Welcome to Making Music in Montessori, a website dedicated to making music instruction and integration accessible to Montessori Guides at all levels.
Dr. Montessori understood the essential nature of music and movement to the healthy development of the child. Recent brain research reinforces this idea. Music and rhythm prove valuable tools for building community, addressing special needs, and providing a powerful medium for the expression of the child’s discoveries. Music is also a tool for children to express their feelings and creative ideas.
Most importantly, music is a lot of fun! Yet over the years, despite the value of musical experience, many Guides continue to shy away from their music albums. Many schools spend extra money to employ music specialists. By doing so, we send a message to the child that one must be a specialist to create music. By treating music as a “pull-out” or special topic, we deprive ourselves of the joy derived from sharing musical experiences with our students. We rob the child of independent exploration. As "enlightened generalists,” it is up to us to bring music to life in our own classrooms.
The good news is you don't have to be a trained musician to get the children in your class performing, singing, moving, composing, and improvising music. Children in my classes have been making music using tools and techniques that are astonishingly simple. The Montessori bells, tone bars, green staff boards, and other music materials make for brilliant tools that are easy to understand for even a Guide with no musical background. I want to show you what I've been doing and help you make joyful music with your children.
My name is Michael Johnson. I'm a musician and a Montessori educator with twelve years of international experience in AMI elementary classrooms and over fourteen years of experience in Music Education. I've performed and recorded as a singer/songwriter for audiences around the world. I hold a B.A. in Music and a M.A. in Music Education. I've made music with elementary aged children from around the world. In addition to my Montessori Elementary diploma, which I received from the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee in 2009, I also have certification in the Kodály method of teaching music to children. In 2013, I performed with a small choir of children for 3,500 Montessori practitioners at the Montessori International Congress in Portland, OR.
My vision: for each and every Guide, musician or not, to make music a central part of daily classroom life. To that end I have developed a practical handbook, which serves as a tool for Montessori Guides who wish to bring music to life in their classrooms. In the book and on this site, you'll find materials such as:
Cosmic stories about famous composers, pieces of music and musical genres and eras all available for download and use in your classrooms.
A repertoire of folk, international and holiday songs with instructions on how to present and lead them.
Rhythm exercises and simple dances.
Singing games and whole group musical activities that you can present in gatherings to build community and foster musical literacy.
Step-by-step instructions for leading songs and movement games as well as directing spontaneous musical performances.
An easy-to-understand breakdown of the lessons in the Montessori music album.
Suggestions for how to plan and implement a yearlong program focused on getting the children reading and writing music.
An easy-to-understand breakdown of the lessons in the Montessori music album.
Ideas for promoting music as a means of independent exploration and follow-up to lessons in all areas of the classroom.
I'm confident that with the help of this site and the handbook I've written, you'll gain the knowledge, skills, and self-assurance you need to make music with your children. Should you need additional help, I'm available to visit your school and present a workshop that would include hands-on experience and concrete exercises and lessons you can take directly back to your classroom. Just visit the "workshop" page and contact me for a booking.
Once again, thank you for visiting.
Truly,
Michael Johnson