Submitted by Pamela Rezach, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Idea posted October 9, 2003
I am going to open the school year with a review of folk songs - especially nursery rhymes for the younger grades - and patriotic songs.
I want to focus upon phrasing as we do our reviews. I thought of this quick-learning game that I think the children will enjoy. The idea is a spin-off of the kind of relay races where they work in pairs. One runner passes the stick to the next runner. I can't remember the correct name of that kind of race. Below is the procedure:
1. We will play the "Baton Relay Phrase Game" as we sing well-known folk songs. The purpose of this exercise is to teach the children to stay in key throughout the entire song even though they don't sing the whole song. For instance, as the students walk around the room to the steady beat, I will sing the first phrase while holding (and showing the steady beat) the fancy baton. I'm going to make one something like drum majors use - or at least "old timey" drum majors used.2. I'll sing the first phrase: "Twinkle, twinkle little star." At that point in the song I will pass the baton to a student. That student will sing, "How I wonder what you are." He/she will pass the stick to someone else. That student will sing, "Up above the world so high," and then pass it to someone else. We will continue until the song is completed.
The only problem I'm guessing will happen is a rocky transition from one student to the next. I'm going to suggest to the students that if they have the baton, give it to the next person while they are singing their phrase, not at the end of it.
To keep things interesting we will sing the songs at different tempos and in different keys.