Random Dynamics

I had a plan this week, but it required five minutes of preparation, and that was five minutes more than I had, so this is what we did instead.

What You Need:

• Some way of choosing dynamics* randomly, such as:
  • Index cards with various dynamics on them (students draw a card)
  • Index cards with various dynamics on them and a bottle (lay them out on the floor and play spin the bottle)
  • A page assigning various dynamics to numbers 1-6 and one die.
  • A page with the dynamics written on it and a spinner in the middle
  • A blank die that you write the dynamics on

*I used pp, f, ff, crescendo, diminuendo, and wild-and-crazy.

Setup:

• None

How to Play: 

• Have the student choose a review song or even a section of a review song. Play through it first to make sure they still know the notes.
• Select the first dynamic by spinning, drawing, rolling, or whatever.
• Play the review song again with that dynamic.
  • Wild-and-crazy means they should change up the dynamics a lot throughout the piece.
• Select a new dynamic and go again.