Elizabeth's Blog

Objective:  Students will practice placing notes in the staff in various intervals using solfege and letter names.

               Students will also understand the concept of moveable "do".

Materials:  Magic notes, Staff Slates

Procedure

  Explain to students they will be practicing placing notes on the staff and that they will need to make sure they create the             right interval depending on the colors they draw. 

1.  Place 1 red magic note where you want "Do" to be (I usually begin with G since that is where we begin with solfege).

2.  Have a student draw a magic note at random and place it the correct distance from "do" (If in G major blue/sol would be on D...). All students will then do the same on thier own staffs. Let each student take a turn and you can decide on an appropriate time to stop.  After 5 notes I usually say "we'll keep going until we get one more 'do'" since it makes the most sense to them to end on "do".

*** Pink can represent "la" since you can't draw indigo*** 

3.  This game can be played all together with individual staffs as a class all writing the same thing or on their own. if you let them play on their own tell them to go until they have 3 "do"s and then raise their hand and you can come check.

4.  It is not important to create a sensible melody - with so many possibilities it can create quite a bizarre melodic pattern. But it is fun to play the "solfege surprise" on an instrument at the end and students usually find it amusing. 

Simplify

If you use Do Re Mi cards and only Do-So you can actually create fun singable melodies while practicing intervals up to a fifth. 

Variations

Instead of using magic notes try:

     Alphabet cards to assess students knowledge of letter names on the staff.  

     Grand Staff cards for students to match

     Do Re Mi cards for the same purpose of magic notes (easy to remove notes you don't want to include)

Blue Jello Beats Game:

Goal:  To write, read, perform, and improvise measures of blue jello rhythms

Materials:  Piano cards, time signature cards, blue jello word cards, blue bar lines from blue jello puzzle

Play:  Lay out 4 paper pianos longways next to each other white side up to represent 4 empty beats and place the correct time signature (4/4) card next to the first one.  Choose some blue jello rhythms students are comfortable with from the blue jello word cards and lay them above pianos picture side up (This is so students can see the equal blue values represented in the blue frames of the cards).  Explain to students that one blue card can be placed on any empty beat. 

Choose three cards and place one on each paper piano beat but save “blue” for the last beat.  Say this 4 beat measure with students snapping your finger above each beat as you say it.

Ex:  Jello              Huckleberry                          Rest                           Blue

            (Teacher:    snap                  snap                                   snap                            snap)

Next choose another blue card and place it under one of the existing rhythms in beat 2 or 3. Ex:  place Pineapple under Rest. Tell students that they now have a choice on beat 3 – pineapple or Rest.  Say the measure together and repeat a few times so students can make a few different choices.  Once they get the idea add some more choices:  another on beat 2 then another on beat 1 and so on. 

Adding a half note on the first beat can also be fun – just make sure that the next beat does not have another choice sitting next to the half note card to avoid confusion and also to look more like actual music.

**I recommend keeping blue as the only choice for the last beat so everyone always

has a clean ending together.**

To keep it new and exciting swap out some choices for new ones but keeping the choices limited to no more than 3 for any beat. 

This game can be useful for introducing new rhythms and their value like “cookie” “cucumber” “berrygoose” and “macadamia”

You can try different meters by using different time signature cards and the correct number of white empty beats (paper pianos piano side down)

Variations

·       Students can use instruments while creating different beat patterns (recorder, drums, strings, piano, xylophones).

·       Students can sing the beats by placing a do re mi card over beats. Ex: beat 1 is Do, beat 2 is Mi.  For more advanced students can have a choice of pitches to sing for each beat.

·      Try the Tasty Rhythm Song with this game.  The beat patterns fall in between verses and can be said, sung, or played on instruments during the song as well.

Tasty Rhythm Song

First Verse (snaps are equal to a Jel-lo rhythm)

Tasty rhythms (snap snap)            Yummy sounds (snap snap)

Huckleberry    rest                           Berrygoose    rest

Many choices (snap snap)                        All around (snap snap)

Huckleberry rest                                    Berrygoose rest

Try some out (snap snap)                        And play along (snap snap)

Berrygoose  rest                                   Berrygoose    rest

As we create (snap snap)                        A rhythm song (snap snap)

Berrygoose  rest                                   Berrygoose     rest

1            2             3            let’s go! (said in time to match the beat)

(students perform 4 measures with their choice of rhythms)

Middle Verse (can be done a few times)

Tasty tasty tasty rhythms                        Yummy yummy yummy sounds

Huckleberry Huckleberry                        Huckleberry  Berrygoose

Try some different combinations as we play another round

Huckleberry    Hucklebery Huckleberry Berrygoose

1            2             3             let’s go!

