A Song We Wrote for YOU & Classroom Music Ideas [episode 21]

Okay, I want to get clear really quick for a second. So the title of this episode says a song we wrote. But actually the songwriter was my mom, Christine Cox. And as we say at Wife Teacher Mommy, she is my mom. Yes, but she also has so many different roles. So while she’s my mom, she’s also a singer, a songwriter, a keynote speaker, motivational speaker, so many things. So I am going to introduce her formally to you. Christine studied vocal performance at the University of Utah. She has been a vocal coach, music director and leading actress in many theater productions. Favorite roles include Ana in The King and I, Christina in Phantom, Maria in The Sound of Music and Eliza in My Fair Lady, Christine has been a featured soloist in Robben Island, Kingsbury Hall, and in the assembly hall at Temple Square concert series. Christine has been featured in the Salt Lake Tribune, The Desert News, the Daily Herald and South Valley journals. Christine is an inspirational speaker, and was recently featured at the Veridian Event Center for the motivational and musical event change your story change your life, she also writes music and will be releasing her first solo album very soon, you can find her music at christinecox.com.

Now this song, I can tell you it was a labor of love. And I met with my mom during the console and told her all about the struggles that teachers are facing right now. Then I gave her access to read some emails and comments from teachers that we’ve been receiving. So she could learn even more directly from your words from teachers who are currently in the classroom. And that is where the song came from. And we will share more about that in the main interview that we’ll get to in just a minute. But I also want to mention the music video for this song. And we revealed it at Educate & Rejuvenate. So if you were there, you may have already seen it. And if you’re a Club member, you probably heard my mom doing her keynote, but there’s lots of new content today. So still keep listening. But the music video was put together that was a huge team effort. So one of my team members who’s actually our newest team member Boone. He did the music video, he filmed it. And it turned out so great. And it’s awesome that we got somebody to join our team who has videography experience. We’re very grateful that he’s joined our team. I love working with amazing people at Wife Teacher Mommy. So I’m going to put the link to that YouTube video in the show notes so you can experience the whole video as well. We’ll be sharing the full song on this podcast episode. If you want to watch the video, I will link to that too. You’ll be able to watch the kids singing. We filmed it at a park and in my basement classroom. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a full on classroom in my basement because I also homeschool my kids so I’m still a teacher in that way. And of course I wanted a classroom I want to be able to set it up like a classroom. I’m a teacher. So we filmed that there. And I just appreciate also the kids and their parents and the women who were the teachers in the video for taking the time to help make this video happen. As I said it was such a team effort. And Mara Lee who did the orchestrations for it and funk studios where the children recorded it was just such a team effort to create and produce the song dedicated to you. So I hope that this song today Bridge the Gap helps inspire you for we’re going to show you this song, share the message behind it plus, after that we’ll be talking about lots of great ideas for adding music into your day as a teacher. So let’s get on over to the interview.

Hey, Mom, it’s so fun to have you joining me on the podcast today.

Oh, thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.

So much fun. I’ve loved watching all that you’ve been doing with your presenting and doing conferences. And it was so fun to have you as a keynote, at Educate & Rejuvenate for our club members, you did a great job.

Oh, thank you. That was a thrill for me. I really enjoyed it. What an awesome program for you to put on for all these teachers, I was just amazed at what you guys were able to pull off. I remember when you first started talking about that you were going to do it. And then to see how big you actually went. with it. It was amazing.

It was wild. It was a wild ride, as you’ve heard, but I’m so glad we did it. And my team and I, we totally pulled it off. The speakers were amazing. We connected with so many great teachers. So it was a lot of fun. First off, I want to have you introduce yourself and tell our listeners a little bit about you and what you do and your passion for music and how it impacts the world.

