Family Music Night Activities

For years my school has had "Family READING Nights." I thought, "Why not Family MUSIC Nights (FMN)?"

This spring I began this program. My original idea is that the FMN would be enrichment activities that the entire family could enjoy together. The FMN would meet once a month for an hour. Each month would have a different musical theme: Folk Dancing, Found Sound, Talent Show, and Drum Circle. I asked that everyone sign in at the door; the sign-in sheet asked for the elementary students' names and how many family members they brought. FMN was held in the multi-purpose room. Publicity was a flier sent home in January listing all the FMN dates and themes. Also, a note was sent home the week prior to the date for each FMN, and an article was printed in the local newspaper the week prior to the date.

Here is what we did for each FMN:

Folk Dancing: Using Weikart as a source, I found several dances that were a) easy to teach and perform and b) could be done as a group, no matter what size. (This particular FMN was cancelled due to a snow day.)

Found Sound: As people entered I had the video STOMP playing. This occupied them musically while waiting for the class to start. The first part of class was an explanation of found sound and a demonstration of the possible sounds each of the objects could make. I then invited the parents and children to come and experiment with the objects. The children were not shy about this, and the parents quickly warmed up to making sounds. I'd meant to create a "sound" composition, but time slipped away quickly. I'll try to work that in for next year.

Talent Show: The talent show was a talent showcase and not a talent competition. Students had the opportunity to share their talents. We had singing, dancing, guitar/harmonica/bongo players, and even a first-time songwriter singing his original composition. Prior to the show, the students met in the music room where I took their pictures. Pictures were also taken while they performed. These pictures were put into a PowerPoint presentation used later to show their classmates the performance and to use next year as advertisement. In my community there is sometimes a problem with proper audience etiquette, so before the show even started I spoke to the audience (without the performers present) telling them that we were there to encourage ALL the performers and to show POSITIVE support for each one.

Drum Circle: Since I don't have enough drums to provide for all that I expected, on the note I sent home prior to the FMN I suggested items that could be brought to use for drums: Folgers red canisters, clean trash cans, large ice cream pails, etc. I explained what a drum circle was, and then we began some basic activities: playing the beat, echo rhythms that I played, and a question/answer. I chose four songs in duple time, and we played the rhythm of each one. Then, we divided into groups, and each group was assigned a song. The groups practiced together (parents were naturally the group leaders). Then, I brought in each group, adding them one by one, until all the songs were playing together. Of course, we ended with a "wild" play where everyone could play whatever they wanted.