Don’t miss out on one of our favorite toys for targeting all kinds of developmental skills...while making music!

It is rhythm review time in my third, fourth, and fifth grade classes. One of my favorite rhythm lessons involves a favorite instrument: the BOOMWHACKERS! There is just something about those colorful tubes that gets kids really excited about making music. I acquired this lesson from a workshop led by Chris Judah-Lauder many years ago. After spending several weeks reviewing notes and rests using a variety of activities, I introduce these 6 rhythms patterns: Once they can perform the rhythms comfortably, I divide them into 6 groups, pass out the instruments, and have each group practice their rhythm pattern. I have the groups play individually, two groups together, three groups together, and so on until we are playing all of the rhythms together. After some practice, we try the rhythms in canon starting and ending with the "Big Reds." This activity allows the students to practice playing contrasting rhythms (which is really tricky!) and it leads nicely into our Stomp rhythm projects (which are coming soon!). Here is a snippet of their practice session: And here is our final product: A little bit of rushing but not too shabby! This lesson is challenging but very rewarding and the students love hearing how all of the rhythms interact with one another. It is definitely a favorite among my students. :)

Check out these 4 awesome boomwhackers lesson plans to use in your music room right away. [DETAILS]

Here is my arrangement of Frere Jacques. This piece introduces a round and can also be used to practice eighth notes.

I love using Boomwhackers in my elementary music classes! Not only are they fun and accessible for even the youngest students to play, but they are a really helpful tool for exploring some key musical concepts that make them useful well into the upper grades. Today I want to share some of my favorite ways to use Boomwhackers in the elementary general music classroom. 1. Melodic composition Boomwhackers are a great tool for melodic composition in elementary music because students can use the color-coding of the notes to add pitch to rhythms. My favorite way to do this is with "solfege stickers"- adding stickers to the note heads in the colors that go with the Boomwhackers. The nice thing about that is there is no writing required, and if I want them to use a limited set of pitches (like the pentatonic scale, etc) then I just give them those colors. You can read more about how I make and use them in this post- it's super easy and so much fun! Another way to use the colors to have students compose is with the Chrome Music Lab Song Maker. It's set up so you click on different squares to add pitches, and the colors match the Boomwhackers perfectly! This is a great way to get them practicing and experimenting with melodic composition, because there's no rhythm or traditional notation involved at all but they can hear the notes as they click them. 2. Practicing scale types Boomwhackers are also a great way to reinforce different scales. I use them in my classes to teach pentatonic scales and minor scales- I find the visual is really helpful for many of my students to practice and understand which pitches go in what order when they use the Boomwhackers as a visual / manipulative to put together the scale. I'll give a small group of students a set with 1 of each diatonic pitch, and have them pick out the ones they need and put them in the correct order on the floor, and/or play a scale in order. 3. Practicing chords I use Boomwhackers to introduce the concept of chords and help my students practice building triads to help them understand how to start with the root of the chord, then skip every other pitch to find the other two notes they need. They're also helpful for looking at chord functionality and "translating" between roman numerals and letter names of chords (in C major) because they can use the solfege and letter name labels to help them remember which is which. 4. Centers Boomwhackers are perfect for centers because they are easy to play without supervision and they're not too loud. Sometimes I'll have students "notate" a melody using matching colored bingo chips (see picture) that they lay out on the floor, or notate in Chrome Music Lab and then play the song on the instruments. I've also printed out melodies from Chrome Music Lab for students to practice playing. 5. Play along videos One of my go-to lessons on days when I know I can't continue with my normal sequenced curriculum for whatever reason is play-along videos. They're a great way to keep students engaged and mix things up while keeping it low-key, and it's still a valuable musical experience! I use the diatonic play-alongs by Musication on YouTube, but there are plenty more options for play-along videos around, especially if you have chromatics in your room! I hope you find some new ideas to use in your music classes here, and if I missed any of your favorites, please share them in the comments below! If you love Boomwhackers as much as I do but hate trying to keep them organized, be sure to check out my previous post where I shared my storage solutions. If you're looking for tips and lesson ideas for teaching other instruments, like ukulele, recorder, keyboards, xylophones, and more, head to this post:

Credit- Raymondsanti Students in grades K-4 began the Lion King unit this Monday during Arts Enrichment time. Arts Enrichment is an extra music/art time a week taught by the Art teacher Mrs. Divis and the music teacher Ms. Moon. Photo Credit The Lion King on Broadway Trailer For the next two Mondays students will be learning a fun dance to "The Circle of Life" and making African necklaces. Students will wear the necklaces while showcasing "The Circle of Life" dance at an upcoming school assembly. Photo by: Swiss.frog After those two weeks students will explore The Lion King theme more through various art projects and music activities. Some of the music activity videos are shown below: Hakuna Matata: The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music Video Lion Sleeps Tonight- Just Dance 2 Video I made two different arrangements of Lion Sleeps Tonight (and found the ukulele online) for grades 2-4, to align with what instruments they are learning in general music class. Grade 2 will learn the song on boomwhackers, grade 3 on the barred instruments, and grade 4 on the ukulele. I will also give a brief description of some common African instruments and add appropriate percussion parts (likely only one or two per grade of the percussion parts listed below). Below is a video from a 2nd grade class of students playing the boomwhacker part and some African instruments. Here is a 3rd grade class practicing the mallet accompaniment to "Lions Sleeps Tonight". Although the Lion King takes place in Kenya, the theme of the unit opens up the wonderful opportunity to explore musical activities from all parts of Africa. Obwisana is a folk song from Ghana. Students will play a rock passing game while singing the song. The words of the song mean "The rock has crushed my hand, grandma." I found this description in a book I have: "A child singing this song is repeatedly receiving a message of security and comfort, even in the context of a phrase and game which tells of injury. The injured child can take comfort in the fact that he or she can turn to "Nana" for sympathy and assistance- the ever-present circle of relatives supports Ghanaian children and adults during times of misfortune and celebration both." Che Che Koolay is also a folk song from Ghana. The words have been said by some to be nonsense words. But the movements to the song lean toward this translation: Hands on your head Hands on your shoulders Hands on your waist Hands on your knees Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles, hey! Notation found here Students will learn a dance similar to the popular American song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to Che Che Koolay.

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Sheet Music Search Acka Backa Easy Amazing Grace (Large Note) Easy America the Beautiful Hard Angels we Have Heard on High Medium Apples and Bananas Easy Are Yo

Don’t miss out on one of our favorite toys for targeting all kinds of developmental skills...while making music!