Printed from the MusicK8.com Idea Bank

Naming Instruments Helps Students Play Respectfully

Submitted by Abby Blair, Mundelein, Illinois

Idea posted 2010-10-26

My students had a habit of fighting over the bass xylophones and also not respecting instruments (e.g., letting them fall over, not carrying them carefully, etc.). What I did was name the xylophones such as "Sam Soprano," "Annabell Alto," "Betty Bass," etc. The kids now get excited to work with a certain name rather than the size of the instrument, and because the instruments have a human name, the students take much better care of them. It also helps them learn the types of instruments when I say, "the Alto family plays this rhythm" or "just the Bass family this time!" It has worked like a charm. When we get a new instrument, the kids submit name ideas, and we vote as a school on the new instrument's gender and name.