So, you found out you’re teaching music on a cart. If you’re facing this as a K-6 music teacher, it can be so challenging! How do you fit materials for kindergarteners and sixth graders on the same cart? What if there’s no travel time? What if there’s no elevator in the building? How do you make it all work?

I’ve been in this situation more than a few times. While I’m not the biggest fan of cart teaching in any subject area, it’s becoming a growing reality for public school music teachers. My goal for this post is to provide you with realistic advice that will help make music on a cart feel a little easier to navigate.

A Music Teacher’s Nightmare

If this feels like a nightmare, I completely get it.

The thought of transitioning from a beautiful, colorful music room to a cart might feel overwhelming, and that’s totally normal. Before you do anything, breathe and remember this silver lining: cart-teaching is going to simplify your lesson planning for the entire school year.

The key to success with teaching music on a cart is to make everything really simple for yourself.

When it comes to teaching music on a cart, I like to focus on bringing the same general music experience to my K-6 students that they would get in a traditional music classroom. This includes:

• Singing
• Movement Activities
• Instruments
• Listening

Now, once you look at it this way, it should seem a lot more manageable. So, let’s move on to discussing how you’ll plan music on a cart for the upcoming school year.

Yes, You’re Going to Need a Music Cart

If you’re being asked to push into classrooms, you deserve at least one cart to ensure you’re offering quality instruction for your students. If your administration hasn’t already offered to purchase you a cart, this is where I recommend advocating for yourself and explaining that a cart is necessary to offer high-quality music instruction. After all, you’re going to need to transport instruments and other class materials that will make music feel like music.

If you don’t have a cart yet, or can’t get one, I recommend getting yourself a spacious backpack, a pitch pipe, and a Bluetooth speaker. You can ask classroom teachers to store certain instruments, such as a set of recorders, in their classrooms until you’re able to get a music cart. You can find some of my favorite items for travel-teaching on my 15 Amazon Essentials for Elementary Music Teachers post.

Also, if you’re in a school with multiple floors, you may want to ask for multiple carts, depending on the situation, and whether or not you have access to an elevator. If you don’t have an elevator in your building, you’ll ideally want a minimum of one music cart per floor in the school building. You’ll also want to coordinate with your principal on safe locations to leave the music carts when you’re not teaching (my music carts were usually stored in classrooms, utility closets, and staff rooms). Just make sure your cart is housed in a location that is generally off-limits to children without adult supervision. You want to make sure your music supplies remain in good condition when it’s in storage.

Choosing the Music Cart of Your Dreams

When you’re teaching music on a cart, you’ll have to make the best of it, and that all starts with choosing your dream music cart! Depending on your priorities and needs, your preferred music cart might look different than mine, and that’s perfectly fine. In this section, I’ll provide some advice on choosing a cart for your needs, and pitching the cart request to your principal. Please note that planning for larger instruments (i.e. Orff xylophones or drums) will likely require multiple carts.

Earlier in this post I mentioned how I like to focus on bringing the same general music experience to students on a cart, including singing, movement activities, instrument playing, and listening activities. When you think about these categories, what do you think you’ll actually need to pull off a general music experience for elementary music students?

Singing

May require a pitch pipe and/or accompaniment instrument of some kind, like a guitar, ukulele, or keyboard.

Movement Activities

May include accessories like scarves, ribbon wands, parachutes, monkey noodles, or bean bags.

Planning for Musical Instruments

Planning for musical instruments for your cart requires the most consideration. Sticking to 1-3 types or groups of instruments when planning for music on a cart is easiest. Consider:

• Do you envision your students working with a wider range of instruments?
• Do you want to plan for larger instruments like Orff xylophones and drums?
• Are you okay with students working in stations (i.e. taking turns) while waiting to use larger instruments?

Will you need space for your main instrument on the cart? (i.e. guitar, ukulele, or keyboard)

Prioritize

The use of musical instruments should be your biggest consideration when selecting your music cart. Yes, you can swap out different instruments on your cart. Time is often limited, which is why you’ll want to consider this in advance.

When I planned my carts for elementary music, I decided to prioritize smaller handheld percussion instruments like rhythm sticks, sand blocks, egg shakers, and other accessory percussion instruments. I decided to go this route because the smaller percussion instruments required less space on the cart and were versatile and workable for many different activities. Generally, I aim to offer shaking, tapping, and scraping instruments on each cart, and organize instruments and mallets in large plastic tubs like these. That provided a lot of variety and options for most days, but I also had the flexibility to swap those instruments out whenever I needed to. It also left me plenty of space to store music, storybooks, worksheets, recorder supplies, and even supplies for movement activities like rhythm scarves and ribbon wands.