(students perform 4 measures with their choice of rhythms. you may do the second verse a few times to give students more chances to make up rhythms)

Last Verse (to end the game)

Now we’re full of tasty rhythms            Only one thing left to do

Huckleberry  Huckleberry                      Huckleberry Berrygoose

One more tasty treat before we finish with a “blue”

Huckleberry Huckleberry Huckleberry  blue

1            2            3            let’s go!

(students have 4 final measures of their choices before the song and game is fine).

     The following is a collection of games focused on reading rhythms.  These games can be used for review, warm up, or larger sections class time.  All of these can be used with the World Music Drumming Curriculum.

1.  Hello Jello on the Drums

Goals:  Keep a steady beat, learn names, learn blue jello rhythms, practice drum technique

Materials:  Drums, blue jello word cards

Play:  Students and teacher sit in a circle with drums. A student says his/her name followed by a blue jello word as their sur name. Everyone echo’s the student while playing the rhythm of the blue jello word. Only high sounds should be used the first few times played.

Example:  Student: “Elizabeth blue”

                    Everyone:  “Elizabeth blue” (blue is played as one high sound on the drum)

Only “blue” is used the first time around the circle. “jel-lo” the second time and “rest” the third time. Students are encouraged to come in on the beat. After the first three rounds students are given a choice. Before the rhythm circle begins ask students to choose which blue jello word they will use as their sur name. More rhythm choices are added as students gain experience. The first time this game is played with sound only.  Later the blue jello word cards can be laid out on the floor as a visual reference for students as they choose their rhythm sur name. 6/8 vocabulary can also be used.

2. WMD Ensemble Dictation with blue jello puzzle

Goals:  To transcribe familiar WMD ensembles into musical notation and read rhythms. 

Materials:   blue jello puzzle

Play:  Students will use blue jello puzzle pieces to write the rhythms of the WMD Ensembles.  This can be done in small groups by instrument.  When all parts are complete students can line them up in score order.  Using the complete score students can then say, clap or play their parts.

Teacher should discuss with students where the spaces in each line fall and how they are complementary with each other. Having a visual reference of complementary rhythms will aid students in creating their own complementary rhythm ensembles.

Ensemble 1 by Will Schmid:  Low Drum, High Drum and Shekere rhythms

3. Writing Complementary Rhythms

Goals:  To create complementary rhythms within a percussion ensemble.

Materials:  real rhythm cards, notes and rests cards, or blue jello word cards

Play:  Students will break into small groups of 3-5 students.  Students will combine their knowledge of WMD ensembles and their understanding of complementary rhythms with the blue jello vocabulary to create original complementary rhythms. 

One student will play the beat or timeline.  This student will find the correct real rhythm cards and write them out.  Then they can begin and repeat their rhythm verbally. Other students in the group will enter with a new rhythm one at a time. Once each student decides on a rhythm they will use the real rhythm cards to write out their line of the score. Students should begin with high sounds only. They can use magic notes to mark high and low sounds if both are being used (green and Blue work well, green is low for the grass and blue is high for the sky).  When the score is complete they can practice on instruments and share with the class.  Since the scores will be written out the whole class may want to try each others ensembles either verbally, with instruments or both. 

 Example:

  Complementary Rhythms written with real rhythm cards       

4. Switching Rhythms on Instruments

Goals:  To recognize and perform different combinations of notes and rests and feel how those of the same value and those of unequal value relate to each other.  

Materials:  blue jello word cards, instruments

Play:  Students are divided into 2 groups (can do 3 later as students gain experience).  Each group will follow a different progression of note cards. The teacher shows the first card for each group and leads them in to begin saying and playing the rhythm (for more advanced students they should say the words in their heads while they play without sound). When it is time to switch cards each group will see the new card as it is laid down on top of the old.  They can begin to think this new rhythm while they continue to play the original one.  They will switch to the new rhythm after the teacher gives two snaps cue.  It works well when each group ends on a “rest” card.  Finally all cards are taken away and the final two snaps means fine.  This works well on drums, recorders, and xylophones where melodies can be improvised on designated pitches or the pentatonic scale while playing rhythms.

