3 Instruments To Keep Close This Year!

It never gets old to see surprise and delight in the eyes of students when they pick up and play an instrument.  Include an instrument, any instrument, into your lesson and it immediately becomes a class favorite that students talk about and ask for over and over.  What's even more exciting is when I discover or rediscover an instrument that I, the teacher, can use for my own purposes.  I love finding new and interesting ways to integrate instruments into my instruction and am always on the lookout for ways to include a click, shake, scrape, ring, or thwak into my lessons.

I wanted to share three of my favorite instruments to use in the classroom and a few different ways to utilize these little gems in day-to-day instruction.  Whether you have a room that looks like the inside of the West Music warehouse or are teaching from a cart with barely room for a CD player, you can easily incorporate these instruments into your daily routine.

#1 - The Shekere

This is an instrument that has been sitting on my shelf unused for years.  Of course students would get it down for certain projects or songs but the shekere never found a place in the daily life of my classroom.  Then last Spring I went to an amazing workshop with Chris Judah-Lauder, a  brilliant, Orff trained teacher from Texas.  I learned a lot that morning but one of the things that Chris kept doing was walking over and picking up the shekere.  She would use it to keep the beat during exercises or group songs.  It wasn't too loud but the timbre was easy to pick out from the group.  When we would do large group works she would often play the steady beat as she walked around and kept the song going.

One of my favorite things that Chris did with the shekere was cue different groups to come in.  For example, one piece we did that morning had 5 different repeated rhythms (ostinati) to be played on tubanos.  The idea is that one rhythm would start and then another would be added/layered in, then another, then another until everyone was playing.  Chris kept the steady beat with the shekere and when it was time to bring in a new rhythm she would look at those players and switch from a steady beat to the famous ta, ta, ti-ti, ta (quarter, quarter, two eighths, quarter).  She didn't have to say "ready, now, here you go" or anything.  The rhythm brought us in and the shekere was the method she used.

Since that workshop I've tried my best to keep my shekere in my hand or close by during class.  It's a great instrument for the teacher to include because the sound is not overbearing and easily slips into the texture of any song.  It's also great because you can use the instrument to cue students, keep groups together, and add a little something extra to fill out the sound.

Don't have a shekere?  Guess what, you can make your own!  Check out this video to see how!

#2 - Zenergy Chime

"We live in a vast ocean of sound. But what is the sound made by a single drop of water? Just a gentle tap with the mallet and the Zenergy Chime emits a powerful tone of singular beauty that lasts and lasts. Sounds like this are often used in meditation and healing, because they help us to focus and redirect our attention to the sounds within. The resonating sound not only calms and refocuses the individual, but can also focus a group. As such, it's an effective way to start a class, meeting, yoga practice or call guests to dinner."

These words come from the website of the Woodstock Chime company, distributor of the Zenergy chime.  While I'm not sure this instrument encapsulates the sound of a single drop of water (as stated above), the zenergy chime really does get a class to zip it and take notice pretty quickly.  Maybe there is some sort of mystical calming power to this instrument, I'm not sure.  I love how the sound really cuts through the cacophony of any class without being brash, overly loud, or jarring.  Take a listen below.

I love using nonverbal signals in class (anything to save your voice) and this chime has so many possibilities.  You can use the chime to get attention at the beginning of class, call kids back together after some extended "work on your own" time, or indicate that it's time to rotate or change.  I own the single chime but am looking into the trio or quintet options.  Wouldn't it be cool to have a set of special signals where three bells means time to refocus and one single bell means line up and two bells means... whatever you want it to mean.  You could teach students to react to any number of combinations when you use multiple bells.  The chimes have a beautiful sound, are rather inexpensive, and really do get the attention of your students.  Well worth your investment!

#3 - Slide Whistle

I think that everyone can easily identify the sound of the slide whistle, even if you've never played one yourself.  The looping and falling slide whistle often accompanies Loony Tunes type cartoons when someone is slipping, falling, or getting turned around.  Because kids often associate this sound with cartoons and fun they don't seem to find the slide whistle intimidating.  You can pull out the whistle and use it for sound exploration and sound effects.

I recently went to a workshop where the presenter used a slide whistle with very young students to get them to participate in vocal glides and pitch exploration.  She would play an example for the group to mimic with their voices. One time she might slide up and then next time slide down and would often vary her examples, adding in some of those "sound effect/cartoon" type sounds to keep the kids giggling.  You could easily use a slide whistle to have students mimic a glide up or down with their voices and could use it for whole group instruction or with individual assessment.  Bringing in the instrument when you assess students on vocal glides takes out some of the pressure as they try to match their voice to the funny sound.  For them it's a game but for you it's a tool to get them into a part of their range that they might not have used before.

You'd probably want to purchase a slide whistle like the one in the video above.  It's a little more sturdy and has a better sound than the plastic ones that you can often find in kids stores/dollar stores.  I use this whistle all year long and often pair it with vocal exploration images/stories/PDF files.  The magic of this whistle bring the fear out of vocal exploration for primary kiddos and is also a ton of fun to play!

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If you like these ideas, PIN THEM for later.  Do you have any other ideas for using instrument or suggestions for expanding on the ideas above?  Feel free to share them in the comments.

Sing! Teach! Love!