group class ideas

I am trying to come up with some group class ideas. It seems as if each semester all I work on with the kids is getting ready for recitals or concerts. There is so much more group class offers. I have students from pre-twinklers to book 6 (violin). I think the kids are getting burned out with the same routine. (I know I am). I need some spice. If any one has ideas for group or knows of a book that may have some ideas I’d be interested. I need more games and light hearted stuff and not so serious. I need the kids to have more fun (me too). Thanks for the suggestions.

Here’s one: Each child takes off one shoe, and puts it in the middle of the circle. While playing a Twinkle variation, everyone must take turns putting their own shoe back on (no hands of course! just wiggle their foot into it).

Depending on the size of the group, you can have a “race” to see if everyone can get their shoe on before the end of the Twinkle variation.

With a larger group you could divide them into groups of 5 or 6, and assign a different piece—the book 4-6 kids could play the last piece from book 3, or something. Which group could get their shoes on first?

Pre-Twinklers can of course stick with the rhythm on E string.

I’ve only done this a couple times but it really gets people laughing.

Also—have you done Hide the Rosin? One student leaves the room—another student hides a cake of rosin somewehre in the room, so everyone else knows where it is—first student comes back, and the group plays a song while they look for it—when the seeker is close to the rosin, the group plays ff, and when they are far away from it the group plays pp. Tends to be the most fun for under-10-year-olds.

Also—if each student has a parent in the room, do a listening game: Students and parents are facing each other; students hold their hands palms up, parents hold their hands on top, palms down. Teacher plays a song, and randomly plays a wrong note (sharp, flat, wrong rhythm etc.) When they hear this, the students bring their hands up and slap the parents’ hands—the parents simultaneously try to pull their hands away. This works really well! Takes a bit of practising on the teacher’s part, depending on the song; with the older kids you could put in some quite obscure errors, I’m sure; I’ve only tried this with late Book 1 songs. A good activity to end with.

Hope this helps!
Laurel

Thanks for the ideas. I’ve done hide the rosin but instead of using rosin I do hide the bow. I’ve also done the shoe one. It usually falls apart for me though. Maybe I should give it another try. I haven’t done the parent child one. That’s a good idea. I’ll try it.

I’ve done musical chairs where everyone starts out walking around the chairs and when they get out they have join the “orchestra”. Some kids don’t want to walk around they prefer just being in the orchestra.

I’ve done “Who wants to be a Chocolate-aire”. After Who wants to be a millionaire. For the older ones I’ve made it a little to hard but they still have fun with it.

I’ve also played base ball. Two teams Team 1 is “up to bat” they have to answer questions after 3rd strike there out. Next player. When they get three outs next team is “up to bat”.

I’ve played soccer. Two teams. Team A has the ball they have to play a song and when I clap they have to pass it to another team mate if they make a mistake then they have to pass it to Team B. They try to finish the song where team A left off. Whichever team is able to finish the song they get the point.

I’ve also done where we all stand in a circle one person plays a note or phrase of a song and then has to pass the bow to the next person and they have to pick up where the other one leaves off. Can’t cheat by air playing with left hand. They have to use their ears.

What do you do or what is your objective for group class? If we as teachers can make it more fun than something else then parents and students will want to come more to group then go to another activity.

More ideas on parent interaction will be great!

How does this one work?

My students (and parents!) really enjoy “Composer of the Month” time where I tell them a little about a composer, point out which Suzuki songs are by this composer, show a picture, etc. I use the book “Stories of Composers for Young Musicians” by Catherine Wolff Kendall. It has all of composers of the Suzuki violin books. I feel it’s more efficient to do this in group lesson rather than over and over in private lessons!
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Composers-Musicians-Catherine-Kendall/dp/0961087803

ang, do you incorporate your pre-T to Book 6 kids in one class, or do they come to different classes?

I do not teach book 1-6. I break it down into 3 group classes. Pre-twinkle—and all of book 1; book 2-3; and 4 +.

