VIOLINS, THE CELLO...THESE ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS HAVE PROVEN TO BE A BIG HIT WITH THE LITTLE ONES IN MY MONTESSORI MUSIC CLASSES. Watch my new video featured in this "Vlog" to get some ideas for introducing "The String Family" to your group!
During the past months, my Montessori music groups have really enjoyed exploring the four "families" of the Orchestra:
- The Brass Family
- The Woodwind Family
- The Percussion Family
- And, the beautiful String Family
Check out my newest video that outlines a fun bunch of activities you can use to introduce your group to the "String Family".
Click here to watch the video on my Youtube Channel."MOVEMENT" IS A MUST
If you've taken any of my eCourses or AMS workshops, you know that "movement" is the first activity (after warm-ups) in all my Montessori music classes with young children!
The Movement activity in this lesson is a delightful one called "Fiddle, Diddle, Dee" from the We're Off series from Bushfire Press. Here's a link to see the song in action: Youtube Fiddle Diddle Dee! I chose that one because I like to pretend like I am playing the violin during the "fiddle, diddle, dee" parts, but you can offer any movement activity that you like! I recommend just about any musical movement songs from these artists:
Here we are moving to the "Fiddle Diddle Dee" song in the photo below. The Movement Activity part of our music class is often the favorite of many of the children!
Photo by Kiran Sharma of Kiran's Montessori School
FOCUSED LISTENING
After the children have done some moving, it's time for settling down and doing some focused listening. I offer them visuals of the instruments as we listen to a short example of each.
Violin
Photo from Adobe Stock
Viola
Photo from Adobe Stock
Cello
Photo from Adobe Stock
Bass
Photo from Adobe Stock
Here is an album I like for individual examples of the various instruments from each of the instrument families.
EXPLORING INSTRUMENTS
Young children must have concrete, hands-on experiences for real learning to happen!
Photo by Carolyn from Magical Movement Company
In my little video at the beginning of this post, I had a violin bow and a small dulcimer that each child tried out. Years ago, I had an old violin that I picked up at the second hand store that I would take around the music circle for each child to play. You can also recruit a friend or family member who plays a stringed instrument to come visit your group and give a little concert for the children.
And this lovely "melody harp" is a good sounding stringed instrument made for children that I recommend for young children as young as 1 yr old!
Photo by Amanda Cuartas
We can't leave out the fun playing of rhythm instruments that are an integral part of the music experience for young children.
I chose rhythm sticks to play in this "String Family" music lesson because the children love to "play" them like a violin!
Photo by Kiran at Kiran's Montessori School
You can check out my favorite rhythm sticks for children at this link: Basic Beat Rhythm Sticks at West Music.
Photo by Kiran at Kiran's Montessori School
It is nice to have you visiting my Blog today. I've been off-line for a while tending to some family matters and it is nice to be writing my blog again. Thanks for coming by and I hope you have found some useful ideas for music with your group!
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