Keep your own lessons plans up-to-date and as detailed as you have time to make them, because you might actually get someone who can handle it. When I used to sub, I got frustrated when doing music classes because the teachers were often preparing for a non-music substitute, which got pretty boring for me. Prepare a substitute folder. Keep in it the following: class lists, schedule, normal routines, the nearest helpful teachers, one or two helpful kids from each class, an emergency exit map, location of things,discipline plans,generic plans, extra blank paper, and masters of worksheets. I also reserved a drawer in my file cabinet just for substitutes, with worksheets, worksheet books, and some videos.
Have some music games handy. At the bottom of the page, I've listed some of the stand-bys used in my district. An idea I got from substituting: if your music series has them, copy the master lists of all songs for each grade level and highlight the ones that are your students' favorite. Keep that in the folder.
In your folder, insist that the sub leave a note. It's very frustrating to come back, and hear about the day second hand from students (they always get their stories straight, don't they?), or worse, from the teacher across the hall because the classes were disruptive.
Keep videos handy, but I would ask the sub to use them only as a last resort. Students get pretty videoed out, plus, by law, many videos cannot be shown without having been licensed to sell by an educational source. Also, there needs to be curriculum and lesson plans to go along with them.Some good ones to keep on hand: the Sony composer series (have questions to go along with the film that the kids can fill out), Overtures to Disaster by Warner Brothers (available through < a href="http://www.music-in-motion.com">Music In
