A couple weeks ago I was going through some of the things that have been hidden in my office and the storage. And I found that we actually have the extra materials from Randy and Jeff's Game Plan! I was super excited! There stuff is so expensive but so helpful! The handsignals cards are perfect because I just have some giant hand drawn ones that are looking a little used. Plus the solfege ladder with the pitches that turn around. Also the xylophone visual (not pictured) and the body percussion visual! So helpful! I love them!
I love to start the year with my older kids, talking about different genres of music and what makes up different genres. We spend some time discussing what instruments would be appropriate for each genre we talk about. Then I split them into groups and they have to create a "fictional band." They come up with a genre, instruments that fit each genre, who would play the instruments, and a group name and album cover.
The Four Power Pugs. I have no idea why they choose pugs as their theme but they decided to do mariachi music as their genre. Although they wrote, "Mexican Music."
These guys were an all-male rock band. They really got into it! They called themselves, "The Bulldogs" and designed their album cover with bones all over the front. They were very enthusiastic and even wanted to actually perform for the class (even though they don't play the instruments they chose!)
