Strike, Shake and Scrape
Assembly Performance

Entertaining and Educational! The Strike, Scrape, & Shake Show™ is a high-energy, one-man assembly program that treats students to expert percussion performances from Mark Shelton.

Students will learn about the percussion family as they enjoy Mark playing Snare Drum, Hammered Dulcimer, Doumbek, Handpan, Handsonic, and more in this fast-paced 45 minute show. The audience gets into the act with a little body percussion as Mark talks about the history of percussion.

Grades: K-8
Audience Limit: 200
Connections: Music, History

Circle of Creation:  Interactive Drumming with Mark Shelton
Assembly Performance

Bring the fun and education of a drum circle to your school.  Your students will experience the excitement of instant music creation when the whole group finds the groove. Participants will learn basic ideas about improvisation while playing user-friendly hand percussion instruments.  Mark provides percussion gear for all participants–along with expert facilitation.   

Grades: 3-8
Audience Limit: 40 students per session
Connections: Music

Adaptations and Ecosystems
Assembly Performance

Explore a variety of endangered species issues including habitat loss, over-hunting, pollution, and more. Human contributions to the causes and solutions of endangered species issues are addressed with an emphasis on empowerment and optimism.

With a degree in zoology and an electrifying stage presence, Lucas Miller, the “Singing Zoologist”, creates songs and sto-ries that somehow manage to be both outrageously fun and scientifically accurate.

Grades: 2-4
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Science, Storytelling

Life Cycles
Assembly Performance

Learn about the metamorphosis of tadpoles, the migrations of monarch butterflies, the growth of bluebonnets, and more in this dynamic science presentation. Packed with dazzling images, hilarious songs, and, yes, a rapping honeybee, your primary grade students will laugh and move while they learn a wealth of new science terms and witness the growth of living things.

Grades: K-2
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Science, Storytelling

Ocean Ecology
Assembly Performance

This program emphasizes ocean food chains/webs, photosynthesis, and conservation. Recommended for groups of 150-350. Features “I’m a Mako Shark,” “Living in a Wetland,” “We Can Bring Them Back,” and more. This program fulfills a wealth of TEKS and is a great review before the Science STAAR.

Everyone will have so much fun laughing and moving to songs about wetlands, ocean food chains and symbiotic relationships that they won’t even realize how much they’re learning.

Grades: 3-6
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Science, Storytelling

Let’s Do Lunch! Adaptations of Predators and Prey
Assembly Performance

This program focuses on food chains and adaptations that help predators find and catch their prey. It features “The Anaconda La Bamba,” I’m a Cheetah,” “I’m a Mako Shark,” and more.

Grades: 1-5
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Science

Doing What’s Right Can Never Be Wrong!
Assembly Performance

The Hare Sisters, Hee and Haw, have just returned home after a full day at school. Hee is very happy and Haw is very sad. Reminded by wise words from their Maw, the sisters agree using good words, kind words and great words is how they should act no matter what others say or do, because doing what’s right can never be wrong! This NEW Interactive program is filled with character building prompts and word recognition lessons wrapped around well known tunes (repetitive singing) for ease of remembering.

Grades: PreK-2
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Theatre, Storytelling, Music, Social/Emotional Learning

King Rhythm
Assembly Performance

Join soprano/storyteller Hope Shiver and percussionist David Keepman on a fantastic ride through African American history via popular musical styles. Selected audience members will join in the fun, donning costumes and pantomime, becoming loveable characters: Bluesy, Jazzy, and others. The program features lots of audience participation and is a year-round hit!

Grades: 1-5
Audience Limit: 200
Connections: History, Music, Theatre, Storytelling, Cultural Competency

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Assembly Performance

Tom of Tom’s Fun Band uses music and comedy to make learning about preserving our natural resources fun and thought-provoking. Participants will learn how to reduce the amount we waste by making small changes every day. Reusing things is fun when participants are challenged to use their imagination! Finally, recycling will be explained and practiced in a musically interactive way.

Grades: K-5
Audience Limit:250
Connections: Science, Music, Theatre, Storytelling

The Science of Sound
Assembly Performance

Who said learning about vibrations, sound waves, air molecules, and frequency isn’t fun? This new and highly interactive performance uses music demonstration to teach the science of sound. Demonstrations of unique sounds will be introduced to students through a performance by the guitar! Students will be encouraged to sing, move, listen, and identify sound characteristics as we explore how sound is produced, how sound moves, and how sound is perceived.

Grades: K-5
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Science, Music

Instrument Explores with Mr. Tom
Assembly Performance

This 45-minute musical program features fun and interactive music performed by Tom Wilbeck of Tom’s Fun Band.  In this program, participants will learn about several instruments as we explore and discover how their sound is made.  You can expect to sing, dance and laugh as you delight in the guitar, ukulele, violin, trumpet, tongue drum and so much more.

Grades: PK-2
Audience Limit:300
Connections: Science, Music

Scottish Bagpipes
Assembly Performance

Students discover the connections between sound, science, and music while exploring Scottish heritage through the history of regalia and bagpipes. The artist shares with students the structure and science of the bagpipe and demonstrates a variety of bagpipes, both small and large.