Chocolate -aire is played like the game. I ask one kid a question on musical stuff. They go until they don’t have any more life lines. 50 / 50, phone a friend (they ask a class mate), and what’s the last one? I just have them ask the the whole class what they think. When they get the answer correct they get a piece of chocolate. Did I explain that correctly enough for you?

oooh, that could be fun! How do you choose the students who are in the “hot seat”? … you could get a recording of the music from the show and play it for the kids to start the game off….

Now, what kind of chocolate do you use? Do you have levels? (e.g., an M&M level, a hershey’s kiss level, a symphony bar level…) How many questions do you usually use per “contestant”? what size are your classes? how long do you spend on this game (does it take up a whole class?)

Do you get permission from the parents to hand out chocolate in class beforehand—do you have alternate prizes (to deal with dietary restrictions—e.g. diabetes, nut allergies, etc)?

do the parents participate?

what kinds of questions do you use?

Okay, this one takes a fair amount of prep beforehand, but once it’s done you have a tool you can use for lots of different levels… I use this on those days when the class is feeling really low-energy and it’s always a hit. This came from the book “Games and Motivation for the Suzuki Violin Student” by Diane Wagstaff.

Make a simple “fishing pole” with a magnet on the end, and a bunch of laminated “fish” with metal washers taped to them. The fish can be colour coded in a variety of ways: Book 1, Book 2, etc.; left hand vs. right hand exercises; listening exercises; note recognition flashcards; you get the idea. The students love fishing and have a great time, even when they pick something they might normally roll their eyes at in lesson. Since I started building my fishing game it’s expanded from pre-twinkle to include activities and repertoire up to Book 4.

Sometimes in Book 1 class we do violin olympics: three parents act as judges and two teams compete in categories such as “best candy canes,” “best bow holds,” “smoothest bow circles.” Then the categories get silly …. best choreography, most impressive final bow, best relay performance, etc. Strangely, these olympics always seem to end in a tie….

Here’s another. The children stand in a circle divided in half by a line of tape on the floor: one side of the room is called the “theme” side and the other is the “pony” side. The children walk in a circle while playing Twinkle, and as they cross the line they switch from theme to run pony or vice versa. Guaranteed to get the parents giggling.

Cheers!

I like the soccer game!—and i bet my class will like it to

I play baseball with classes working on shifting. I give the sign (the shift—start note end note) to the pitcher, who then plays it for the batter. If the pitcher is out of tune, it’s a ball (and, of course, 4 balls is a walk). If the batter plays the shift and it’s out of tune, it’s a strike. If it’s in tune, it’s a run, but if the first base player also plays the shift in tune, he’s tagged out. If the first base player is too effective and no one can get on base, I’ll start throwing balls from the “outfield”—giving a new, more demanding shift for the baseman to catch. I’ve played with as few as one base and as many as 5, depending on the number of students. We still haven’t figured out how to do home runs, though.

This is my current fave that I saw at an institute this summer- the kids go wild for it. It was inspired by the olympic relay races-

take a clear plastic cup and place it over the tip of your bow, and pass it to the next person. There are only two rules, the bow must be pointed up towards the sky, and you must have a good bow hand in order to receive the cup from your neighbor. It’s great for mixed level groups because everyone can do it.

When I introduce it, we go once around in a circle so everyone gets the idea. The following weeks, we make it a race. you could do a noncompetitive race- everyone on one team, or if you have a big group you could split them in two. After the students have the cup, I play twinkle theme and see what note I am on when the cup reaches the end of the line or circle, say the C# in the second ‘bread’, and see if we can beat it next time.

This last week they were boiling over the top cheering for their teammates, I’m thinking of keeping it as a reward incentive if I need it in the future.

Great ideas!

Thanks,

Iona

Thanks so much! Wonderful ideas to rejuvenate my classes and myself!

any ideas for group piano classes—ages 4+?

I love these ideas!!!! Thank you so much for posting them!!!

Also looking for group piano ideas ~ though several of these should be work w/ some tweaking. Any new thoughts, piano teachers (or parents)?

Try the Musopoly Game designed by a piano teacher. Even my violin students love it for a group class diversion. You can find it at www.SharMusic. com or elsewhere maybe.good luck! Liz