Well, music has always been super important part of my life, even as a young child. And as I remember, when I was probably five or six years old, my sister, your Aunt Camille, we would dance around in our living room on the fireplace with these microphones that didn’t even plug in it because we just loved music so much. And we play the eight track tape player and just dance around. It was so fun. But then I started piano lessons and singing. And eventually, I studied vocal performance at the University of Utah. And I was able to play lead roles in many operas and things like that. After I got out of the university, I was a vocal coach and did music directing. And recently, I’ve really gotten into and just been doing a lot more with writing music. And so that has been a real great adventure in the past five or six years. I had written songs before. But they just really started coming to me all the time. So that was a new adventure.

That’s amazing. And I’ve loved listening to all the songs you’ve written, you’ve done such a fabulous job. And I remember you did write someone when I was a child, but you’ve been writing, you’ve been writing them like non stop the past few years. Like it’s like, Oh, I’ve got another song. And it’s just amazing because they are so good. And they have inspiring messages that everyone can benefit from.

What’s crazy is that they come faster than I can get them finished. So I love the little book that you gave me. For those listeners that are here. Kelsey gave me a book that says I write my own story on it, which is the title of one of my songs. And it’s a book to write down all my song ideas in and it’s got a whole bunch of things written in there that I’ve kind of got in the works right now. It’s so fun. And in conjunction with the singing and writing music. I’ve had a lot of different opportunities come up to just do some speaking along with my singing. And I never imagined that that I would enter that arena. But I really love motivational speaking, it’s just been such a treat for me.

And you do fabulous at it. As I mentioned, you were at our club event doing and you did one of those keynote concerts for us. And it was really fun to see you kind of weave together, motivational speaking, along with music and really putting those together. I had not seen that before. So it’s really unique and really inspiring because I feel like music and motivational speaking alone are both great things. But then you put them together and it’s just wow, just something new and beautiful.

Yeah, people say to me when I say Oh, I do keynote concerts, like, what the heck is a keynote concert? Because they never heard of it. And I always tell them, Well, if a motivational seminar and a music concert had a baby, that would be a keynote concert.

I think that’s the perfect description of what you do with these keynote concerts. Like if the two had a baby that is, that’s what they would get. And then in addition to those, you also, like we’ve talked about write music, and you were wanting to write songs for brands. And so you asked me, if you know, I would be willing to have you write a song for Wife Teacher Mommy. And I was like, of course, that would be so much fun. But at first, I didn’t really know what that would look like. And now that you’ve done it, and we got together, I think it would be kind of fun for you to share about that process.

Well, I just remember when we discussed it in the beginning. You weren’t sure but but I think what usually helps people to be more clear about what they want in a custom song, which I write for different brands and different people and situations is that we have a consultation, and we sit down and talk about what your mission statement is what you really do. And during that part of that process, you also allowed me to go in and look at some of the emails from your different members of Wife Teacher Mommy, the teachers what they’d written, then what their problems were, what their challenges were. Abby just talked about your mission statement. And from there, it became very clear to me as I started reading all of these emails from teachers and Facebook posts, that they were giving so much to these students. And there were so many gaps that they were trying to fill. As a teacher, you’re always trying to bridge the gap between what a student knows, and what they need to know, to move to the next level to move to next grade level. And in addition to that, we had COVID come up. And then they had students that were online, and some students were doing better than others. And some students weren’t really focusing on their education as much. So they have all these different students at all these different levels. And I know that happens all the time, but with COVID I think it just got enhanced so much more.

Yeah, and I remember when we were talking about that, like I mentioned the phrase like, oh, yeah, and the teachers just have all these gaps are trying to fill they’re trying to bridge these gaps. And I was just saying that because it’s kind of like a normal phrase, you hear a lot in education, but then that’s when you were like wait, bridge the gap. And like you kind of were able to pull that out of just what I was saying and then turn it into a song and that was really a really cool process to see and how it all came together.

Well what was amazing to me is that you were using that phrase, but that was the exact phrase that was coming to my brain for what you do for all the teachers out there. And so that’s why it just came together because the teachers bridge the gap for the students but then they are doing so much and they really need someone to fill the gaps for them in their lives because they do so much at school and they come home and so much of what’s required of them at home and you know, they’re a person too teachers or people too, they need someone to take care of them sometimes. And your company Wife Teacher Mommy does that you bridge that gap for them. So that’s kind of the meaning behind that song is that together you and the teachers bridge the gap for the students.

