Are you overwhelmed with the thought of choosing your music classroom decor? What should you include? What should you leave out? How will you fit everything on your limited bulletin boards? And most importantly, how can you afford it on your teacher salary?
Today, I’ll be sharing the key elements I’ve discovered, through trial and error, to be vital in my elementary music classroom. I like to keep things simple, so this is as much about what I DON’T do as what I do.
We see so much cute perfection on social media. Sometimes it can be impossible to live up to! I’m hoping by sharing my own experience, you might feel like you too can give yourself permission to not do everything (unless that’s what you love to do with your time and money!).
Pick a Theme For Your Music Classroom Decor
Picking a theme can be a great way to create a fun and welcoming classroom environment. I personally lean towards something simple that I can use year after year. This saves on time, effort and money.
Some use-every-year recommendations might include rainbow colors or decor centered around your school mascot. I am partial to my rainbow watercolor-themed classroom decor.
Music Classroom Decor: Wall Decor
What is the first thing that sticks out to you when you walk into a room? The walls! And what’s on them (or not). It can be tempting to plaster your walls with tons of information and posters. But might I suggest another way.
Less can actually be more. Many students do not deal well with visual clutter, so having too much on your walls can actually become a distraction and hindrance to learning. I recommend being very intentional with what you put up on your walls. It will have much more impact if it isn’t competing for attention. Here are some of the things I use in my room.
Word Wall
Word walls are great for helping expose students to music vocabulary. You could cluster your word wall in one area, or place relevant words near other displays in your room. For example, placing the names of tonalities near your solfege ladder and names of percussion groups near your small percussion storage.
I love the Music Vocabulary Word Wall that I have created for my room, because it has exactly the terminology I need to talk music and music theory with my students.
Don’t have a lot of wall space? Another idea is to just display the words that you are using during your current unit, and replace them when you start a new one.
Inspirational Quotes
I try to have some positive messaging around my room as well. I try to have messages that inspire students to try hard, make mistakes and be kind.
Rules
You should probably have your rules or expectations posted somewhere in your room. I recommend no more than a handful, so that they are simple and easy to remember.
Solfege Ladder
A solfege ladder is just one example. Think of things that you use in your teaching almost daily. Those should be displayed for sure. It’s almost impossible to avoid it. And if you are going to use something every day in your lessons – make sure to place it near to the board where you can easily access it.
Creating Music Bulletin Boards
Some rooms have tons of bulletin boards. Some have just one – like my room. I imagine there are probably some rooms that have no bulletin boards too. If you have limited bulletin boards, you’ll want to use the space wisely. Here are a couple of bulletin board ideas you might want to try.
SEL Bulletin Board
At the beginning of the year, you want to build a welcoming environment. Having a bulletin board full of affirming quotes like this SEL Music Bulletin Board is a great way to show students that all are welcome here.
Don’t have enough bulletin board space? You can put it on your door as well. That’s what I did in my room! Kids often read them while they are in line waiting to be picked up by their teacher.
Composer of the Month
Another popular option is to have a Composer of the Month Bulletin Board. I love teaching about famous composers in my classroom, and my students love to learn about them. Having a bulletin board is a great way to keep the learning going. I especially love adding interactive elements such as “two truths and a lie” or “audiate this song”.
Seasonal Fun
Do you love to decorate for the seasons? Bulletin boards are a great space to have a fun seasonal music themed display.
Recorder Karate
I am all about function, so I loved using a bulletin board as a resource wall when I was doing Recorder Karate with my students. You could use it as a resource wall for other units too, such as centers or Rainbow Ukulele.
Display Student Work
Don’t forget about displaying student work. If you have a bulletin board or even a corkboard strip in the hallway by your room, that would be a great place to display student work. It is always great when we can show parents, teachers and admin that we do have standards and curriculum and learn content in music class.
Instruments and Storage
Let’s not overlook a major part of any music classroom – the instruments. I love to have a couple fun instruments from around teh world on display to pique students interest. I also have the happy birthday gong. If a student’s birthday is on the day they have music, we sing Happy Birthday and we get to hit the gong.
Orff Instruments
Some of the instruments that you use all the time might not be in storage. Do you use your Orff instruments everyday? If you are very blessed, you might have a room big enough to keep them all laid out. Or maybe they are on rollers and live along one of your walls.
I recommend labeling your orff instruments. This can help reinforce vocabulary you have been teaching, so that students can understand the difference between a metallophone, a xylophone and glockenspiel, for example.
I also find that having posters to remind about instrument technique with instruments you use all the time can be incredibly helpful. Here are the Orff mallet technique posters that I display in my room (also part of the Music Decor Bundle).
An often overlooked area for displaying posters is the wall space near the floor. But this is actually a prime location for these directions if your students are sitting on the floor as they play the instruments!
Instrument Storage
Who says that instrument storage can’t look good too? In fact, if you are, like me, a fan of The Home Edit on Netflix, then you know that organization can be equal parts form and function. I am obsessed with labels for EVERYTHING in my storage room.
The last thing that I need to be doing is wasting my precious time trying to figure out where an instrument or supply is hiding in my giant supply closet. Labels make everything so much easier. I love the small instrument labels that are in my Classroom Decor Bundle. They fit with the same theme as the vocab wall and orff instrument labels, and have a visual element as well.
Other Spaces to Utilize For Music Decor
If you are feeling like your room doesn’t have a lot of available space, here are some other areas you might use to display important material.
- Doors
- The space above your board
- The space below your board
- Back of your piano (depending on the style)
- Cabinets
- Top of bookshelves
Where Can I Find Music Classroom Decor?
Want a pre-made set of classroom decor? No problem! My Music Classroom Decor Bundle has basically everything you need to prep your classroom – plus some ice breaker activities for the first week of school as an added bonus!
You can grab it on my TPT store and think no more about what you need to get your classroom ready for school. Let’s be honest, we have a million things to think about when getting ready for the beginning of the year. Why not take one thing off your list?
This bundle includes:
- Music SEL Bulletin Board
- Orff Mallet Technique Posters
- Orff Instrument Labels
- Small Percussion Labels
- Music Vocabulary Wall
- Ice Breaker Activities
- Composer of the Month Bulletin Board
- ABCs of Music Pendants
Final Thoughts of Music Classroom Decor
Don’t forget, you don’t have to decorate every space within your room. In fact, you should probably leave some space intentionally clear. Our brain needs some white space.
Not sure how to tackle your music classroom decor? I recommend making a list of the things that you are thinking of displaying in your room, and on the other side of the paper, a list of the spaces you have to display things. Then prioritize the most important stuff and eliminate anything that you maybe don’t really need to have.
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