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.

Musical Things to Do While Waiting in Line

For one reason or another, I often find myself waiting with students in a line.  It can be challenging to keep them quiet because let's face it...standing in line is boring!  Here are a few musical things to do while waiting in line.

Steady Beat Follow Me
This quiet game is easy and engaging.  Lead students to keep the steady beat with you, but challenge them to stop on exactly the same beat you do.  To be successful, students have to watch closely and remain quiet.  I tap my head, chin, arms, stomach, knees and nose.  I clap with two fingers or snap.  I nod or shrug my shoulders to the beat and whatever else I can think of that makes no sound or very little sound.

As students are following me, I freeze occasionally.  If they are watching closely, they can freeze on the same beat that I do.  Vary the tempo to keep it interesting.

Snap on This Beat
As students are waiting in line I'll ask them to listen to me count a steady beat and snap only on the even numbers.
|: 12345678 :|

When they have established that rhythm, I'll switch it up.  I'll have them snap on the odd numbers, on 1, 4, 5 and 8 or any combination.  Occasionally when I walk a class back to their room we will do this.  It makes me feel like I'm on West Side Story.