Episode #105: Favorite Manipulatives for the Music Room

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #105: Favorite Manipulatives

 

In this episode, Carrie and Tanya discuss some of their favorite manipulatives for the music room and how we use them.

Main Theme: Favorite Manipulatives for the Music Room

Beat strips

• 4 beats on one side and 3 on the other.
• Use for beat tracking with primary students.
• Also great for rhythmic improvisation.

Check out Tanya's set of beat charts you can purchase and print from TpT. Click the image below!

Popsicle sticks

• 16-20 standard size sticks in a baggie.
• Use for rhythmic dictation and composition.

Large hearts with ta/ti-ti/rest

• Large heart foam shapes with ta on one side and ti-ti on the other. Can also include some with quarter note rest.
• Use for rhythmic dictation and composition with primary students.

Rhythm dice blocks

• One inch wooden cubes with one-beat rhythms on each side.
• You can create multiple sets for various grade levels:
• ta/ti-ti/rest
• tika-tika
• ti-tika/tika-ti
• Use for rhythmic dictation and composition. Also great in stations.

Staff boards and mini erasers

• You can purchase staff boards or make your own. Consider having various sets of staff boards (one-line, two-line, five-line) to scaffold for primary students.
• Target dollar spot is a great place to purchase erasers.
• Use for melodic dictation and composition.

Pipe cleaners

• Use full-size pipe cleaners for roller coaster vocal exploration.
• Cut pipe cleaners in half for "long" and in quarters for "short" and use for rhythmic dictation and composition with primary grades when practicing long and short in preparation for ta and ti-ti.

Puppets

• Use as props for specific singing games and instructional activities.
• Encourages students when solo singing.
• Folkmanis is our favorite brand, but also check out Ikea for bargain puppets.

Foam shapes

• Look for seasonal shapes in craft stores, especially on clearance.
• Write songs out in phrase form for students to read and in order.
• Great for matching games (either stick to staff games or rhythm matching games) to use in stations.
• Use various shapes to show form

Rhythm tent cards

• Use with rhythmic reading activities and games

Bouncy balls

• Use for beat and meter activities
• Raquetballs are a great size.
• Great songs for singing while doing patterns with the raquetballs:

2-beat meter: Bounce High, Bounce Low

4-beat meter: Frere Jacques/Are You Sleeping

                            English:

                            Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

                            Brother John, Brother John,

                            Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing,

                            Ding Ding Dong, Ding Ding Dong.

                            Spanish:

                            Martinillo, Martinillo,

                            ¿Dónde estás?  ¿Dónde estás?

                            Toca la campana, toca la campana,

                            Din, don, dan, din, don, dan.

3-beat meter: Lavender's Blue

Know Better, Do Better

This is a friendly reminder to celebrate all musicians all year long. Avoid the temptation to "save" a lesson plan that features a musician of color for a specific heritage month. For example feature and celebrate Black musicians all year long, not just during Black History Month.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Tanya shared a fun tip for moving things around when working in Google Slides. If you need to move something just slightly, hold down the shift key while using the direction arrows to make micro-adjustments.

Disclaimer: This tip only works with Google Slides!

Coda

Carrie recommends this performance of Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Tanya recommends the TV show Station Eleven (HBO Max)

If you enjoyed this episode, we'd appreciate you buying us a coffee! Click the button below.