That being said, I know plenty of music teachers who prefer to place larger instruments on their music carts. It goes without saying that this means you’ll need to sacrifice more music cart real estate to accommodate these larger instruments. Unfortunately, it is impossible to transport a full class set of these larger instruments on a single cart, so you’ll either have to get your students accustomed to taking turns. or convince your administration to purchase additional carts to transport all of the larger instruments you want to transport.

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing larger instruments or keeping it simple like I prefer to, but you do want to think about what is best for the needs of you and your students and choose your music cart accordingly.

Music on a Cart Ideas

Here are my best suggestions for potential music carts depending on your music teaching priorities:

If you want to keep your options simple and flexible…

I really liked using this three-shelf cart from Luxor. We bought one in purple for one of my previous jobs back in 2019. It was very easy to wheel around between classrooms and customize to my needs. The three shelves allowed me to store a full-sized keyboard, rhythm sticks, sand blocks, egg shakers, and so much more. Unfortunately, it looks like the purple color has since been discontinued, but there are a lot of other great colors to choose from!

Pros: 

• Flat top surface to mount keyboard or use laptop
• Easy to transport supplies through the school and customize to your needs
• Locking brakes

Cons: 

• Larger instruments like drums and xylophones may have trouble fitting
• You’ll need to mount a power strip if you plan to use a keyboard or other electronics.

If you plan to transport larger instruments…

Years ago, I shared a Wenger teacherTAXI cart with a music colleague who especially loved this cart for transporting Orff xylophones. You won’t be able to fit a full class set on a single cart, but this cart’s unique shape makes it possible to fit several more xylophones and/or other larger sized classroom instruments on its surface space.

Pros: 

• Flat top surface to mount keyboard or use laptop
• Can transport larger and heavier instruments
• Small, lockable storage drawer (handy for keys, gradebook, phone, etc…)
• It includes a cup holder!
• Has add-on options for pull out shelves and power strips if desired

Cons: 

• Somewhat bulky, heavy, and difficult to steer through classroom doors. 
• This cart was challenging to assemble, according to our school custodian.

If you want something secure…

If you’re storing your cart in a public area with minimal security, I feel you. I remember the day I came in and discovered pencil markings all over on my drums because our after-care program let students play with the instruments during after care! Yikes. In any case, this cart from LineLeader would have definitely come in handy that school year. I especially love the large locking cabinet that allows you to safely store your instruments and other classroom valuables away.

Pros:

• Flat-top surface to mount keyboard or use laptop
• Spacious locking cabinet (includes 2 keys)
• Sliding keyboard tray
• Spacious shelf
• Lots of storage hooks on the side!
• Power strip and extension cord included
• Locking brakes

Cons:

• You’ll be limited to smaller accessory percussion instruments on this cart.

Customizing Your Music Cart

Music teachers! Once you’ve ordered your cart, it’s time for the fun part! Customizing your music cart helps make your teaching life easy and your new nomadic lifestyle fun! Take some time to think about what and how you want to customize your cart and then see if you can team up with your school custodian (or another handy person) and make your music cart dreams come true.

Here are some ways I’ve customized my music carts over past school years. It may help give you some ideas! ⬇️

• Mounting a power strip, hook, and 50 ft extension cord
• Mounting a small whiteboard and marker cup to cart
• Installing panels or siding to ensure instruments don’t bounce (or fall off the cart) during transport.
• Securing keyboards to the top surface of carts so they don’t budge during transport.
• Attaching decorative posters to carts (this doubles as a privacy shield!)

You probably can’t do all those customizations on a single cart, so it’s up to you to decide what will make the biggest and most positive difference for you. Don’t forget to come back here and share all about your fancy new wheels in the comments!

Handling Common Problems with Teaching Music on a Cart

You’re almost ready to start teaching music on a cart, but did you think I was going to leave you without addressing some of the common problems that come from teaching music on a cart? In this final section, I’ll share some challenges that I’ve navigated while teaching music on a cart, and the solutions that have worked for me. I hope these help you too!

Prep Classroom Teachers for Music on a Cart

Something that has consistently made the biggest impact on my success with teaching music on a cart has been sending a quick letter to all classroom teachers before the first day of school. I try to make this note friendly and informal while using it to manage their expectations for the school year. I also use the letter to ask for their cooperation and assistance with creating a good experience for the students.

Here are some components you might consider for writing your own letter:

• Warm and friendly introduction
• Explanation of the music schedule
• Inclusion of a quick reminder of important music events (concerts, concert practices, etc)
• Brief  expectations for music on a cart
• Explanation of how parents can help your year go smoothly
• How to reach you with questions and concerns

Want an editable letter template you can customize for classroom teachers? You can access and customize the letter template I created for you by joining the Chamber of Freebies! It’s a free growing library of music education resources where you can access the classroom teacher letter template and many more music education freebies!

