Relaxing Classroom Music for Independent Work

Over the years, I have loved having soft music playing in my classroom during independent work time.

I had previously blogged about some classical guitar artists that we enjoy HERE. Be sure you read that post and set up a Pandora/Spotify station with those musicians- you won't be disappointed!

I do pay for the monthly Pandora service and enjoy listening to it both in class and at my house, so it's worth the $3.99/month charge. *I pay for Pandora myself, they do not endorse this post or my blog. There is a free version, but it has commercials, so I never liked the disruption and decided to subscribe. Even if you don't have Pandora, keep reading. These artists have some fantastic work and you can even grab their CD's and downloads on Amazon.

Over the course of the year, and especially now as we head into spring, I like to vary the selection a bit. One of my favorite finds is the genre of Slack-Key Guitar. This is a traditional Hawaiian genre and wow, it is beautiful! Take a peek at this video to see what I mean:


You can hear (and see) that it is beautiful and complex, but also relaxing and calming. I am instantly de-stressed when this channel comes on and I know your kids will love it as much as mine. Plus, because it's Hawaiian, it helps me to stay warm and serene on a snowy March day in Colorado like today!

Some of the artists I enjoy from this channel include:

• Ledward Kaapana (he's the musician from the video above)
• Jim "Komo" West
• Sonny Lim
• Keola Beamer
• Cindy Combs
• Danny Carvalho
• Sonny Chillingsworth

This is by no means an exhaustive list! I have found even more artists from the Wikipedia article HERE to add depth to my channel and discover even more lovely melodies.

If you don't have access to Pandora, of if it's blocked by your school's internet, there are CD's and online albums you can use/download and I have found that this specific collection is fantastic! You can pick it up on Amazon and listen to sample tracks here:

I hope this genre can give your classroom music some newfound calm and serenity as we head into warmer months and begin to wrap up the school year. Enjoy!