I have always loved the music of Elvis Presley. When I was a child, my parents frequently played Elvis records at our home. This music was a major influence on me when I became a musician as a teenager. From a library and programming perspective, Elvis is an important artist to share with the entire learning community since his influence made rock and roll music popular on an international scale.
A Spontaneous Idea Hits Big
Several years ago in January, we decided to put on an "Elvis Week" program in the library when I was the Jr. High librarian at Lakeside. I remember it being a success since most learners didn't really know much about Elvis (other than recognizing his image and some of his music). I have been wanting to bring this program back but wasn't sure how our high school learners would respond. We brainstormed the idea for this January (as a way to celebrate his birthday). We decided to have an Elvis "lip curl" photo activity. We thought we could get the younger students to attempt the iconic Elvis look as a fun activity. We also thought we could show a portion of one of his concert videos and have students answer essential questions about the performance (how the concert relates to modern performances, how the music relates to music of the present, etc). We decided to try the program! The School Was All Shook Up
Peggy Schaeffer, one of our amazing assistants, decorated the library with Elvis cardboard models and a rock and roll theme. She also pulled our many Elvis books and displayed them around the library. Students immediately began asking about all the decorations. These made a great conversation piece for everyone. Students would get excited and share that their parents or grandparents had Elvis recordings or videos. Some shared that they had visited Graceland, his home in Memphis, Tennessee.
One lunch period, we decided to start asking students to show us their best Elvis "lip curl". We couldn't believe how students got into this activity! We all took photos of students attempting to look like the King of Rock and Roll. Ray Borel, our other creative library assistant, began taking photos and video of teachers and students in the hall. The activity quickly became a popular draw to the library. Ray even got administrators to pose! He created a video that was shown on all of the televisions in the school. Students and teachers quickly came to us and talked about the activity!
Check out the video that Ray made above! (It's fun watching students & teachers try the Elvis "lip curl".)
A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Impersonation, Please
A student performs an Elvis song during lunch!
Through all the excitement over Elvis, one 9th grade student told me that he did an Elvis impersonation! He showed our staff a video of his amazing performances. He also showed us a video of a Blues Brothers act he and his brother performed. We immediately asked him if they could perform for us in the library during lunch. They agreed and put on a fantastic performance on our stage a few days later! One of the assistant superintendents and the high school principal even attended the performance. The Library Is Always On Their Mind
Lakeside Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Bruce Orr, poses with Elvis
This all started as a spontaneous thought for a simple library program and activity. As a result, it has opened up countless opportunities for conversations with students and teachers. I wonder how activities like this help change both student and teacher perspectives of the library program? I wonder how parents and administrators are impacted by seeing videos and photos of such events on library and school social media? Our hope is that the library stays on their mind as not only a fun place for a variety of programming but also as a place of information and literacy. We have decided to keep the Elvis theme for a few more weeks. We plan to show a portion of an Elvis concert and let students answer some essential questions (as mentioned in an earlier section). We want them to talk about how the music compares to the music of today. They can also identify differences in video techniques and clothing. There are endless possibilities!
I hope this reflection inspires you to try something new in your library programming this year! You never know what will hit big with students and teachers. With a library program, anything is possible since we have materials and information on all subjects. Start thinking out of the box and reaching out to the learning community in new ways.
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I've noticed over the past few years if I am passionate and excited about something, this energy is usually contagious. One of the things I have enjoyed since high school is playing music on saxophone. I spent 12 years as a public school band director. It was a very rewarding job that I especially miss during the holiday season. I liked helping my band students prepare for a winter holiday concert each year. Luckily, I married a musician and can enjoy playing music anytime! My wife Cindy (who is also a school librarian) plays piano. We enjoy playing together in church and other local engagements.
I have always wanted to record music since my college days. It is now possible to create recordings using a simple laptop computer and microphone setup. These recordings can be combined with video to make exciting music videos (or for digital storytelling, etc).
Use your skills to model technology projects for students & teachers
This might be an option for some students to create for learning projects in any class. It is easy to overlook creative students who have music and art skills. This is perfect outlet for them to shine. If they choose to publish their work, it gives them an opportunity to learn best practices for marketing on social media. As school librarians and technology support, we can help direct both students and teachers using these tools. It amazes me how we take all these different items and make them work together to create a product like a video!
