Designing lesson plans that meet the musical needs of children and strategizing choice and placement of activities to maximize energy management is a bit like a checker game—a challenge of trying to out-maneuver the other player. You may occasionally get blind-sided by a double jump, but generally speaking, you are in command of the game, plotting so the children play right into your hand.

Designing is propelled by your understanding of the process of music learning and the lesson plan goals that you have laid out. Strategizing is driven by energy management. Whatever level and ages of the children, there are so many choices, so many ways to implement suitable activities and deliver appropriate music content—multiplied by 4 meters, 7 tonalities, and your creativity.

Designing and Strategizing invites you to play with energy. You get to select songs, activities, props, and the ordering of all of your creative choices. You put them together in ways that maximize music learning and optimize energy management. You try out your strategies in the classroom, and when you discover the ability of children to challenge the best laid plans, you go back and strategize some more, reordering activities and employing different techniques, topping children’s cleverness with your own.

There is no absolute scale of energy, but rather, your awareness of energy, the relationship of the energy of one chosen activity to another, and the energy flow across activities that guides strategizing. Rhythm, tonal, movement, and every song, prop, and activity have their own kind of energy, and the combination of any of these multiply that energy. This song following that activity will likely increase energy, whereas this song would likely decrease energy. The addition of this prop or full body movement, or simply standing for this activity will charge energy. This Art Song creates intense musical energy, which can be contrasted by this high energy Play Song or Rhythm Activity.

Tuning into energy with each choice you make will help you to order activities to assure lively momentum throughout your “seamless children’s play.” Energy contrasts will serve you extremely well in moving from one activity to another. On the other hand, if you want to string activities together in one meter or tonality, you might be better served by building energy through the string of activities and then contrasting energy to break the intensity of the string of activities. For example, you engage children in a tonality song with flowing movement while seated. You segue into a Resting Tone Activity in the same tonality, first as a class activity and then one-on-one response, which changes the energy with each incarnation. You then increase energy by moving into an Art Song in the same tonality, with all standing. The power of a tonality through the series of activities creates a spell, of sorts, that ultimately has to be broken. A high powered Rhythm Activity or Play Song will serve far better than a calming activity or song. Notice that in this example, there is no mention of particular props, songs, or techniques—all of which will influence energy, and therefore, the effectiveness of your teaching.

Dead energy in a music classroom of little children can be disastrous. Low energy can be risky, as can sustained high energy. Strategize to move energy throughout your class in an even tempered manner, exciting a bit here, calming a bit there, playing into musical energy, and contrasting energy to keep the flow, to keep the children going, to keep them in the palm of your hand. You select this prop for this activity, and choose this activity for contrast, this song for energy, this activity for calm, this technique to draw them in, this technique with this prop to sustain energy, this song for a spurt of energy.

Designing and Strategizing can be a very playful process—cleverly figuring out how you are going to get the children to do just what you would like for them to do, but by their own steam—their own energy. Playful strategizing leads to playful classes. Like that checker game, your plotting will have children playing right into your hand.