Music To Our Ears

My students' days are filled with schedules and time crunches.  They are constantly on the go, both in and outside of school.  I have noticed that they often forget which way we usually walk to art or that we stop to get a drink and use the restroom after gym class.  How can I blame them?  They are little worker bees, clocking in and barely picking their heads up from 7:55 in the morning to 2:45 in the afternoon.  I noticed something that made me smile in my first few weeks as a teacher and that was that without fault, at different times every day, my students remember when their music lessons are.  Their instruments are piled by the front entrance to the room, a garden of fallen trombones and clarinets.  They stack their sheet music next to the brass and copper soldiers.  Pencil marks tear up the paper like the notes they sometimes fail to take down during a mini lesson.  These kids are inspired by music and it warms my heart.  I am a musician myself, having started playing in fourth grade, led by the very same teacher that conducts them on Monday mornings.  Mr. B hasn't aged a day and pops in a few times a week to adjust his lesson schedule that is magnetized to the white board.  The kids know when to pick up and leave for a lesson and are always concerned when a test finds its way smack dab in the middle of one.  "When can I go then?"  "I need to ask Mr. B when I will have my lesson."  I always allow for reschedules.  I understand the excitement and wonder of playing an instrument in the fourth grade.  It is so new and challenging and really mind blowing when you hear a song being played by the entire ensemble.  A song that you have trudged through in your bedroom after school for weeks, the smell of dinner being cooked teasing your focus.  I remember these feelings and the magic.  I love the music program in my district, its dedication and drive.  Playing and learning music allows students to grow in all subject areas.  Their fluency and focus in reading and writing can improve, their problem solving skills in math can benefit, and their decoding skills can become stronger.  It opens up a whole new world of possibilities learning wise and students aren't even aware of all that they are learning.  They are just having fun with a new instrument they get to take home and show off to friends and family at Christmas parties.  Isn't this what we want all learning to be like?  Bright and shiny, producing music to our ears.