“Ten Little Monkeys”
Author: Annie Kubler
Illustrator: Tina Freeman
Publisher: Child’s Play International
Copyright: 2001, Child’s Play International
ISBN # 9780859537988
Genre: Young children’s picture book
Library Location: Amarillo Public Library Northwest
This picture book is an adorable short read, about 8 pages. It’s got wonderful illustration that is full of color and easy to see far away. The story is always fun for the children; some of them will probably know it well. I really like this author, the way she organizes her books it makes them very accessible to the kids. The colors and illustrations are bright and interesting but not over the top as to be too distracting to the reader. It’s a modern take on a common children’s story. This book would be a great rhythm book for the class. The steady beat could be kept by the students and the teacher could read the story in rhythm while showing the pages. Essentially the possibilities are endless because you can change up the tempo, have the students read the story while the teacher keeps the beat, use musical instruments to keep the beat, and even give melody to the story and teach the children a song! The melody could even be created without singing but just by altering the pitch in your voice when speaking, to emphasize the nuance of the different words. There are also cross curricular benefits to this book including counting as well as the adjusting of nuance in the voice to teach word stress.
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"The Wheels on the Bus”
Author: Annie Kubler
Illustrator: Annie Kubler
Publisher: Child’s Play International
Copyright: 2007, Child’s Play International
ISBN # 1904550665
Genre: Young children’s picture book
Library Location: Amarillo Public Library Northwest
This is another great picture book. The illustrations are rich and colorful but not overwhelming. It’s well organized by sections which makes it easily accessible to the students and to the teacher in terms of presentation and memorization by the students. One of the great things about using this book in a music classroom is that it already has a song that teachers can use from students prior knowledge. It’s a fresh take on a well known children’s song. The content of this book is vast; cross curricular as well as movement and a game could also be created for the students to play. This book is a must have for elementary music teachers in their classroom.
“Essentials of Music Theory: Book 1”
Author: Andrew Surmani, Karen Farnum Surmani, and Morton Manus
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co.,Inc.
Copyright: MCMXCVII, Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
ISBN # 0882848941
Genre: Musical Theory Instructional Text for the young musician
Library Location: AISD materials, Caprock High School and Personal Collection
This text is the first in a 3 book Music Theory instructional set. It starts in the very basic areas of general music theory for the music classroom. I love the organization of this book; it’s separated into Units that follow a logical order of learning in terms of music theory. I do, however, disagree with the authors’ choice to save the Unit about sharps, flats, and naturals (Unit 6) until the very end. I would probably teach that unit before the unit on dynamics, tempo markings, and articulation (Unit 5). I think the idea of starting ear training early in music education is amazing and this book has an ear training section at the end of each Unit. I would use this book all the time in the classroom. It gives the students the opportunity to learn practical information about music and apply it in a valuable way. This book is practical for the music classroom as well because it also comes with a student work book and teacher handbook. I would suggest its use in the Middle School classroom for any music area (band, choir, and orchestra).
“Essentials of Music Theory: Book 2”
Author: Andrew Surmani, Karen Farnum Surmani, and Morton Manus
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co.,Inc.
Copyright: MCMXCVIII, Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
ISBN # 088284895X
Genre: Musical Theory Instructional Text for the young musician
Library Location: AISD materials, Caprock High School and Personal Collection
This book is the second in a 3 book Music Theory instructional set. The organization of Units in this book is great. The Units are divided into lessons that teach in a progression the principals of music theory. In this book I find some of the Units a little too advanced for Middle School students. I would divide the Units differently than how it’s presented depending on the knowledge base of my class. I also would not teach Units 8 or 9 until after Unit 12. I believe it might confuse students to learn too much about the musical theory breakdown of scales and intervals before they understand triple meter. I love the ear traning sections, and the review sections. These books are amazing and I would use in the Middle School and High School classroom for any music area (band, choir, and orchestra).
“Essentials of Music Theory: Book 3”
Author: Andrew Surmani, Karen Farnum Surmani, and Morton Manus
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co.,Inc.
Copyright: MCMXCVIII, Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
ISBN # 0882848968
Genre: Musical Theory Instructional Text for the young musician
Library Location: AISD materials, Caprock High School and Personal Collection
This is the third book in a 3 book set of Music Theory instruction books. This is my least favorite book at least in terms of the organizations of Units. This last book teaches the more advanced music theory for High School musicians. It’s a great progression of music theory information, I would just teach it in a different order. I would most definitely use this text in my music classes but I would move Units 13, 14, and 15 for the very last. I don’t think it makes musical sense to teach modes, inversions, or modified scales before basic forms of musical composition. I love that they are challenging the musician to learn advanced theory but I would not teach that information in the order it’s presented in the book. Again, I really enjoy that each unit has an ear training section and a review section. I highly recommend this book for music teachers in any genre of music. It’s teaches a wide variety of different musical information and exposes the students to basic and advanced theory knowledge.