These are the tools we used to create both videos
I want to take a moment to share about two holiday music videos Cindy and I have created over the past two years. Both music selections are public domain Christmas carols that we arranged (so we didn't have to worry about copyright issues).
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
I used Band in a Box (bass, piano, and drums) to create the backing tracks for this song. This software is simply amazing! The version I have comes on an external hard drive (this contains all the instrument tracks of nearly every style you can imagine). I exported the backing tracks as audio files and then put them in Garage Band. I recorded the melody using my tenor saxophone (an old Selmer USA TS 100 I have had since college). I used a Shure SM-57 microphone to record the saxophone part. I put a small amount of reverb on the saxophone recording in Garage Band to give it a more professional sound. After this, I was ready for a snow day to shoot the video.
We actually had two different snow events in February 2015. We used our Canon Rebel T3 DSLR camera to shoot the videos of the snow scenes. All of the video clips were made on our property in Bismarck, Arkansas. I then took the video clips and merged them with my audio recording using Final Cut Pro X for my MacBook Pro. This entire process took 10-12 hours from start to finish. Students could use this same process to create their own original videos about learning content. What if you created a video to inspire them using special skills or hobbies you have? Take a look at the finished product on our YouTube channel below:
What Child Is This? Cindy has played her own arrangement of this public domain Christmas carol for many years. We used our Kurzweil PC1X keyboard to make this recording in Garage Band during the fall months of 2014. We also shot video clips of our Christmas decorations around the house. I remember that we had to decorate the house early in November so we could shoot the video in time to release it near Thanksgiving. I made sure to get shots of Cindy playing her acoustic Kimball piano. We took all these clips and created the music video in Final Cut Pro X on our MacBook Pro. It took about 8 hours of work from start to finish. Take a moment to view the finished product below:
Closing Thoughts: A few essential questions to consider: In what ways can you combine your talents with technology tools to create memorable products to inspire your learners? In what ways can students do this?
If you are a great storyteller, create a product with technology to enhance this skill. If a student is great at rap and rhyming, help them create a rap video or audio file about content they have learned in class. The holidays are a great time to experiment with these skills, especially if you get new tech toys!
Go here to see how we had a Google Holiday Hangout with another school library 200 miles away.
Go here to learn two ways we brought music into the library! (one involves vinyl)
Have you been wanting to try #Mysteryskype? Go here to see how we did it!
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The Lakeside High School Jazz Band performs in the library during lunch
I love trying new things in the library as we approach the end of the school year. Students and teachers are weary of the normal "grind" with end of year activities and testing. I was so glad to get a text message from one of our band directors asking me to check dates in the library for the jazz band to perform during lunch! We jumped at this opportunity to have live music in the library! The jazz band could only perform during our grades 10-12 lunch period, but that was fine. We knew we could come up with something else for the grades 8 and 9 lunch period.
The jazz band performed big band classics along with more modern, popular tunes. Our student patrons certainly enjoyed this change of pace! They also invited me to play a solo with them (I was a band director for 12 years, and I still enjoy playing the saxophone!).
Students have enjoyed "Vintage Vinyl Cafe" for 3 years now!
During the 8th and 9th grade lunch period, we decided to bring back a program we have done many times. We play records for the students during lunch and call the program "Vintage Vinyl Cafe"! I brought an assortment of records including Stan Getz (jazz), Maynard Ferguson (jazz), The Beatles (rock), and Elvis Presley (rock).
We projected the record on a big screen for the turntable spin effect!
During lunch I showed them how records worked on the turntable. I also took a document camera and projected the video of the turntable moving on our big projection screen (so the students could experience the effect of the record spinning). It was a great success! One student even got up and danced like Elvis Presley during the playing of Jailhouse Rock!
I encourage you to reach out to your music groups on campus to arrange for library performances. Many directors will jump at the opportunity to have an extra run through before their spring concerts. I encourage you to think about playing records, too! It is a great way to talk about vintage technology and history in the library! We have also invited community guests to come in and play their records.
If you are looking for other ways to bring music into the library, click here to look at our Holiday Hangout with a school in north Arkansas via Google Hangouts.
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