I chose to use candy corn to help my 5th and 6th grade students learn correct mallet techniques. be We’re getting there–although not perfect or comfortable yet, I finding that using a variety of teaching strategies is really helping them get the idea. This has been my most successful trick! Thanks to Angie Kelton over at
i heart teaching music and her
Solving the Mallet Mystery Video on YouTube, I introduced the technique one week. This week we got out the xylophones and actually connected playing mallets and reinforcing HIGH and LOW by only playing do or C. I’ve marked mine with some painters tape. Since I use them for different grades, I sometimes don’t have time to lower the bars and this helps the students see exactly where to play. It worked well and the students enjoyed the yummy treat.
In Kinder and First grade I asked students to demonstrate that holding mallets is like riding a bike! They really get this analogy. What kinds of strategies are you finding that are successful? I hope you’ll share them with us.
We did a quick 10 minute activity where the students all lined up behind xylophones that were placed in a circle in the middle of the room. Then they each took turns playing ti-ti on low C and high C for 4 Beats. Then they passed the mallets and went to the end of the line. They each had about 3 turns. I did the activity this way so that they didn’t have too much time to “play around” on the xylophone and moving them through 5 short lines went quickly and they all got several turns–which made them happy. I was very pleased with the outcome and feel like we’ve got some good foundational skills developing in the music classroom.
THING #3 Popsicle Sticks
I purchased some colored popsicle sticks a long time ago and have found them to be very useful manipulatives in my classroom. This time I used them to show High and Low during a listening activity. I have a recording of a fun version of the story of the 3 Bears. You could tell the story or find a cute book and read it changing your voice from High, baby bear, Middle, mama bear, Low, papa bear. Or make some stick puppets and ask students to help you tell the story.
Here my students are showing high with popsicle sticks. They really enjoyed this activity. It kept little Kindergarten hands busy and learning.
What kinds of hands on activities do you do with your classes to help them learn music concepts?
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