Middle School Band: Creating the Entertainment 720 of Band Curriculum

Welcome to the Band Hall – Where Innovation Drops the Beat

In the words of Tom Haverford "I don't do anything halfway. I'm a full-on, hands-in, jazzed-up visionary." I'm pretty sure he was talking about his failed attempt at becoming a snake juice mogul, but the vibe still applies. I have always loved Tom Haverford. I love watching him take an idea and run with it. You can tell being innovative brings him joy, and I feel like we are kindred spirits in that aspect.

In 2020 Covid hit, and it felt like the world spun out of control. I wasn't fixing reeds and copying music anymore. It looked like the band hall went from a rehearsal space to a tech startup overnight- and it wasn't pretty. It was chaotic, exhausting, and driven by pure necessity. When we realized that wi-fi capabilities weren't going to allow our students to perform together anymore, we knew we needed to find a different way to teach our students.

What began as a hot mess became one of the most creatively fulfilling parts of my career. From interactive theory games to digital rhythm practice, I discovered tools that didn't just replace what we lost during the pandemic- they made our program stronger (and easier to run).

But something unexpected happened along the way: I fell in love with designing digital curriculum.

This blog is a walk-through of how our band program went full Entertainment 720 — turning middle school band into a fully branded, tech-powered experience. It’s got rhythm, it’s got Google Slides, and yes, it might even have a digital concert program designed in Canva and distributed via Parent Square. Let’s go exploring!

Phase 1 – Necessity is the Mother of Invention (aka, The 27 Google Classrooms Era)

When 2020 happened and we shut down due to Covid, I was DEVASTATED. I remember I got the news that we were shut down for the rest of the school year and I cried all day. I just couldn't see a version of band that was functional and successful and occurred all online. "Remote learning alternatives have often proved problematic with access to them being unequal, on-site learning with physical distancing has sometimes diminished or disrupted the regular learning experience" (Hargreaves, 2021). I wholeheartedly agree, and my brain couldn't wrap itself around that idea, no matter how hard I tried. When we went to have band class on zoom, I was stunned at how truly ineffective our teaching was online.

When the 2020-2021 school year began, we started online again, but in the 2nd quarter of the school year we had some students come back to in person learning, and other students continue their online learning. This hybrid learning setup required 27 google classrooms to run it successfully, and it was overwhelming to say the least. I decided then and there that my students deserved better instruction than what I was giving them, and if we didn't own any resources to help them, then we were going to have to create them ourselves. I began building materials that students could use- no matter their situation, at home or in class.

I started small with google slides presentations that turned themselves into edpuzzles, but after that, I was hooked. We created instrument videos daily. We would play a line out of the method book so students were basically receiving private lessons without us having to physically be in the room. I loved being able to create resources for my students! I would teach all day and then after school I would create the resources for class the next day. It was exhausting because I felt like we were never truly planned the way we needed to be, but I had so many creative ideas that I was enjoying bringing to life! All of this was created out of pure necessity, but it made me realize that this was something that could benefit my students and my future self.

My thought process while creating digital resources

Phase 2 – Digital Tools, But Make It Fancy

Fast forward to 2025 and digital tools have taken over the band program. Educational technology improves efficiency in the classroom by streamlining administrative tasks, facilitating real-time assessments, and automating grading. (Hogan, 2024) Technology has infiltrated literally every aspect of my teaching. Rather than listing out every bit of technology we use, I thought it would be helpful to create a list of when we use these digital tools.

• Before School- Canva Agenda Slides

  When I get to school every morning I make my Canva agenda slides- with a slight twist. I was able to find a slide layout that I liked for my agenda slides and customize it with what I knew we would use every day. Things like Date, Agenda, Announcements, Upcoming Events, Etc. I then went into ChatGPT and asked it to list out all the school days for the year, and took those dates and copied them into a spreadsheet in Canva's bulk create app. In 5 minutes I had a Canva slide ready for each day of the school year so I can quickly list out the plan for each class. It has been a huge time saver and life saver!

• In Class Instruction- During the Week

  Every day has a different theme. Mondays are in person rhythm quizzes. On Tuesdays we do a note naming quiz on musictheory.net. Wednesday we watch our music theory videos from Rob Chilton featuring "Lil' Robbie" and take a google forms quiz over the material. Thursdays we watch an edpuzzle over the rhythms for the next week's quiz that takes place on the following Monday. On Fridays students get 10 minutes of Ningenius time to work on their theory skills. Our students are rarely bored because we do something different every single day!