Example:  1.See “blue” 2. Hear two snaps 3. Play “blue” 4. See “jel-lo” and think it but continue to play “blue” 5. Hear “snap snap” 6. Play “jel-lo”

5. Daily Do with Percussion Ensemble                

Daily Do, a singing exercise found in the Music Mind Games curriculum. Solfege and hand signs are used with a specific melodic pattern to learn and practice pitch, intervals, major and minor scale forms, and triads.  Students learn this exercise in small increments through an oral tradition without any visual notation. Once it is learned in its completion there are many variations of performing Daily Do that can be used to practice specific skills. One of the activities I have provided will demonstrate how using material from the WMD curriculum in conjunction with Daily Do will create fun and challenging variations for students. 

Goal: To practice singing and playing instruments

Materials:  Instruments

Play:  Students will accompany Daily Do with familiar WMD ensembles. This will give them practice singing something familiar and playing something familiar at the same time.  This may also be an opportunity to review an ensemble not played in the last few classes. Students may wish to create an original ensemble to be played with Daily Do. This presents another opportunity to practice complementary rhythms and composition.

*** This works particularly well with the arrangement of Daily Do by Gitte Chren Juni***

Using Blue Jello cards with instruments can be lots of fun and also a great way to fit improvisation into your lessonsl!

I ask students to sit in pairs or trios and have one designated as the turner.  This student will be in charge of turning the cards and will not play.  

I give two clicks in tempo to prep each card.  First all the "turners" say the blue jello card out loud and then each card is repeated by recorders in the same tempo.  The card is turned and the two clicks signal the start of the next card in the same sequence.  

At first all recorders play the same pitch.  After a few turns I will give them a choice "you may play rhythms on A or C (can use G and B or any third really)"  After that I'll slowly add choices so that they have a choice of all the notes in C or G pentatonic. So I will say any note but F's and B's or no C's and F's.  Soon they are improving pentatonic melodies.

Students will switch places so everyone gets a turn to improv.

After this activity is easy I will use the rhythm bingo cards - 3 or 4 students to a card and all 3 or 4 students pick one of the three lines to read.  Same sequence as above - start with words - then all on one pitch-then a choice of 2, and add until you have a pentatonic scale.  It should sound nice all together, but then you can have each group of students at each card play alone so the rhythm will be the same but melodic variations, OR one student from each card play so you have melodic and rhythmic variation. 
The students love hearing the end result and think they are all musically brilliant, which they are :)

YOu could do this with any melodic instrument or with the voice using solfege (which I have done) and meet the same objectives.  

This is a GREAT tip from a fellow classroom teacher in Prince George's County, MD:

Greetings!

Here is a tip for keeping track of magic notes:

When I introduce the use of magic notes to my classes, I have one tube that is full, and one container that has a few magic notes missing. I ask the students to listen as I shake each container. I ask them why one makes sound and the other does not. (I joke with them and tell them that maybe one has magic notes, and the other has magic rests!)

After we establish that the silent one is full, I request that they return their tube that way. The "materials manager" for the day shakes each tube before they are handed out. Students are great about shaking them when it is time to clean up, and gathering any missing magic notes in order to return their full tube.

I look forward to reading tips from others who are using Music Mind Games that will help all of us to manage the materials while teaching back-to-back classes.

Jessi

Last year I started at a new Middle School.  With all new students, I needed a way to find out what they already knew so that I could plan for a challenging curriculum.  When playing Music Symbol Games the usual course is to teach Dynamics followed by Learning the Others, however I did not want to spend time teaching students what they already knew.  So I created a game called What Don't You Know? I laid out all the Music Symbol Cards and asked students to place a magic note on any card that they did NOT recognize or could not name. When they were done I only needed to teach whatever had a magic note on it. Sometimes that was every card, and sometimes not. A wonderful result was that some more advanced students volunteered to teach or demonstrate the meaning of symbol cards to the students who were unfamiliar with them. It ended up being very interactive and fun.  

One thing I recommend is to play Hello Grand Staff and Clefs before doing this game.  That way there are a few symbol cards that students should be able to recognize even if they do not know many others. 

Happy Music Mind Gaming :)

Hello Jello is a great game played with the downloadable Blue Jello Word Cards.  The directions are on the game ideas card that comes with the deck.  I often do this game with all my classes at the beginning of the year since it is great for remembering and learning names.  It also gives me a chance to see how much blue jello the students have retained over the summer. 

