Why Music & Giftedness Belong Together

 Giftedness & Music Belong Together 

Gifted students crave the challenges that music class can offer for a multitude of reasons.  After over a decade of teaching music to academically bright & gifted children, it is apparent that students are not only often skilled musically, but that music offers benefits that target the needs of gifted individuals.

In short, smart kids need to do smart things.  And challenging things are good for challenging children.

What is giftedness?

The term gifted is not new, but there is new research coming out all the time that helps educators, parents, care-takers, & other professionals support the needs of the gifted.

National Association for Gifted Children  acknowledges that children with academic gifts & talents have the ability to perform above peers.  

Note that there was no guarantee.  Giftedness does not equate to straight A's.  Quite often, it means that bright kids need modifications in classrooms to thrive and live up to the potential of those brains.

Being gifted often comes with idiosyncrasies, meaning some strengths and some gaps.  For example, brilliant brain knows the quadradic equation and performs well above grade level, yet lacks the executive functioning skills to keep track of a pencil and thus to do the math assignment. Or perhaps you have a student with a love of language who is highly empathetic, yet struggles with physical coordination.  

Any child from any race, socioeconomic class, any gender can be gifted and music is good for all of 'em!

Differentiation

Because no 2 students are quite alike, of course we need to differentiate.  Orff instruments make this easy.

Take a look at the African American Spiritual song "Follow the Drinking Gourd"  (Google Lesson) (PDF Version) . 

For the musicians whose strengths lie in reading notes, coordination, or already play piano, assign the 1st xylophone part.  The melody is more difficult and will invite gifted children to tackle this challenge.

There will also be students in class whose gifts lie in an academic field outside music and who struggle with gross motor or fine motor skills.  A simple, repeated rhythm part would be a much better fit such as xylophone part #3.

And then there are loads of kids in the middle.  Kids that may not be quite ready for the melody but not be challenged enough by a bassline.  

Dive Deeper

Gifted kids want to understand the "why" and "how" of things

• Why do we sing the national anthem?
• How do instruments make sound?
• Why is the musical word for loud (forte) in Italian? (Dynamic self-checking game)
• Why do metal bars ring longer than wooden bars? 
• How do you sing higher?
• Why do all civilizations use different drums?

The insatiable hunger for knowledge can either guide their learning or completely halt it.  

As educators, we know that steering this big brain bus requires a license!   Instead of expecting mini musicians to sing without providing context, give an insight to the culture.  The Core Arts Standard #10 is to connect music to other cultures, people, & arts.  Meeting the needs of gifted students is aligned with curricular goals & standards.

Engage the space lovers by  adding a constellation component to your lesson.  It will engage your science lovers & history buffs!

For book lovers, problem solvers, & writing fanatics, pair this song with an activity that not only invites critical thinking but meets the Social Emotional Learning objectives adopted by most schools.

Again, meeting the needs of gifted students is aligned with curricular goals & standards!

Leadership

Being gifted looks different for everyone.  One of my favorite (I know, I know, we never have favorite students, children, or pets...) students came to our gifted school from a public school in which she was essentially teaching her 4th grade peers math, geography, and all things reading.  While she is genuinely a wonderful leader, was she being challenged?  Were her needs being met?

I'd argue no.

While I do not want to stomp out any of her natural abilities or instincts, what I'm suggesting is that the focus returns to her education and allow her to be a better version of herself.

For music, she served as my rhythm leader. She is not the leader at all times which allows her to focus on her own academics, but she still gets to nourish an incredibly beautiful aspect of herself.  

Utilizing classroom jobs in the music room is a brilliant idea. You can assign things randomly or play to student strengths when picking jobs.  

 Check out these adorable hexagon Music Class Jobs!

Now what?

In review, you've learned:

1. giftedness is asynchronous, beautiful, & challenging
2. Differentiation means meeting various student needs & learning styles.
3. Dive deeper & plan cross-curricular lessons
4. Honor student strengths 

So go pick a lesson and try to consider how to elevate the material for a wider variety of students with different academic & social needs. 

This is an area of passion for me, so I'd be happy to help.  What would you like to know more about?  

Best,

Jaime