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Sculpture Game

44

Category

vocal
instrumental

Age

12+

Number of participants

5-25

Duration

approx. 20 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

12  3  4  5  6

Competences
  • creativity
  • improvisation
  • attention
  • movement coordination
  • cooperation
  • social sensitivity

Sculpture Game

A funny game based on movement coordination and quick reaction

AIM

During the game, moving to the music, reacting quickly to silence, and turning into a statue all strengthen movement coordination, and at the same time this game is extremely enjoyable and has team-building benefits.

Description

The players line up next to each other at the theoretical starting line. Several meters in front of them, a participant is standing backwards towards them.

The aim of the game is for the participants on the starting line to reach and touch the shoulder of the lone player. Whoever achieves this wins. The player in front starts playing music (sings, plays an instrument, or even plays music from an application).
Players standing in the line can only move during the music and approach the target. However, as soon as the music stops, they must avoid all movement and become a statue.

The individual player turns quickly, as his goal is to discover who has moved into it. When the music stops, he looks back and if he sees someone moving, those participants must go back to the starting line (or they are out of the game, both versions can be played).

Conductor

45

Category

vocal
instrumental

Age

15+

Number of participants

5-30

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • optional: any type of instrument
Competences
  • individual responsibility
  • creativity
  • attention
  • cooperation
  • concentration
  • singing together

Conductor

The game draws attention to the challenges and excitement of a leadership role, such as that of a conductor.

AIM

The activities provide participants with the opportunity to learn first-hand certain musical characteristics: tempo, dynamics and timbre. For all of this, we have chosen a suitable and easy melody as an example, which can be easily sung by participants who are not familiar with music.

Description

The first task is to find the song that the majority of the group knows well, sing it several times so that everyone knows it confidently.
One participant is chosen to be the conductor (the instructor can be the conductor for the first time to show the group what to do). They can choose a song, e.g. Oh I’m going to sing.

The instructor explains that when the conductor raises his arms higher in the air, he wants the participants to sing louder. If the conductor holds his arms lower, the group should sing more softly. In addition, the conductor can indicate start (e.g. thumbs up) and stop signals (e.g. flat hand towards them). The group can agree on which notation to use for slowing down and speeding up the tempo. So, you can freely expand the instructions and markings.

Level up!

Once the participants are familiar with this activity, we can let the group, the „band”, use body instruments or rhythm instruments.
We could also divide the participants into groups of similar instruments, where the conductor controls the dynamics of each group when he gets close to them.

Check My Beat

47

Category

rhythmic

Age

10+

Number of participants

5-30

Duration

approx. 10 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

12  3  4  5  6

EQUIPMENT
AND INSTRUMENTS
  • optional: any type
    of instrument
Competences
  • creativity
  • improvisation
  • attention
  • cooperation
  • concentration
  • rhythm recognition
  • sense of rhythm

Check My Beat

A simple game that encourages concentration, keeping the pace, and is based on creativity.

AIM

The goal of the game is to create mutual attention, to promote teamwork and cooperation, while also developing a sense of rhythm and rhythm recognition. Figuring out rhythm formulas develops creativity, and imitation strengthens musical memory.

Description

1. Participants are standing in a circle.
2. The instructor says in a rhythmic way: Here is my rhythm now, check my beat! and claps the steady beat four times.
3. The participants answer together in a rhythmic way, too: We got your rhythm now, here is your beat! and they clap the same.
4. The next person clockwise will be the next one who finds out a new formula and the others will repeat it together and so on.

The formula always contains four quarters, but it can be performed in many ways, e.g. with clicking, with tapping a body part, with la-la. Alternatively, these activities can be mixed.

Follow the Sound

49

Category

vocal

Age

15+

Number of participants

8-20

Duration

approx. 10 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • optional: any type of instrument
Competences
  • attention
  • cooperation
  • creativity
  • open minded
  • team cohesion

Follow the Sound

A playful game for following sound effects in spatial orientation.

AIM

The purpose of the game is to play in a fun atmosphere, to strengthen team cohesion, and to develop creativity through the use of sounds.

Description

  1. The participants should find a pair for themselves from the group.
    2. Place the pairs facing each other along a straight line.
    3. Have the pairs agree on a unique sound effect, this will help with spatial orientation. It is important that there is no matching sound within the group.
    4. Step back to the end of the room, so that one of the couple is on one side of the room and the other is on the other.
    5. The task is for one member of the pair to approach the other with closed eyes, but not yet touch her/him. The winner is the one who can get closest to their partner in a given time period. (The duration depends on the size of the space, so it’s worth having a test game first to know the ideal duration.) The sound effect helps in orientation, the goal is to approach their partner in a straight line.
    6. After that, let’s change the pairs, and you can even choose a new sound effect.

 

Level up!

Play the sound effect only three times instead of continuously. It can be made even more difficult by placing the pairs randomly, not along a straight line, but this requires a space of sufficient size to avoid collisions.

Spring Breeze

50

Category

vocal

Age

14+

Number of participants

10+

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4 5 6

Equipment and instruments
  • music player / app to play the song
Competences
  • improvisation
  • creativity
  • attention
  • concentration
  • confidence
  • team cohesion
  • inner voice
  • sense of rhythm 

Spring Breeze

An exercise starting from a simple song, which offers a very exciting sound, but requires practice and experience to achieve

AIM

After learning and singing the simple song, this game gives you an opportunity with the sounds of the song, which creates a very interesting atmosphere. If you manage to sound it well, the piece is a lasting experience for everyone who participated in the
process.

Description

1. The first step is to learn the song „Tavaszi szél” so that everyone knows the notes with confidence. This can be done by the leader learning it in advance and the participants learning it from her/him, or by learning the song together with the
recordings.
2. If singing the song at a tempo is already going well, then you can play together by singing it slower and faster.
3. After that, we first divide the participants into two or three groups, and the groups enter the song at different times, essentially like a canon. (This step can even be skipped, but we have found that it is worthwhile to try together before the improvisation so that the song does not play at the same time.)
4. After that, there is only one more step: everyone starts singing the song at different times and at different tempos, but it is important that they start from the same pitch!

When the notes of the song are played together, the notes of the pentatonic scale are heard, which gives it such a special atmosphere.

LYRICS

Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt virágom, virágom.
Minden madár társat választ virágom, virágom.
Hát én immár kit válasszak virágom, virágom.
Te engemet, én tégedet virágom, virágom.

Translation:
Spring wind floods waternmy darling, my darling
Every bird chooses a partner my darling, my darling
Well, who should I choose my darling, my darling?
You choose Me, I choose You my darling, my darling