This year my 6th graders are starting off with a unit in World Music Drumming.  The start of this curriculum deals with basic technique on the tubano drums and then a lot of Teacher/Student echo exercises. With each student sitting at a drum in a circle, I put out a few Blue Jello World Cards to choose from to play Hello Jello (usually Blue, Jello, and Rest to start).  We went around the circle and played Hello Jello as usual - each student says their name in one beat and one of the showing Blue Jello Word Cards in the second beat, which everyone then echos. After everyone had a turn playing Hello Jello with only voices, we went around once more, only this time students were to speak and drum the rhythm of their name and Blue Jello Word Card, followed by the echo of the class.  Example:  "Ma-ry Blue" - class echos "Ma-ry Blue" "Lau-ra Jel-lo" echo "Lau-ra Jel-lo"....and so on.  This turned out to be a great exercise in steady beat, and high open tone drumming technique.  Also, because everyone had a solo first it was very easy for me to assess their hand positions and performance skill on the drums. The kids loved it and want to play each class with more choices.  

I also tried this with my beginning recorder class.  We had Blue Jello Word Cards out for choices and each student said their name followed by one of the cards (Jello, Blue, Pineapple, Rest etc. - only choices I knew they could play successfully) then each child played the rhythm of the name and the blue jello word card chosen.  They LOVED IT!!!!! We chose the pitch ahead of time - A.  Next I will try and add two pitches (A and C or Sol and Mi) for singing and ear training.  Their favorite part was actually when a student chose "rest" for their beat we played the name followed by a beat of silence.  This was new since we've been whispering "rest" up until now.  They LOVED the beat of silence...and we had some giggles when some forgot and played.  All in fun.

Try it out and let me know how it goes!  You'll know all your 100's of students names before you know it :)

Greetings!  My name is Elizabeth Cunha.  I am the chair of the new committee:  Music Mind Games in the Classroom.  I have used Music Mind Games in the classroom for over 7 years now and am so excited to share some of the wisdom I have gained during that time with those currently using or hoping to integrate Music Mind Games into a music curriculum.  It is my hope that these blogs will help make this process a little easier so that classroom teachers are free to focus on the fun of learning that Music Mind Games can bring!

Before you can start playing with your students you need to make sure you have enough materials for successful lessons. With one student ordering materials is a cinch.  One puppy packet and you are ready to go!  For a classrrom however, your money is probably better budgeted by ordering enough of the specific materials needed for the number of students you have.

Here is an organized list of materials for a medium to large classroom. Please keep in mind that the list below displays best case scenario and remember,  there are many games that can be played as a class that require less materials than noted below. And if you are just starting out or still looking for funding, Music Mind Games CAN be introduced and utilized with only one puppy packet, even in classrooms!  To take the curriculum further you will want to consider the investment laid out below. There are many grants available to music teachers or  fundraising events and programs through your school that can make this investment less of a strain on your wallet. Along with the listed materials below I recommend the Panda Pack 1, designed for use with larger groups! Also, Look for the Panda Pack 2 coming soon.

Good luck and have fun playing!

1. Blue Jello Cards * obviously one set per student is great but 2-3 students can easily share. * I do not suggest more than 4 students per set.

2. Blue Jello Word Cards * 1-2 decks per class.

3. Alphabet Cards * One deck has 6 sets of the music alphabet. You will need enough so that each student has one complete set of the music alphabet. * Remember there are games you can play as a class where each student does not need their own!

4. Do Re Mi Cards * One deck has 5 sets. You will have the easiest time when there are enough so that each student has a complete Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do set.

5. Staff Slates/Accessories * This is something that works best when students work alone or in pairs. * 1 for 1-2 students.

6. Rhythm Playing Cards * 1 deck per 4 students

7. Grand Staff Cards * These can easily be shared but the best situation is 1 deck per 1-2 students. * I also play many games where 1 deck is used per 4 students.

8. Music Symbol Cards * 2 decks will be enough for many games early on. * Later, I suggest 1 deck per 4 students.

9. Tempo Cards * 1 deck comes with 2 sets. This is enough for Teaching Games. * For Memory Games, it is best is to have 1 deck per 2 students (this gives you 1 set per student)

10. Magic Notes and Wands * Magic notes are needed with many games in the curriculum. I suggest collecting between 400-800 for a medium-large size classroom. You will find that you can never have too many magic notes. * Wands can be helpful organizers and rewards for students. 4-6 is a nice number so that students can be involved in the clean up process.