And I love that you like made that comparison because I hadn’t really thought of it in that exact terminology of that being what we do but it really is so when you show me that song and you know the message and how it all came together I think I mean I think we just need to show him the song

Yeah, we should let’s do it.

Okay, so let’s show them the song and then we can talk a little bit more about it.

That sounds awesome

*SONG*

Isn’t that just the most beautiful, adorable, amazing song written dedicated to teachers? Can’t you just tell the heart that went into that?

Well, these kids just made the song and little Brielle, little Bree Cathy’s little daughter, she’s the soloist at the beginning and at the ends. And then the rest of the choir, we talked a lot about them thinking about the teacher that most inspires them, while they’re singing the song.

I love that. So they were actually like singing to their teacher, in their mind. And to us, that is a song that we are dedicating to all teachers, all of you out there. So if you are listening to this, that song is dedicated to you. Yes, for all that you do. And we talked about the message of the song and we showed them the song, and I’m sure they’re feeling all the feels from it. But what are some ways that you think teachers need the most support to help them bridge the gap between their life classroom and family as, as mentioned in the song?

Well, I think one of the big things is that, and I talked about this, I addressed it in my keynotes at your event. But teachers are trying so hard to be the hero to everyone else. And then they come home. After school after being the hero for their students, they come home and I try to be the hero for their own children and for possibly a spouse or significant other. And then in other things they do within their life, whether that’s being involved in a church organization, or being involved in a charity organization. Teachers are such busy people who want to make a difference in the world. So they’re always giving, they’re always being a hero for everyone else. But the thing that is so important is that we have to be our own hero. First. We can’t be anyone else’s hero, until we’re our own hero. And so it’s so important that we take care of ourselves, I think teachers need to be able to unplug from teaching for a bit, and really take care of themselves. And that may be different for different teachers, whatever fills them up, but they need to take time for themselves.

Absolutely, I agree with that 100% that we need to also look out for ourselves and not just you know, the kids in the classroom or at home, we need to make sure that we’re taking care of ourselves so we can take care of them. Exactly. And because we deserve love and support to, you know, teachers, like you said, are people outside of being a teacher, and even outside of being a mom or a dad,

You’re your own person, and you have to take care of yourself. First, it reminds me of the airplane story. You know, when you go on an airplane, I remember the first time this happened to me as we had taken you on an airplane and you were about two and the stewardess gets up and says her little spiel about should the cabin pressure began to decline or rise or whatever it is, the masks will come down and put your own mask on first. And I thought, I’m not going to do that. I’d love my little two year old, I’m going to put her mask on first. And it really bugged me that they said that until I thought about it a little more. And I thought well wait a minute. If I don’t put my own mask on first, then this person that truly needs me, when they need me the most, I may not be able to help them, I may not be in the position to be able to do that for them. And that’s how I liken you know taking ourselves and self care is that we have to do that in order to be able to take care of those we love. So we do it because we love them. It’s not selfish. I think sometimes we think it’s selfish.

And what our coach Chrissy Nichols for Wife Teacher Mommy club, she’s amazing. One thing that she said before the love is itself full. It’s not selfish, it’s self full, because you need to take care of yourself.

I love that. I love that you do need to take care of yourself. I couldn’t believe how much I heard about teachers grading on the weekends, you know, spending their whole weekend doing a lot of school things, instead of, you know, taking a little time to rejuvenate.

Yeah, and it’s all too common because it’s easy to do is almost the path of least resistance to keep, you know, working on things because like, you want to make everybody else happy. You want to make sure that everything is done. But at the end of the day, there’s always more you could be doing. But taking that time to rest and reset and rejuvenate is really going to do more for everybody in the long run. Even if it may not feel or seem that way.

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So piggybacking off of that, what do you think, and I’m going a little bit off our script. But I think this is important to talk about what are ways teachers actually should do that we like talk about they should take time for themselves or whatever. But what is the path to do that?

