Overview: Use music to create a mood for creative writing. Use a CD or tape player and bring your own music or ask for suggestions from your music teacher.
Procedure Ideas:
* Different ideas for music that could be tried for different lessons: something the students normally listen to, classical (sample the whole gamut), environmental recordings of rain forests or thunderstorms, world music from different native cultures, electronic or space music, opera.
* While listening, students can write about the music itself, or you can give them a specific idea to start with, e.g. write about being home alone during a thunderstorm while a thunderstorm CD is playing.
* An alternative is to give students a regular writing assignment, but play the music to create a different atmosphere for writing.
* What works for one person may not work for someone else, so while opera may relax you, it may set a student’s nerves on edge.
* This is a perfect opportunity to also introduce different kinds of music to your students. In many cases, they will be unaware that some kinds of music even exist.
* Use soft background music while students are sharing their stories with the rest of the class.