Submitted by Cathleen Bonville, Malone, New York
Idea posted January 5, 2010
I am trying to focus on solfège and pitch matching more this year. I discovered in large groups, my students really didn't hear themselves but were also very shy singing alone or in smaller groups.
I found some old PVC elbows and tubes. My father, a contractor, helped cut the tubes to 1 inch and then I put the tubes and elbows together into a phone-like shape. The students like them and sing out more as they listen to themselves. I purchased some more elbows so I could have a set of 10 PVC phones. The elbows were 99 cents each. This is not a new idea to reading teachers and classroom teachers, but it was an epiphany for me.