Folk Dance Archives - Make Moments Matter

Picking Partners! Here are three simple tips and tricks to get students into groups of two in the music room.

June 18, 2019

Duet Directions – Procedure Tricks for Making Partners

Classroom Ideas

For me, the biggest things are the little things. I love learning simple tips and tricks from other teachers that help to smooth out the wrinkles in their classrooms and make the teaching process just a little easier. Teaching a group of 20-30 students at a time can be totally […]

Breakin Up Christmas - Great folk song to use before or after the holiday!

December 17, 2016

Breakin’ Up Christmas – Connecting Carols and Folk Songs

Lesson Ideas

December can often be a challenging and confusing month for music teachers. First of all, so many of our all-school or grade-level concerts fall around the holidays which adds a ton of stress and anxiety to the holiday season. There are also the problems that go along with teaching and […]

December 8, 2016

Auld Lang Syne – Teaching A New Year Folk Song

Lesson Ideas

There are several really awesome “New Year” folk songs that somehow get lost in the shuffle of winter break. I always plan to teach them, but then either we have a holiday program that takes precedence or a last-minute, all-school assembly or classroom holiday parties… or something else to mess […]

5 ideas to extend lessons and create variety when teaching folk songs!

November 22, 2015

I’ve Taught this Folk Song, Now What?!

Lesson Ideas

If you’ve read any of my blog so far you know that I love teaching folk songs. Folk songs are great songs with catchy tunes, are excellent for cultural and historical references, and usually have some sort of movement or dance component. What an exciting way to expand vocabulary! What an […]

Ties make choosing a partner and following directions for folk dancing super simple!

February 5, 2015

Ties for Folk Dancing

Lesson Ideas

I’m always looking for tips and tricks to make classroom management a little easier. Last summer at my Orff Schulwerk levels training I learned a truly wonderful idea about using ties to simplify folk dance and movement instruction. Since then I’ve thought of a lot of different ways to use […]