The path to do that, I think is scheduling it, schedule an appointment with yourself and don’t break it. I work with a mentor and learned this technique that he uses when he calls it his joy first schedule. And I think if we can schedule our joy, whatever brings us joy, whether that’s you know, for me that’s writing music, or taking time to sing, or spending time with my grandchildren and my children. But sometimes I get so busy on the other things, if I don’t schedule that time, it doesn’t happen. So scheduling that time. And I talked a little bit about that in my keynote, too is that what are the times I take, take something once a week, once or twice a week and schedule something that is just your joy. Schedule it for an hour to like, schedule it so that you have the time for you. And then also find times where you can put your joy first, every single day. And I know that sounds a little hard if you’re teaching all day long. But there are ways there are ways to sneak some joy in there. Either before you go to school or during school, just the things that you love. You could even involve your class in it. Or do a brain break or something that involves something that you love that rejuvenates you and not just the kids and let them come along with you.

I love that idea. That was fabulous. And even like you can find ways like you know, if you’re a teacher, and you’re driving to and from school, you could turn on some like Taylor Swift or whatever music you love listening to on the way and just jam out to it. And that brings me joy or you know, if it’s a podcast or an audio book of like, something completely not work related. That’s like, just a fascinating story in a genre you love Exactly.

Something that fills you up. Something that fills you up and finding the ways to fit that into your schedule is so powerful. It’s so powerful. Yes.

So we kind of got on the topic of like, you know, including things to rejuvenate in the classroom. And we’ve been talking about me Music. So what are some ways that you can incorporate music that teachers can in their classrooms? Or parents with their children who they homeschool? What are some ways that they could incorporate music into their day? Easily? And why would that be beneficial for both the teachers and the kids that they teach?

Well, I want to answer your second question first, which is, why would it be beneficial to the teachers and the homeschool moms, who are also teachers, and also the students that they teach or their own children in their own home? Think about how music drives your emotions. If you’re working out, you don’t listen to like a little, you know, soft symphony, or usually want to get yourself going right, it really kind of drives our emotions drives our feeling. And so using that to our benefit, can help so much when we need kids to get their wiggles out, we can listen to an upbeat song, or a brain break, have a wiggle, and maybe even sing along to a song that they know and love. Or if there really needs to calm down, then we can have some soft music. I read about one teacher who will incorporate soundtracks for movies into writing time, because you know, to have an epic score going on, when you’re writing, I mean, how amazing would that be? That’s a great way to like visualize like their story. And I love that idea. If you think about a movie, and you’re I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, but I have done this before, where I’ve watched kind of the behind the scenes of a movie, and they show it and there’s no music, and you’re like, Wow, this isn’t near the same movie, it doesn’t have the same feeling the soundtrack makes it amazing. The soundtrack impacts how we feel about every single scene, whether it’s suspense, you know, you have that music behind us that just encourages that. And that’s how life is to. And our classrooms can be the same way.

I think that’s such a great idea. I’ve also heard a lot of teachers even using it for like sound cues for transitions, because when, like, you know, you can have your call and response ones. And I love those, like, you know, when you do like, the teacher says this, And the student says that like for attention or whatever. But sometimes your voice gets tired or like, you know, you need to something that grabs their attention more. So if you have like a certain song you play when it’s like time to rotate for centers, or whatever, that can be another great way to incorporate music.

A theme song for different sections of your day, so that they just know when they hear that now we’re doing this. And one thing that comes to my mind is you can even have music as a timer. Like if they are winding up, this section is going to be over in a certain amount of time, or they have this much time to write down that or whatever using music as a timer, the little Jeopardy song or you could come up with some other fun thing. And also, you know, teachers have times when, Okay, it’s time to listen to the teacher that accounts maybe gets a little out of hand, if you could have a song where they know, when this song plays, that means your attention comes back to me.

These are all such great ideas for teachers to use in the classroom.

