Submitted by Gretchen Taylor, Illinois
Idea posted July 2, 2005
I took a few of my previously used filler ideas and modified them for a new twist. Here are a few:
Solfège Ladder (for Warm-up) - Prepare three sets of solfège cards (DRMFSLTD) plus three extra cards with an "X" on them. These are the strike cards.
Now, place one set in ascending order, moving diagonally up from left to right on the board. (I use poster putty.) Take the remaining two sets and three strike cards, mix them up, and place them in a container or bag. Pass out various unpitched instruments to the students. Lead the kids in singing both up and down the scale in half note values a few times.
Then, invite one student to draw a card from the container. If it is a pitch card, ask the child to remove the corresponding pitch from the board (and set aside). Also set the drawn card aside. Now, sing the scale again, but don't sing the eliminated pitch; play the instruments instead and "think" the pitch. Don't forget to go up and down. Now have another player draw a card. If it's a pitch, again remove the corresponding pitch from the board and now sing the scale, playing both eliminated pitches on instruments. But, if it is a strike card, set it aside and draw again. If several pitches are eliminated and the next drawn card is a pitch that was removed, just replace it and sing/play as usual.
The object is simply to play until all three strikes have been drawn. By the way, I do accompany the scale singing on the piano by simply playing a C in the LH base as I move first inversion chords up/down the scale on the white keys.
Detective Game (with new rhythmic twist) - In the regular game, all kids sit on floor. One player stands in the center of circle with eyes closed while another player is silently chosen to be the leader. The leader then begins any simple movement pattern with everyone else imitating it. The center player opens eyes and tries to detect who is the leader. The leader can change the movement pattern at random (again with everyone imitating). I suggest that the kids avoid staring at the leader to give his identity away. I let the leader make up to five changes.
The center player gets only one guess and can guess anytime during the round. After each round, whether the guess is correct or not, I usually choose a new detective and a new leader.
Ok, now the twist. Now give everyone a pair of rhythm sticks. The leader will begin a rhythmic playing pattern using the sticks (i.e., tapping together, tapping the floor, tapping end to end, crossing sticks and tapping knees, etc.).