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Lesson 6

We explore different tempos with boomwhackers

1
music theory
whole class
2
discover musical instruments
whole class
3
play music
standing in a circle
4
play as an orchestra
whole class
5
z-fold
independently

Preparation

Additional materials:

  • Printouts M1, M8-M9

Activity 1

Music theory
Whole class
5 min.
M8 printout

First, introduce the stop signal to the class.

Teacher:

"When I hold my boomwhacker with one hand in front of my face, you should stop playing. Hold your boomwhacker with both hands and place it on your shoulders behind your head."

M8: Boomwhackers rules (project on the board/screen)

You can then introduce the 3 golden rules of playing boomwhackers to the class. 

Activity 2

Discover musical instruments
Whole class
10 min.
Boomwhackers (1 per pupil)

Give each student a boomwhacker.

Teacher:

"There are many ways of playing boomwhackers. I will show you a few different playing techniques which you can copy."

Activity 3

Making music
Standing in a circle
10 min.
Boomwhackers (1 per pupil)

Divide the class in 2 groups and ask each group to sit or stand in a circle with their boomwhackers. 

Teacher:

"In each group, designate someone to be the conductor. The conductor will decide which technique you are going to use to play your boomwhackers as a group. Everybody in the group should follow what the conductor is playing until I show the stop signal. At that point you should stop playing and the person who was the conductor should designate someone else to lead the group." 

Activity

Play as an orchestra
Whole class
10 min.
Boomwhackers (1 per pupil)
M1 printout

Practise the boomwhacker rhythm sequence with the class (long-long-short-short-long) until everyone can play it confidently. 

Write the rhythmic notation or project it on the board and ask students to repeat the sequence after you. 

Tip

You can say the rhythm out loud using "taa" (for the long sounds) and "ti" (for the short sounds).

M1: Modes of transport - jogger, car, high speed train (display these 3 picture cards on the board, going from slow to fast)

Teacher:

"We’re going to play the boomwhacker rhythm sequence together again, but this time we’ll do this using different tempos. When I point at one mode of transport and after I count to 4, you should start playing the rhythm sequence using the right speed. We’ll repeat the sequence a few times in the set tempo. Watch out for the stop signal! We’ll try the game a few times using different tempos."

Tip

When you count to 4 to bring children in, make sure you count using the correct speed.

Activity 5

Z-fold
Independently
10 min.
M9 printout

M9: Boomwhacker rhythm sequence (hand out to each pupil)

1. Teacher:

"There can be lots of different tempos or speeds in music. On your worksheet, you’ll find 6 of them. Cut off the pictures and stick them in the right place, starting with the slowest."

2. Teacher:

"Now, cut off your worksheet and add it to your Z-fold. You can then colour the pictures."

A3: 'La Follia' (play as musical background)

A. Corelli: La Follia, Violin Sonata in D minor, Op.5, No.12A3

If there's still time...

… give out boomwhackers and designate a child to be the conductor. The conductor creates their own rhythm and plays it. The rest of the class copies the rhythm. You can then swap conductors. 

… activity 4 can be extended using more tempo indications (M9).

Skills learned in this lesson:

Students...

… experiment playing with boomwhackers.
… learn to play a simple rhythm sequence with boomwhackers.
… play the rhythm sequence in different tempos following a conductor.
… order tempo indications.