How does Elementary General Music Teacher Ashley Cobb make music, songwriting and arrangements accessible to young students at Catawba Trail Elementary School in Elgin, South Carolina? “Options, options, options! I try to introduce students to a variety of styles and genres, chord progressions, instruments, elements of music and musicians to build their music vocabulary,” she says.

Cobb is passionate about teaching music through approaches that value and celebrate students’ identities, communities and creativity. “While musicality and performance quality is important to me, I intentionally take time to focus on connecting with my students and the school community. That connection helps motivate the students, allowing musicality and performance quality to come naturally,” she explains.

When it comes to songwriting, she

• Improvises in a specific style or uses a specific instrument family,
• Uses folk songs and cumulative songs to help K-2 students start creating lyrics,
• Uses rhyming words to help K-2 structure verses,
• Writes parodies of existing songs in grades 3-5,
• Writes chord progressions in grades 3-5 or votes on common chord progressions for K-5 as needed,
• Uses Mad Libs to create lyrics,
• Decides on a theme to focus lyrical content

Cobb explains that “all of these ideas can be used in small groups or as a whole class, but they often serve as an accessible introduction to songwriting.”  

All repertoire that her students perform is written, arranged by or selected by students. “I intentionally plan each lesson to include creating and responding to music,” she says. “From voting on the order of our agenda, creating our own movement activities to explore form, selecting class and performance repertoire, writing and arranging their own songs, students have a lot of agency in my classroom.”

This student-centered approach provides her students with opportunities to think critically, become more independent and develop musically. She also encourages them to apply those skills outside of the music room, as well.

Cobb creatively introduces and sequentially presents instrumental instruction so students can learn, apply and perform as much as they can retain without pressure. For guitar, bass and ukulele she starts with open strings and learning tablature so students can practice string-names and get familiar with the fretboard. Then she moves on to single-strum easy (three-string) chords, single-strum full (six-string) chords and strumming patterns. Finally students apply these skills during play-alongs — they perform what they can or approximate the song, which allows them to problem-solve.

Cobb, who was named the 2024-2025 Richland School District 2’s Rookie Teacher of the Year, structures and teaches her classes in a way that allows students to develop music independence and think critically about the music they listen to inside and outside of the music room. One way she has done this was to start the first modern band at Catawba Trail Elementary and in the district in 2024. “Modern band allowed me to jumpstart the process of forming relationships with my students, get them to trust me and help them “buy-in” to making music,” she says.

Through modern band, Cobb introduced instruments that students wanted to play, made learning music fun and boosted engagement. “My modern band students organize literally everything about their performances,” she says proudly. “They select band names, create concert themes and programs, decide the band’s orchestration (with minimal assistance from me), and collaborate to arrange selected songs with creativity and accuracy in mind. My ultimate goal is helping them develop as confident, independent musicians.”

Cobb is very aware of what her students’ challenges may be, and she has created a classroom environment where students feel safe and free to express themselves. “They can feel happy or sad or angry or whatever else it is that they are carrying with them through their school day and explore them through music,” she explains. “At the end of the day, I personally believe that my job requires more than just making music, it requires creating joy.”