Re: Teens and Jewish Music

[Carole Rivel <crivel...>]

I teach music in a day school setting in Manhattan. One of the class 
activities that they have, and love, is what is called "Musical 
Showcase". It is similar to show and tell in music. One or two kids are 
assigned at the end of a class to bring in something the following week-
- I hand out a little piece of paper that is to serve as a reminder for 
them. They can bring in anything musical, as long as it is within the 
bounds of what is acceptable in school, no cursing, no explicit lyrics, 
etc. They can perform, bring in an instrument, a tape, a CD, video, 
write something, and so on. The range of music has been phenomenal, from 
the Spice Girls to a first grader playing the cello, from African music 
to classical to the Israeli Macarena, exposing the others, as well as 
me, to things they might not otherwise know about. They look forward to 
their turn, and also know that, since we do this at the end of the 
class, if we don't accomplish what we need to before showcase, we run 
out of time. They can pick one song-- each kid gets maybe 3 minutes or 
so, but it is their chance to do something special in class. Although 
this is a day school,  you could also do it in a Hebrew school setting, 
using the limitations that you have there, what equipment is available 
to you and so on. I have them for 40 minutes once a week, and set aside 
the last 5 or so for this. It also teaches you, the teacher, a lot about 
the kids as individuals, and I find that invaluable. In addition, it 
gives them some ownership as to what goes on in class. I do this now 
with Grades 1-5, have seen it done with middle school as well.
Hope this idea might be helpful to somebody.......
Carole