, etc.
• Science integration -- science of sound/classification of instruments in various ways

It is also useful for the younger set.  I would recommend a read-aloud of the lyrical text, and using the other resources in the book as the situation allows.

• Read aloud
  
• Instrument crafts
• Found music
• Recycling (use "trash" to create a musical instrument) (STEAM activity!!)
• Onomatopoeia (poems, sound hunt, phonemic awareness)
• You could also begin to introduce some of the heavier topics above -- features of text, geography,  historical highlights, and timelines (just not in  as much detail and as high a level as with the older set.)

Both younger and older sets might enjoy

• sound or music scavenger hunts
• lots of vocabulary enrichment (instrument names, classification, etc.)
• Verb study (both in the lyrical text and the classification -- struck, plucked, rubbed); older students could get into tense changes -- regular and irregular verbs, etc.

Tips and Topics for Music Teachers
​

Oh, my goodness, this book is your oyster.  There is so much, so many different directions you could go with this book!  I'm throwing out some options, but there are more. Many more.

• Music history (instruments)
• Found instruments
• Tie-in with found music ensembles like STOMP (see YouTube playlist for lots of examples
• Onomatopoeia 
• Various musical classifications -- choose one or compare a couple (Material, vibration, how played, etc)
• Music Around the World
• Make-Your-Own instruments (Tie in with recycling for Earth Day, etc.)
• Choose accompanying sounds for the read aloud 
• How instruments are made
• Science of sound
• Musical innovators

Writing Prompts/Author Tips

• Write about a favorite instrument.
• Write about an instrument made of something unusual.
• If I could play any instrument, I would play ______ because. . . . 
• The most interesting instrument is _______ because. . . .
• Music in My Life
• One time I found a ________.  It made music . . . . 
• I can't imagine my life without music because. . . /Write about the impact of music on your life.
• Write about the different natural resources mentioned in the book and how they are used to create music.

Annette's Writing Tips for Authors:

1. Read deeply in the genre you want to write. My goal is to read every nonfiction picture book published each year. Of course I don’t come close to meeting that goal, but it spurs me to regularly order new books (usually from my library). Besides all the pleasure I get from this reading, it is a mini-master class, prompting me to analyze what works and what doesn’t. Incidentally, I soak up information about what publishers are looking for.
2. Embrace the non-linear nature of the writing process. I think of the elements of the writing process as orderly: brainstorm, research, draft, revise. But the truth is much messier. Drafting often sends me back to brainstorming; revising often sends me back to researching to fill in holes; sometimes my initial brainstorming includes polished phrases or sentences that end up in the final manuscript. I remind myself not to be discouraged when I have to trudge back to the library after the fifth revision. That’s just the nature of writing.
3. Time is a tool. Letting ideas percolate and manuscripts sit can give you helpful new insights. Before Music started as rhyming stanzas I scribbled during a flight. I loved the stanzas, but they seemed too slight for a book. They sat waiting on my computer for 5 years before I realized what I should make them into. School has forced conclusions—end of the quarter! End of the year! Grades due!—but your writing life doesn’t have to have artificial finish lines.
   
4. .Savor and celebrate. No matter what you accomplish, you will be able to see something else you’d like to accomplish. It’s helpful to have a vision of what you’re working toward, but remember to notice the pleasures of getting there. Savor whatever it is you love about writing, and find writing friends who will celebrate the small moments with you.

Links, More Fun, Extensions for Families and Everyone!

YouTube playlist -- clips from STOMP, songs about music and musical instruments, demonstrations of various ancient and modern instruments, etc.

​Pinterest board  -- Lots of music crafts, ancient instruments and more!

PBJamz Snack -- PB&J Poke Cake

A little retro dessert treat seems a perfect accompaniment to a book entitled BEFORE MUSIC!  This one brings together some of our favorite things: moist, delicious cake with peanut butter filling, jelly filling, and a scrumptious peanut frosting for the top.  It's even topped with crunchy crushed peanuts for extra texture and flavor.  You can't go wrong with this PBJ dessert any time!  Find the recipe here! 

Here are the photos of my attempt.  This one was gluten free (made with a GF yellow cake mix.  Rather than make an extra frosting , I just swirled the rest of the peanut butter and jelly over the top.  It was delicious!  I used homemade plum jelly that I had on hand, too.  It was yummy and didn't need the frosting, but we do plan to try it again with the frosting.

Guest Links and Giveaways

Annette's info:
​Twitter

Website

​Annette is giving away a 30 minute Zoom call!  Teachers, homeschool parents, etc. may choose to use the zoom call for an author visit, or authors may choose to use the 30 minutes to chat about books, publishing, etc.

To be eligible, simply leave a comment below on this blog post, and thanks so much for stopping by!