Well and I have another idea too, if you want to share it. Okay. So I think it would be so awesome because I you know, I write custom songs and things, I think, how awesome would it be to have a song that is your song for your class, you know, and you could write it, you could just write different words that kids could help you write a song that has to do with maybe your mission statement for your class. And that’d be so fun.

And you could do it together and you don’t have to overthink. It doesn’t even have to be fancy. Or it could be the tune to like a song everybody knows like to Mary Had a Little Lamb or just some popular song that they love. Like, you know, let it go just get a karaoke accompaniment and just figure out some different lyrics that you would like to have go with that. And honestly, if there was like, Oh, this is the song for Mrs. Sorensen’s class and all of the alumni know it. And 10 years later, you see him in the store, and they’re like, I still remember this fun little song that we had for our class. You know,

I still remember the multiplication songs I learned in third grade. And that still sometimes when I’m like doing multiplication, I find like, you know, when I have to do it in my head quick, I find myself singing those songs in my head that I learned in third grade. So song stick?

Yeah, music is great for memory retention. They actually did a study on it in 2017. And they started using a lot of music for dementia patients, because it changes you know, the cognitive awareness and music activates the left side of the brain so you have an even more the front and back sides of the brain. So you have all the sides of the brain working together to help teach you know new concepts, and also to help them retain those concepts. They’re going to retain them so much more. If it’s combined with music, absolutely, teachers are not going to be able to use music, you know, every single second of their day, you know, unfortunately, but you know, I hope they can maybe take some of these ideas and just figure out where would be most beneficial for them to use music in the classroom.

Those are all fabulous ideas. And I bet everybody could take at least one of those ideas and incorporate it into their classroom. And it’ll just be so much fun and meaningful is way to bring fun back into the classroom. Because I know a lot of teachers, like we’ve talked about earlier in the episode are feeling very stressed out with meeting all the gaps and everything. And those are all things that you know, we’re trying to work our way through. But you can also add in some fun along the way, too. And music is a great way to do that.

I mean, imagine the Jaws theme or Mission Impossible, or just some of these really fun songs that we love, just being part of your day, just brighten the day so much.

This has been so much fun, add so much great info for our listeners. And really, we brought you on because of this amazing song you wrote, Bridge the Gap, and all these amazing tips that you have for utilizing music because I feel like that is something that is often overlooked in classrooms. And I feel like it could be such an asset. With the bridge the gap song like music can be a way to bridge that gap for yourself. Like bringing in that fun into the classroom. Like we were just saying. And I love the way the song you wrote Bridge the Gap encompasses all of it incorporates like, you know, your classroom, your family, your life. And that’s really what we’re all about at Wife Teacher Mommy. So you nailed it perfectly. And I hope everybody just loved that song that was dedicated to teachers, and all that they do.

Oh, I hope so too. I hope so too. It was written for them, and all that they do.

And now I believe you mentioned you put together a freebie that includes some downloads too, I think you’re really including bridge the gap in that.

Yep, bridge the gap. And then the three other songs which were part of my keynote at Educate and Rejuvenate. And those songs were this moment, I write my own story, and be your own hero.

I will link to that in the show notes so that our listeners can find that and download those songs. Our club members absolutely loved them and the messages they share. But I really do think every teacher, whether they’re in the club or not, we’re here to support you. And that is a great way to listen to some of that music that can help you feel inspired and rejuvenated. So definitely head over to that link in the show notes to download that freebie. Awesome. Can you tell us where else our listeners can find you?

Yes, well, I have my own website, which is Christine cox.com. And you can find my music there. I also have a website that is for my motivational speaking, which is called Christine’s keynotes.com. So they can connect with me there. I have a Facebook page, Christine Cox music. And I’m on YouTube at Christine Cox. So there are several other Christian Cox’s that have music completely different than mine on YouTube, but they’ll find me if they look for me.

Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. It was so fun to have you and members be sure to hop over to the private podcast so you can listen to us continue the conversation a little more than everybody else. We will see you here next time.

Thanks so much for having me. It was a pleasure.