MusicPlay Online is a music curriculum developed by a group of Canadian teachers. During the pandemic, I began investigating its visuals and materials to incorporate into my remote slideshow lessons. The site has a wealth of information but is a little confusing to use. I thought attending an in-person workshop would help me see how they use it in their live teaching situations as well as introduce me to new songs, games, and more to revitalize and support my curriculum for K-4th grade.
The two days included games, bucket drumming, show choir materials with SEL connections, and more. Interestingly, the presenters had the same issues with using the website materials as I did - for instance, not being able to find the page they were looking for - which reassured me that it's just how their site is set up and not my failing as a tech user!
The website curriculum is K-8, and my membership for the year covers the whole school. So, if US Music is interested in checking out any of the modules (ukelele, recorder, drumming), I am happy to share the login info.
One of my criticisms of the site when I first encountered it about 5-7 years ago was that it seemed pretty Western music/"white" music education-focused, and a little babyish for our sophisticated student/family population. Over the years they have worked hard to improve their content, get cultural representatives to guest teach and record materials, and remove questionable material.
I don't see myself becoming a MusicPlay devotee or using it exclusively, but it is a good resource for adding more visual content, their games have really improved, and kids like them, and there are cool features for building music by concepts - creating a rhythm or melodic pattern with drag-and-drop features that I could really get more familiar with.
HIGHLIGHTS of the TWO-DAY WORKSHOP:
getting to see other materials they have for setting up stations, parachute movement activities, mallets/xylophone exploration - (these books are in addition to the online website and might be something to consider purchasing this year)
A new shortened version of Peter and the Wolf that replaces the hunters/guns with photographers/cameras!
The full two days are available on video for me to review anything I liked if I can't remember how it went - I have access to the links for the whole year
All the slideshow materials are available to me as well - I just need to go in and download them
Stickman movement/connection/partnering/group activity that was hugely fun - I need to contact the maker to get a copy and hope to do this with 2/3/4 to start the year!
FOLLOW-UP:
Watch the recent "Intro to MusicPlayOnline" workshop to learn more about navigating and using the site - aim to create a "my materials" list for one grade this year
Download the slide decks from the summer workshop
Order Stickman and find music to go with it
Think about ordering the Mallets book and "setting up stations" packet
This sounds like a great resource and I like how accessible them make the content and materials to you all year long.