FAVORITE: Admirable Quotations
"First grade is the most important year in a child's life. During this school year, the growth of a child physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally is greater than in any other school year. Children in the first grade have no inhibitions about singing alone. They are not self-conscious about trying to match pitch. Boys have not developed any resistance to singing. All are eager to learn. If the children experience great joy and satisfaction in their singing in first grade, they are often hooked for life." - Jean Ashworth Bartle
"It is in the first years of Primary School that the first laying of foundations, the collecting of the first, decisive musical experience begins. What the child learns here, he will never forget; it becomes his flesh and blood. It will affect the public taste of the whole country. This very idea warns us that the first songs are to be chosen with special care. And I would advise my young colleagues, the composers of symphonies, to drop in at the kindergartens, too. It is there that it is decided whether there will be anybody to understand their works in twenty years' time." - Zoltan Kodaly
"Often there is an argument that music, certainly a singing assembly, is an unnecessary frill -- secondary to academics. But the evidence is showing that music is an aid to all academic skills like listening, attention span, retention, discipline, and emotional well-being." - Nick Page
FAVORITE: Books
Children's Books for the Music Classroom
I've included the names of some of my FAVORITE books to teach music with - along with the music objective included with each story!
"Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell (K-1: singing voice [upper mechanism] and rhythm)
"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin, Jr. (K-1: steady beat, long and short sound patterns)
"Barnyard Dance!" by Sandra Boynton (K-1: moving to the beat, space awareness)
"Yellow Umbrella" by Jae Soo Liu (1st-2nd: listening experience, cross-curricular connection to art)
"Josephine Wants to Dance" by Jackie French (K-1: forms of movement and space awareness)
"Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp" by Carol Diggory Shields (K-1: steady beat)
"Do Re Mi: If you can read music, thank Guido d'Arezzo" by Susan L. Roth (5th: melody, key signatures, and history of music)
FAVORITE: Musicians!
My music favorites are always changing...I love to listen to new music and be inspired by all different musicians and styles. I arranged them in categories. I challenge you to always LISTEN to the music around you, no matter what it is...your ears will thank you! 
Miss Neerhof's...
ALL TIME #1 FAVORITE BAND... THE BEATLES
I listened to the Beatles with my mom and dad in the car on the way to piano lessons each Monday afternoon! I was hooked from the start.
Favorite singer in Kindergarten... RAFFI
Raffi's song "Down by the Bay" still makes me laugh!
Favorite band in Third Grade... NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Who can forget...HANGIN' TOUGH!
Favorite band in Seventh Grade... WEEZER
If you'd like to destroy my sweaterrrrr....
Favorite singer in High School... JENNIFER KNAPP
Jennifer Knapp was the musician who inspired me to start playing guitar and writing my own songs! She is still one of my most admired singer-songwriters.
Favorite music in College... MOZART, CHOPIN, SCHUBERT, FAURE...DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, NORAH JONES, NICHOLE NORDEMAN
Favorite music as a Teacher... ANYTHING MY STUDENTS SING!!!
Favorite music as a Grown-Up... INGRID MICHAELSON, SARAH MASEN, DMB, COLDPLAY, CHRIS TOMLIN, MATT WERTZ, BEN FOLDS...the list goes on and on.
Thank you for reading my favorites list. I hope to hear who YOUR favorites are soon!
Our Classroom Book Series: Spotlight on Music!
Our school district uses a wonderful music book series, named "Spotlight on Music" (MacMillan/McGraw-Hill publishers) to supplement our curriculum. Our Spotlight books are full of great music (from all around the world!), and so much more. Beautiful photographs and artwork, world maps, instrument play-alongs, and biographies of musicians past and present are all included in our student editions (grades 2-4). Large, colorful pictures and charts help songs, poems and stories spring to life in our "Big Books" for grades K-1.
The series also comes with electronic student editions (for use on the "big screen" with the LCD projector in the music room), listening maps, teacher planning materials, endless music recordings, and grade-level DVDs. Every music class is an adventure with Spotlight!
Our students absolutely LOVE to learn from the Spotlight books. I would like to share the publisher's website, so you can take look too! Have fun! ~ Miss Neerhof
http://www.mhschool.com/products/music/
Who is YOUR teacher, Miss Neerhof?
I love to learn from other music teachers! Check out these teachers I have been priveleged to sing with and continue to be inspired by.
Mr. Thom Borden, MacMillan/McGraw-Hill
http://thomborden.blogspot.com/
Mr. Borden is our book series representative, and he has come to our schools several times to help us learn about teaching from the books and using all of the fun technology gadgets that accompany! He is a wonderful music teacher and has the ability to create a fun, memorable music lesson from nothing but a simple story or folk tune.
Mr. John Armstrong, Bel Canto Solfeggio
http://www.armstrongmusicliteracy.com/
I often say "I never knew how easy reading music was until I met John!" John is a teacher from New York State who specializes in bel canto solfeggio, a fascinating and effective method for teaching singers of all ages how to read music. I attended one of his summer classes at Drake University, and the way I teach music was changed forever! If you ever visit one of our Harding music classes, you'll see "hands-a-flyin" and hear beautiful voices...and our minds are right alongside our bel canto voices, learning how to be literate musicians all the way!
Dr. Jamie Spillane, Iowa Wesleyan College
http://www.iwc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&layout=faculty&id=593
Dr. Spillane is a master teacher and choral director who I met through one of our summer symposiums through ICDA. His passion for teaching the art of singing is evident through his realistic, fun approach to rehearsing a choir. Ever heard the "Rules to Success?" Come see them posted on my music room door--I learned it all from Dr. Spillane!
Mr. Eric Whitacre, Composer and Conductor
http://ericwhitacre.com/
Mr. Whitacre "is one of the most popular and performed composers of our generation." When I attended Wartburg College (BME 2004), my choir sang many of his pieces in concerts in the United States and Europe. In the summer of 2010, Eric was the featured composer and conductor at ICDA's summer symposium, and I was blessed to sing in a choir conducted by him. The choral music of Eric Whitacre is absolutely the most challenging repertoire I've ever sung, and it is also the absolute best. Beautiful, gripping, emotional, humorous, transcendent. All of the above.
