Tag: musicality

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.

 

Random Dynamics

 

Musicality Activity

Most of my kids pick up on the concept of things like diminuendo and ritardando pretty quickly. Getting them to actually play a diminuendo or a ritardando is something else again. A lot of them just can’t do it, so here’s a very simple activity to review it.

What You Need:

  • A set of cards or signs with various musicality terms. I used the following: adagio, andante, allegro, presto, accelerando, ritardando, forte, piano, crescendo, diminuendo, and fermata.
  • Two blank cards or signs to use as wilds (optional)
  • Some kind of game piece to move along the cards. I’m doing this shortly before Christmas, so I used a nutcracker.
  • Dice

Setup:

  • Lay out your cards face down in a path of any shape

How to Play:

  • The student should first choose a review song or phrase. They should be totally confident of the notes in the section chosen.
  • Roll the dice and move the game piece along that many spaces.
  • Flip the card and play the review song using that musicality term. If they get a wild card, they can choose whatever musicality term they would like to use.
  • Go again.
  • If you get to the end and there is still time, turn around and make your way back again.

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