I can't just bust into song. I have to have music. And an appropriate atmosphere of frivolity.

They say that music has the power to soothe savage beasts. Whenever I hear or think of that phrase I think of a newspaper article many years ago that used that phrase in the subtitle, with a rather unfortunate typo. My dad walked in and picked up the newspaper and then started laughing and laughing. In large print, the newspaper read, "Music has the power to soothe savage breasts." We had a good laugh for a really long time.

I have been thinking about music since I went on my business trip to the conference. That sounds ridiculous. I have been thinking about music in my classroom since I went to the conference. As we walked in to one of the sessions they had music playing.



Yeah, I don't know what this kid has to do with the song, but the important part is the song.

So now imagine that you walk into the classroom and that song is playing. I thought it set a really nice tone for the class.

I played it for my class. Most were quite unimpressed. One asked me to switch the song to something by the Dave Matthews Band. But even though they are unimpressed, they seem more chill when I play music before class starts. I've been taking in a variety of music over the past week.

But I am really worried about taking in a piece of music that will totally embarrass me. I know that I don't have any that is inappropriate for the classroom (bad words, etc). Hm, maybe that's not true. I don't think I have any that is inappropriate. But I worry that I will take in something that will just label me as totally uncool.

So I ask: What would you suggest as good, starting-the-class music?