Submitted by Kristin Lukow, Nebraska
Idea posted March 25, 2002
Boomwhackers® are my FAVORITE instrument (by far) to play in the classroom. We do all the Boomwhacker® songs from Music K-8. My youngest students LOVE "Whacky Do Re Mi" (from Music K-8, Vol. 11, No. 1; also available in Whacky Do Re Mi and Other Boomwhacker® Favorites) I'm doing a program with lots of Boomwhacker® songs this spring. Wow!
Today, I had 1st graders... 1st GRADERS!! echoing me on solfège with their Boomwhackers®. I don't know why I started this... just a last minute idea.
We had two full scales. I sat them on the floor lowest to highest, left to right. We sang the regular version of Do-Re-Mi, then "Whacky Do Re Mi," and then just improvised solfège patterns. Whoa... they were incredible. Each student knew what syllable they were, and they played on the echo. I was so surprised at how well they did this.
I will definitely do this with all grade levels.