Today we tinkered. I added a step before #4 of the worksheet (see last week’s post HERE) so that the kids could have a chance to explore before they made final decisions.

We looked at the notes that they were able to use. I encouraged them to repeat notes and add neighboring notes, as stated in the directions, but I also showed them that they could add several notes in-between what they had already written. Each student was able to use a xylophone, metallophone or glock to try out their ideas.

As you can see, they were just working in quarters with and without stems. Before we get to changing rhythms, it seemed to make sense for them…. one step at a time. We did speak about rhythm and how you could change it, but they all just tinkered with adding notes. ….next time!

The great thing about this lesson is that it gives you a chance to step back and observe. I saw kids working very hard trying a lot of different ideas, kids trying only a couple of ideas and just sort of “hanging out” and those kids who were lost and wandering around just wasting time until this could all be over.

Today I didn’t intervene; I really wanted to step back and see who did what. The cool thing was that I saw kids who generally don’t try a whole lot in music step up and try very hard in this exercise. Other kids who usually shine, didn’t necessarily do so in this case. It is a reminder to give kids lots of different experiences so that everyone can have a chance to shine.