No Passing Time Between Classes

If you’re struggling with back-to-back classes with no passing time in between, I understand the challenge. Make sure you mention this in your note to classroom teachers at the beginning of the school year so the classroom teachers understand the scheduling situation! It is almost impossible not to be late to classes when the schedule is built this way. In my experience. You have to just do your best!

That being said, you can minimize delays by ending your instruction 2-5 minutes early, so you can clean up, reorganize your cart, and prepare for departure. Nothing is worse than scrambling for supplies or leaving something behind because you didn’t allow yourself enough time to pack.

When teachers return late  

Sometimes you might encounter problems with teachers returning late from their preps. There’s really nothing you can do when this happens, other than to wait or call the office if they’re running excessively behind.

In my experience, as long as classroom teachers recognize you’re doing your best to get to their class promptly, they won’t give you much grief, and everyone is generally pretty understanding. If anyone gives you a hard time in this situation, I recommend bringing it to the attention of your admin.

Lack of Available Outlets

If you work in an older school building, you might run into this problem often: you roll your cart into a classroom, look around for a place to plug in your keyboard, and realize there are no available outlets. Most classroom teachers are understandably hesitant to unplug anything, especially if it’s connected to their SMART board or other essential equipment. But you still need power for your keyboard, speakers, or sound system, which makes this a tricky situation to navigate.

This problem has happened to me frequently, often in older elementary schools with limited outlets. For this reason, I always keep a 50 ft extension cord on all of my music carts. I have gone as far as powering my music cart from the hallway to avoid disturbing a classroom teacher’s electrical setup. I usually keep the extension cord in a crate or on a hook mounted to the cart, and it makes it easy to teach music from pretty much anywhere, even outside!

Lack of Space for Movement Activities

Another challenge with teaching music on a cart is that the typical arrangement of the classroom furniture isn’t often conducive to movement activities. You can navigate this in two ways, depending on your needs and what you think the classroom teacher will be comfortable with:

• Rearrange the desks and classroom furniture during music time (make sure you’re fully prepared to clean and move back everything when you’re finished teaching)
• Assign students a “polka dot” spot in the classroom this is a routine spot in their classroom designated for movement activities (usually in front of or behind their desk)

Other Difficulties Traveling while Teaching Music on a Cart

Due to different types of obstacles and obstructions, you might find it more difficult than imagined to navigate a busy elementary school with your music cart.. These challenges can include:

• Items bouncing or falling off the music cart while in transit
• Backpacks and school supplies blocking entrances or pathways in the classroom
• Classroom furniture blocking the path of the music cart
• Students touching or mishandling supplies on the music cart

Most of the issues I’ve described—like blocked doorways, cluttered floors, or students touching your cart—can be prevented by planning ahead. Choosing and customizing your music cart thoughtfully will go a long way. It also helps to send a friendly note to classroom teachers at the start of the year. In your note, you can kindly ask for support with things like making sure students clear the floor of backpacks before you arrive, reserving an accessible outlet, or saving you a small space to write on the board. Just be sure to keep your requests reasonable and respectful. Classroom teachers generally want to support the music program, but they’re busy professionals too, so it’s important not to overstep.

On another note, if you are encountering issues with students touching or mishandling supplies on your cart, it’s important to make sure you’re storing your music cart somewhere that students do not have access to it outside of class. Or, secure your valuables in a locked location. If students are consistently touching or handling instruments on your cart without permission, it’s up to you to instill fair but firm consequences. You can get ideas for effective music classroom management strategies on my post 5 Music Classroom Management Strategies, where I discuss methods for redirecting negative behavior and implementing consequences when necessary.

Enjoying Music on a Cart

If you’ve reached the end of this post and you’re still feeling uncertain about the school year to come, I completely understand how you feel. Earlier, I mentioned how teaching music on a cart will simplify your lesson planning week to week and that’s still true. Teaching music on a cart means you always know what supplies you have readily available, and you’ll always know exactly where they’re located. It means you’ll create shorter lessons and more predictable routines for music class routines. It also means you’ll be out the door at dismissal time, since you won’t be cleaning a whole classroom at the end of the school day. 

So don’t be discouraged! Embrace the adventure of teaching music ala carte, and don’t forget to tell me all about your dream music cart in the comments!

Want a free editable letter to classroom teachers for the upcoming school year? It explains what to expect and how they can help your school year run effectively and smoothly. It’s free and easy to customize by joining the Chamber of Freebies. Click the link below to join and access the letter and other amazing music ed freebies today!

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