• After School

  Students are expected to go home and practice their instruments using our Makemusic subscription. They have access to this on their chromebooks, and depending on what ensemble they are in they have a specific set of instructions. Sometimes they need to create a recording that is automatically graded by Makemusic and submit it. Sometimes they just need to practice the music for class. As teachers, we use after school to use the GradeTransferer app to put all of our grades into our gradebook- no more hand entering grades! This is such a timesaver! It is one of my favorite Chrome extensions of all time!

• Before Concerts

  In order to cut down on the amount of paper we use, we have started using Canva to create digital programs for our concerts. I like doing this because we can include everything we want in our programs, we don't have to cut things due to managing space in the programs. When we are ready to perform we can save it as a PDF and send it out digitally through our Parent Square app.

• During Concerts

  During concerts we have students compete in costume contests and have the audience members vote on the winners. We have a Costume Concert in October, and an Ugly Sweater concert in December. We upload the student pictures into pollunit.com and then project the QR code to vote on the screen in the cafeteria that we are performing in, so audience members can vote for their favorite costumes in real time during the concert. We hand out prizes at the end of the concert, and this has quickly become a fan favorite during our performances! I love seeing everyone actively involved in the performance!

• New to the Band Hall for the 2025 school year

  This year we are integrating flat.io into our classes, and I'm hopeful that it will take the place of our theory quizzes that we currently do on google forms. It has a worksheet creator that is so easy to use, and it integrates seamlessly into Canvas. Stay tuned to see the results!

Agenda using Canva

Real Impact: Less Stress, More Learning (And Way Fewer Copies)

There have been so many positive impacts in our classroom from integrating all of these digital tools. The first and most major impact we have seen is an increase in student engagement in our classroom. As previously stated, our students don't really have a chance to get bored because we are ALWAYS doing something different. We utilize many tools that allow for personalized instruction- such as Ningenius. Since students are working at their own pace they tend to get less frustrated and less overwhelmed in class. We also save time preparing for lessons and definitely save paper by not having to make copies for everything we do since everything is online. We have easier and more frequent communication with caretakers since the Parent Square app allows for messaging on your phone. Lastly, we are creating tech-savvy musicians who are always willing to try something new when I ask them to! By utilizing all of these tools I can focus on what truly matters- spending time with my students!

From Band Hall to Blueprint: Why I Love Curriculum Design

Since 2020 I have developed a love of designing curriculum that is both fun and functional. I really feel like this is a new facet of my career I would love to explore! I enjoy being able to adapt a project to individual student needs. I also enjoy sharing my ideas with other teachers to help them save time in their own classrooms. Watching students and teachers succeed with the exercises I have created or the tools I have suggested brings me great joy! Moving forward, I would love to find a career in curriculum design and have the ability to bring my ideas to life for more students and teachers!

Treat Yo’ Self to Some Digital Creativity

We have come a long way since 2020. Where I used to be overwhelmed by the thought of adding tech to our rehearsals and to our program, I am now excited! I feel like we have gone from the craziness of pandemic teaching to using an engaging and polished digital curriculum. I am always looking to expand this curriculum because it brings me joy and makes me feel like I am growing as a digital leader on my campus. I feel like I would make Tom Haverford proud. After all-I don’t just teach band. I curate an experience.

References:

Daniels, G., Schur, M., Klein, H., Miner, D., Sackett, M., Holland, D., & Goor, D. (Executive Producers). (2009-2015). Parks and recreation [TV series]. Deedle-Dee Productions; 3 Arts Entertainment

Hargreaves, A. (2021, November 11). Technology, change, and the future of learning. FACETS, 6(1), 1693–1704. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0084 Hogan, K. (2024, September 26). How does technology improve efficiency in the classroom? eSchool News. https://www.eschoolnews.com/digital-learning/2024/09/26/how-does-technology-improve-efficiency-in-the-classroom/

Techonology Mentioned: Canva: Canva.com

Canvas: https://www.instructure.com/canvas

Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/

Edpuzzle: Edpuzzle.com

Google Flat: flat.io

Grade Transferer: https://gradetransferer.com/

Makemusic: makemusic.com

Musictheory.net: musictheory.net

Ningenius: https://ningenius.azurewebsites.net/

Parent Square: https://www.parentsquare.com/

Poll Unit: https://pollunit.com/en

Readymade Music: https://www.readymademusic.net/