Paul Watson, a former Pipe Major in The Texas Highland Pipes and Drums of Lubbock, brings to life his rich Scottish heritage through the unique sounds of the amazing bagpipes.

Grades: 4-6
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Science, Cultural Competency

Buzz-a-Bee
Classroom Residency

In this residency program, students learn about the importance of bees and the environment as they write dialogue, music lyrics, and dance choreography for a one-act play. The end product is a three scene play approximately 5 minutes in length, which is ready for performance! This program is a true cross-curricular project utilizing skills and concepts in writing, speech, dance/movement, music, communication, creativity, science, ecology, and performance. Chris and Sharon are credentialed teaching artists who will guide and facilitate the work with your students and can be done 100% virtually, or in person.

Grades: 4th Grade
Residency Length: 5 Days
Session Length: 45 minutes
Connections: Literary Arts, Science, Music, Theatre

Drum Talk
Classroom Workshop

Communication of emotion has focused primarily on the neural mechanisms of communicating via speech, despite the fact that emotion is also communicated through nonverbal cues and silence. The communication of emotion is a bidirectional process, including both sensitivity to the emotional cues of others as well as the expression of internal emotional states to others. Drumming is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing, connectedness, and self-expression. Research shows that drumming promotes wellness, enhances awareness, and releases emotional trauma. Together we will explore the voiceless communication process and identify the benefit of communicating with patience through the process of rhythm.

Grades: K-12
Workshop Length: 45 min.
Participant Limit: 30 max
Connections: Music, Social/Emotional Learning

T.R.A.P. Learning – The Rhythm Arts Project
Classroom Workshop

(TRAP) embraces a unique methodology that encompasses rhythm as a modality to address basic life, learning, and academic skills. TRAP provides its students with the tools and confidence needed to succeed in the world. By listening to the individual as part of our approach, we practice person-centered principles in everything we do.

This educational program is the perfect mix of educational objectives and artistic experiences. It is designed to be fun and engaging but also helps develop an increased mastery of coordination, concentration, and educational accomplishment. The TRAP program has also been successful in addressing cognitive, emotional, and physical disabilities. Through customized exercises, the program teaches and enhances skills such as: Focus, Memory, Socialization, Sequencing, Sign Language, Laterality, Motor Control, Spatial Awareness, and Communication.

Grades: K-12
Workshop Length: 45 min.
Participant Limit: 30
Connections: Music, Social/Emotional Learning

The Pulse of Freedom: Drumming Through Black History
Assembly Performance

Experience the power and rhythm of Black History Month with The Pulse of Freedom, an electrifying performance celebrating the drum’s role in African and African American culture. This dynamic presentation combines captivating storytelling, call-and-response rhythms, and live drumming to bring history to life. Through the beat of the drum, audiences will feel the pulse of communication, resilience, and unity that has echoed across generations. This performance invites participants to join the rhythm with interactive verbal and tactile activities, fostering a sense of teamwork and community.

Grades: K-3
Audience Limit: 300
Connections: Cultural Competency, Social/Emotional Learning, Music

The Sounds of Africa
Assembly Performance

Explore African rhythms through drumming, dance, and song. Experience the African beat by playing a variety of African instruments and learn how music is a form of communication. Creativity and imagination comes to life through this journey of sound and reminds us that music is a universal language bringing cultures together.

Grades: K-5
Audience Limit: 200
Connections: Music, Theatre, Storytelling, Cultural Competency

Peter and the Wolf
Assembly Performance

Students will meet the five wind instruments of the orchestra including flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and French horn, learn rhythm patterns, and perform a short song with the quintet. WindSync showcases classical music as a powerful vehicle for storytelling as the five musicians act as narrators and transform into characters in their adaptation of Peter and the Wolf complete with costumes and choreography.

Grades: K-5
Audience Limit: 250
Connections: Music, Storytelling

It’s Not Your Grandparents’ Folk Dancing
Assembly Performance

Folk dancing is a great way for students to connect, interact and appreciate themselves and those around them.  Music that the students can connect with helps them to find folk dancing with a group or partners less scary and more likely to put a smile on their face.  You may even hear, “that was fun!”  In this workshop you will experience several different structures of folk dancing with surprising genres of music.

Grades: 2-6
Audience Limit: Any!
Connections: Music, Social/Emotional Learning, and Cultural Competency

These are a Few of My Favorite Things
Assembly Performance or Workshop

Teachers (and students) will participate in lessons that have been the favorite for me and my students.  Props, books, beat buddies, parachutes, non-pitched percussion instruments, barred instruments, movement, singing and more! 

Grades: PK-5
Audience Limit: Any!
Connections: Music and Social/Emotional Learning

Eek!  I’m teaching elementary music!  Now what????
Workshop

Oh my gosh!!  I’m transitioning to elementary and don’t have limited experience and no resources.  What do I do?!?!  Here is your solution! Be prepared to witness the smooth sequencing from Prek to 5th grade and beyond.  Participates will get hands-on experience and walk away with multiple lesson plans and a huge list of resources that meet all the TEKS requirements. 

Grades: PreK – 5
Audience Limit: Any!
Connections: Music and Cultural Competency