Incompetech – Let’s start the next School of ROCK!

Incompetech is just what I have been looking for!! With copyright lurking around every corner – for music, photos and DVD’s, it is increasingly hard to use them in the classroom. However, with Incompetech under the Creative Commons License, teachers can use royalty free music for transitions, dancing, relaxing, play, pack-up, role-plays, with presentations – there is music to suit your mood and set the atmosphere.

In the popular film School of Rock, Jack Black, as substitute teacher Dewey Finn, leaps to the front of the classroom, whips out an electric guitar, and plays an original Led-Zeppelin-esque tune for his stunned fifth graders. Most teachers´ experiences with music in the classroom are a far cry from Black´s maniacal rock-and-roll antics—they find themselves on easier terms with a paper-towel-tube maraca than with a flaming red electric guitar (Prescott, 2005).

My year one students used music at least three times a day. We found that it calmed them down after a lunch break and it helped time how long they had to pack up. Integrating music with other subjects is one way to use some of its strengths and to enrich the entire curriculum. As one of Howard Gardner's major intelligence areas, music is valuable for its own sake as well as for what it can add to a lesson (Gardener, 2006).



Til next time,

Cheers,

Bec


Gardener, H. (2006). Multiple Intelligences: Retrieved August 20th, 2009, from: http://www.gp-training.net/training/educational_theory/multint/multint.htm

Prescott, J. (2005). Music in the Classroom: Retrieved August 20th, 2009, from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/Jan05_music.htm