I frequently talk about the fact that our teachers do an amazing job of making learning. Our students are immersed in active learning each and every day. I have asked our music teacher (Suzanne Breedlove) to share about a fun and unique way that she incorporated music across all grades done with students over the last couple of years. In the post below, Mrs. Breedlove shares how she recently combined March Madness and music.

During March at Brainerd Baptist School, we celebrated “Music In Our Schools” month. For more than 30 years, the National Association for Music Education has set aside this month to celebrate music education in our schools. The purpose is to raise awareness of the importance of music in all students’ lives and the benefits it brings to all people alike.

Over the past five years, we have celebrated Music In Our Schools month in different ways. Typically we would have some sort of special message over the morning announcements. We have had music trivia where students have sent their answers to me and are entered into a daily drawing. We have had “Mystery Singers” in which brave faculty members have been recorded singing a song, the song has been played in the morning over the intercom, and the students had to try and guess who the faculty member was that was singing. We have also been able to have special musicians come and perform for the students throughout the day - groups from the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and even a Bluegrass band!

For 2022 Music In Our Schools month, I decided to follow the theme of “March Madness” and made my own bracket incorporating different songs - “Old School Songs” vs. “New School Songs”. Some examples of these were “Let It Be” (Old School), “Coat of Many Colors” (Old School), “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (New School), and “Happy” (New School). Each morning, I played two songs over the announcements, and the classes voted on their favorite of the two, knocking one of the songs out and ultimately dwindling the bracket down to the final two songs. Students and teachers alike had fun with this! The winner of this year’s bracket was “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi.

During MIOSM, I also took the time to highlight the Brainerd Baptist School Chorus. The chorus is made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade students who meet once a week after school to rehearse. In the past (pre-covid), the chorus has been able to go out into the community to perform in places such as nursing homes, and Christmas parades and the chorus even participated in a competition at Six Flags Over Georgia where they won first place in their division. This school year, the chorus was able to begin rehearsing in February, and they actually performed on the announcements on the last day of Music In Our Schools Month.

Music In Our Schools Month at Brainerd Baptist School is always a fun time! It is a time when the students are engaged in the music classroom - learning about composers, playing games, playing instruments, and preparing for their Grandparents’ Day program. And it is a time when they are engaged as a community - chorus performances, working together to answer the daily trivia, and voting as homerooms on songs/faculty. We love MIOSM at BBS!