A Thriving Music Program From Nothing
- Music Room
- Aug 11
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 1
It’s every teacher’s nightmare- lack of budget money. How are we supposed to have a thriving music program, fulfill the requirements of the standards, live up to the expectations of admin, parents and the students for a class that’s worth their while and respect with less and less resources as time goes on? How do we continue to show evidence of the justification of our positions when given less and less to do so? I’m sure every single one of you have had this thought, regardless of what your situation looks like. If you aren’t living this every school day, then you have definitely wondered what you would do if faced with this reality.
Let me tell you a story.
It’s the story of the interview that got me my first schoolteacher position after graduate school. The interview was for a K-8 general music position in a private school and was only with the principal. Of all the interviews I had that summer, it was the second-least stressful. I had one with a principal that I already knew, worked with my mother and had watched me grow up. That was the easiest. The most difficult was at the same district’s own feeder elementary school that was boardroom style, where I was seated in the school board room, with a panel of eight teachers, administrators and parents that were firing me question after question. Fortunately I was prepared to answer them, and strangely, I knew half of the people there, and one was a teacher I did an internship with in high school. Unfortunately it was 2008 and no one was hiring teachers without experience.
Except this one particular elementary school. I had been referred to this position by the high school, who was only hiring experienced teachers, so the job had not been posted. The interview questions were very basic- things I had been asked before and I was prepared with answers I was proud of. But one question in particular stood out. “If you were hired for a position that had a very low or no budget, what would you do?” I had not rehearsed this one. Instinctively I said, “Get creative. I would find myself hand making percussion instruments for the class to use, create my own curriculum if needed, write my own performance materials and focus on what they need to learn, not what we have to learn with…”
These days, this question is seen as a red flag by teacher candidates, but I bet it’s asked more often now. But every candidate has a different perspective and amount of desperation. I was hoping for a job, any job, to start my career and give me experience. I got the position, and I got exactly what was in my imagination for that answer- a $0 budget. And so I needed lots of creativity.
There were about six hand percussion instruments, a whole series of textbooks that were new and that was it. Not even a piano, absolutely no curriculum, and nothing to help me come up with a Christmas play and a spring concert, which was a mandated part of the position. The next month-and-a-half, I created everything I needed to begin. It was modified over the next few years as I learned more and more about the pacing of students’ growth in music, but they kept up, soaked it in, and within three years, the school was being marketed as a performing arts elementary school for prospective families.
What happened here? How did all this come from nothing? Unless your district has specifications on what has to be taught, you’re on your own, with nothing but the music standards to guide you. Likely, if your district is mandating you to teach something, they have a curriculum in place and the materials to support it. But if you don’t, then you have to do just that- and get creative and have a pretty confident attitude about how to get your students to learn and love music.
It Wasn't About the Materials
Let’s talk about that first part, the attitude. I went into this totally knowing that I knew what to teach them. I knew that certain things were expected in each grade level, and what I wanted each grade level to know, from a musical concept perspective. I knew that each grade level needed to learn to sing a song for Christmas and a song for the spring concert (even though I didn’t totally agree with the requirement). So I created a “Macro Lesson Plan” that included everything for the school year: the performance prep time, the concepts, activities that would support them and how I would assess. I wound up with way more than I had time for, but better to be overprepared than under.
If you’re in a position to need to create this for your students, start with the standards. The standards focus on literacy and creation, which I fully support. Not many materials are needed to teach music literacy and music creation, unless you plan to use keyboard labs, a class set of guitars or ukuleles, computers and Orff instruments. Every one of my eighth graders wrote a song and they got a big kick out of me playing it and singing it for them on a $50 keyboard. We called these mystery songs and they all sounded good if they followed the guidelines.
What Do Music Programs Need To Thrive?
A positive, “I can do anything” attitude by the teacher, even if you don’t fully believe it yet.
Basic school supplies that students bring (pencil, notebook, binder)
A class set of objects that can be made into percussion instruments
A keyboard
The internet as a resource for quality musical examples
A plan, always knowing what the next day, week, month and the rest of the year will look like
Start there, and the rest will just fall into place. If you’re hired as a music teacher, someone trusted you enough with the students of this school to be qualified enough to know what to do. Understandably, sometimes ideas don’t flow and plans can be overwhelming, but that’s where we come in. Uplevel U: Music is an online platform of professional development courses and resources for teachers to fill in the knowledge and planning gaps. It is normal for music teachers to be pushed into teaching environments that are not their forte, so Uplevel U: Music is the go-to place for supplementation. Before the end of 2025, an entire K-8 General Music curriculum will become a course, from the organization and activities, to the execution and delivery of the material for success, to the assessment and grade point average generation for each student.
Sign up for the email updates list (only a couple emails per month) to get the latest course and resource releases.
This article was written by Music Room/Uplevel U: Music's owner and creator, Karen (Kay) Janiszewski.
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