Monday, April 29, 2013

Chord Construction Relay

I came up with this fun game for our group lesson to review Major Root Chords on the Staff.  I've found that kids typically love playing action games like this even more than sit down board game style activities.
What you need:
Giant Staff (or masking tape to make a temporary one)
Beanbags
Flat or Sharp Signs (made from felt or posterboard)
"Baton" like object



How to Play:
Divide students into 2 equal teams (4 per team is ideal)
Give each team 3 beanbags, 3 flats and 3 sharps.
Call out the name of a major chord.
Players race to the giant staff in relay fashion and place their beanbags/accidentals on the correct notes one note at a time to build the major chord.  The first 3 students spell the chord (i.e.
D,F,A) and the others choose any necessary sharps or flats to add. 

I like how I could play this game with students at varying levels.  Even early beginners can get the concept of placing notes a skip apart in snowman fashion.  I had my more advanced students at the end of each line to place the accidentals.  Because I introduce the primary chords tonic(yellow) and dominant(red) notes with colors, I chose to have 3 different colors of beanbags to represent the colors I use for student's to analyze chords in their songs.
I like how the felt sharps & flats I cut out really help the student see where the "hole" of the sharp is so they can line in it up with the notes.

No comments:

Post a Comment