Submitted by Mary Ellen Hodges, Burlington, Washington
Idea posted April 18, 2005
The Animusic video is great, and for some reason a lot of people don't know about it. I do a whole lesson with the video.
First, I introduce instrument families and how they operate to the students. When the students understand what characteristics qualify an instrument to be grouped into a specific instrument family, we discuss how all instruments were invented by someone in history. Then we talk about how some instrument inventors even named their inventions after themselves, such as Adolph Sax (the saxophone) and John Philip Sousa (the sousaphone).
Then I have the student invent an instrument. They must draw and color a picture of it, give it a name, and write a paragraph describing the following: What instrument family/families does it belong to? How do you play it? What kind of sound does it make? and any other unique qualities.
At the end the students do an in-class presentation and introduce their instrument invention. After all of the students have presented their creations, we watch the Animusic video and discuss some of the instrument inventions in the video.
The kids really love this activity. I've had students create instruments such as the "Hamburger Drum" (while you play the drums with the french fry sticks it makes hamburgers for you and your friends to eat) and a guitar/flute creation that cleans your room while you play it. The kids get very imaginative.