Finally.. spoon matching game.. CHECK!

I've been wanting to get this one done for a while. Thanks to pinterest- someone had the brilliant idea to use clear spoons and white (or colored) ones to work on lower case and upper case letter matching. For us music folks, the idea was easily adapted to notes and note values. I got some done today and I think it will work well as a center! My school is in the process of buying ipads for me and the art teacher to share- FIVE! Woot Woot!! So.. am going to incorporate some centers starting in January. One of these will include the spoons. Once students have determined the correct rhythm value, they could use one of the rhythm grids I've seen on Mrs King Rocks' blog- check her out- awesome ideas (!), then they could compose and perform rhythms. Another one done... CHECK!

Craaaaazzzzy 8th's Game

I don't remember where I learned this from and my process probably differs a little or a lot from the original but my students love this game and it's been so fun for a "brain break" when we are in the middle of some serious work on instruments to just say, "Crazy 8th's" and watch 'em run to get drums and tambourines (my fourth graders are such great kiddos!!). I'll start by keeping a rhythm on a djembe or the bongos and then, once i've established the steady beat, they'll start to count to 8 and march around the room. Each pattern of 8 you put an accent on one number; the first time it's going to be ONE, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then 1, TWO, 3, 4, 5,6, 7, 8, then 1,2, THREE,, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc. They only play on the accented beats; march each beat. The first time will go slow- they'll need to simply march and count to 8 several times, marching on each beat; then stop the class and say, OK, let's emphasize the number 1 and still march on every beat, then stop the class, demonstrate the accent on beat 2, then beat 3, etc. It helps to project or write the numbers 1 through 8 then you can point to the next accented beat as the students progress through. Once the students can do this up to 8 smoothly,(which takes a little while), go backwards.. yikes! Fun!!! Once they get comfy with this, continue to only play the accented beats but change the marching (locomotor) to standing (non-locomotor). in other words, step and play ONLY on the accented beats. Much trickier! Have fun with this!

Winter Snowflakes Song with Orff Arrangement and Improvisation

This is an Orff arrangement I wrote a few days ago. You could make the accompaniment simpler by using a closed bordun and not adding the additional percussion. For those of you unfamiliar with Orff process; teach using body percussion first; patsch the BX/BM rhythm, add snaps for glockenspiel part. Clap the rhythm of the song then transfer to instruments set up in C pentatonic to create a contrasting "B" Section. Have fun and let me know how you used it/changed it.

All I Want For Christmas ... Orff Style!

So I was going through my holiday program with my first graders and realized we are simply running out of time.. we have a weird schedule and sometimes I see them and other weeks I don't... a tad bit frustrating and it's changing in January! We have been working on the song, "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" but there is simply not enough time..... so.... I got busy! Here's the new arrangement: Introduction played on piano, straight to the chorus. Back to the introduction, students speak: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men SAID (roll dominant chord on piano while they hold out the word "SAID"); "All I Want for Christmas.... (sing the chorus again) Back to the introduction, students speak: "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and SAID; "All I Want for... " Back to the introduction, students speak: "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her and SAID; "All I Want ...." Sing Chorus one final time. We are also going to add some body percussion to each spoken part; if we had more time, we might add another Mother Goose rhyme... Hey, Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport and SAID... I would also consider having the students play the beat on UPP instruments; drums/skins for Humpty Dumpty, metals for Jack and Jill, shakers for Little Miss Muffet, and woods for Hey Diddle Diddle. Have fun with this one!

LOVE this scarf dance- now- how to do it!!

Bucket Drum Routine to "Trepak" from Nutcracker

This is a pretty easy piece to learn; start by teaching the A section ONLY with fingertips on drums. Once successful, add B section, then teach C section by imitation. Once they can play it with fingers, add drumsticks or keep fingers. Use bucket drums OR hand drums. As this piece starts out quickly, we'll wait until the 2nd quarter note to start...