Play Some Music.

Tonight, I attended a Zoom show taping of Greg Proops’s podcast, Smartest Man in the World. When you go to one of his online shows*, for a few dollars more, you can stay for the VIP aftershow, and ask Greg a question one-on-one. I always like ask about when he was a student. I think it’s interesting to hear what adults — especially my favorite adults — remember liking about school.

Tonight, I said, “Last time we talked about your favorite teachers. I teach ten year olds, what do you think is important to pass on to a ten year old?”

Greg told about his teacher from when he was ten. He would let the kids bring in records that they liked to play, and he would play them music. He admitted to the music being pretty bad because ten year olds like whatever’s popular at the moment. He talked about singing together as a class, and how he still remembers some of the songs. He talked about how his teacher would play music for them.

At this point, Greg said that he would likely play music by black composers, exposing kids to things that were great, but they were less likely to hear somewhere else. We both share a love of soul music, and I talked about how I play a lot of old soul for the kids. He said that there’s something restorative about soul music, and agreed that that’s a good place to start.

And yeah, I agree with Greg. Play some music in your class. Use it for transitions. Listen in the morning, listen to instrumental music when you’re reading and writing. Listen on the playground, get a big Bluetooth speaker, and play it loud. Fill your classroom airwaves with joy, sadness, love, enthusiasm, and wonder. Listen to music with your students.

*You can find Greg Proops’s podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can check out his live shows by going to gregproops.com or nowherecomedyclub.com.