Submitted by Sue Michiels, Los Angeles, California
Idea posted October 29, 2003
If you sit students in rows of eight and then give each person one Boomwhacker® in color order, starting from the right-hand side with low C, when you, as the conductor/teacher, are standing facing them, it is really easy to teach how to build chords.
In the key of C:
Chord I: red, yellow, dark green
Chord IV: light green, purple, red
Chord V: dark green, pink, orange, light green.
Since the kids have seen you leave out one person in the previous chords, it is easy to move to the fifth, i.e. G and then B. Since you have no D, you ask them if there is another D anywhere that you can borrow, i.e. orange. I also introduce the V7 chord by saying, "Can we jump another third?" and then include the F (light green). Then we play chords I, IV, and V7.
Children get to know that C is in chords I and IV, D is in chord V only, E is in chord I only, F is in chords IV and V, G is in chords I and V, A is in chord IV only, and B is in chord V only. Last year, I taught fourth graders how to build D minor and E minor chords, too. They became very good at saying whether a chord was sad or happy (major or minor).