Maestro’s Obstacle Course by Cheryl Lavender

“Maestro’s Obstacle Course” is a game from the book, “Help! I’m a Substitute Music Teacher!” by Cheryl Lavender. (On a side note – definitely buy that book!!! I haven’t had to have a sub yet, but if I do, this book has excellent ideas to leave behind for a substitute teacher who is not experienced in music. Where I live, there are only 2 music substitutes available for our area, so they are very hard to get!!)

Here are the basics to the game:

1. Split the class in half: one half will be the “orchestra” and the other half will become human”obstacles” around the room.

2. One student will be the “Maestro” and lead the “orchestra” and one student will be blindfolded.

3. “Maestro” needs to lead the blindfolded student around the human obstacle course by cueing specific members of his “orchestra” to play. Each individual instrument will have a specific action assigned to it (i.e. claves = walk forward, cymbal = turn left, ect). This is all done with the instruments giving directions, and no talking.

That’s just a basic outline – obviously the book is much more detailed. It’s a lot of fun – the kids really love it, it’s easy to set up, it encourages listening and proper instrument technique, and it’s a great segue into teaching timbre!

Rhythm Bingo

My school is very small and doesn’t have much money, so I’ve been trying to come up with economical ways to re-create activities that I’ve done in the past during my practice teaching times – only without the resources that I had there. One of the best ways of reinforcing rhythm came from playing a rhythm-focused Bingo game that my co-operating teacher had at my last practicum in the spring. The kids love it, and they are all the while practicing reading, clapping, and writing rhythms.

This teacher owns Cheryl Lavender’s Version which is excellent – it comes in two parts, each with 2 levels in increasing difficulty.

I decided, however, that since I can’t buy it right now, that my students would get the chance to make their own. I did this in a series of deliberate steps:

1. I displayed 24 4-beat familliar rhythms on the board. I didn’t introduce anything new at this point – that will come later. I had the students clap through the rhythms on several occasions, just for practice.

2. I gave sheets of blank paper to the students, and had them write the word “BINGO” across the top of the page in large letters ( did this on a larger scale on the whiteboard as a demonstration as they did theirs on paper – I find they just get too confused if ever step isn’t shown exactly! ) Then, we made straight, vertical lines down the page, and then divided the page into 5 rows of blank squares, using the entire sheet of paper.

3. I allowed them to decorate the center square any way they liked – this was their, “Free” square.

4. Then, the students took the rhythms from the board and started to copy them down into the empty squares on their home-made Bingo cards. They had to make sure to write the rhythms properly (stems the right way, in the right order, etc). Also, they needed to randomize their placement of the rhythms so that no one person had all of the rhythms in the same order on their cards.

5. I walkd around the room and helped students, corrected their rhythm writing if needed.

6. When all of the cards were finished, we could play: I choose a rhythm and clap & speak it to them. Then, they clap & speak it back to me. Then, I have one person come and write the rhythm on the board, and they place a bingo chip on top of the rhythm. Before the game began, we would have decided what would constitute “Bingo” – a straight line, diagonal line, four corners, etc. A “full card” game is not possible with this because all of the students have all of the same rhythms, and they would therefore all win at the same time. The randomized location allows for lines, diagonal, corners, L-shape, etc to be played without having several simulatneous “bingo” winners.

*Also – as the students are familiarized with the game, I won’t speak the rhythm to them anymore, I will just clap it and they clap it back. I will also omit the writing on the board – I would hand out blank sheets of paper, and each student will write the rhythms down as a rhythm dictation exercise.

PROS of this method of Rhythm Bingo:

1. Students take ownership of their “Bingo Card” – they like the responsibility and it makes it more fun
2. Can switch bingo cards around
3. Students have lots of practice writing notes/rhythms while making the card, and are held accountable for writing them correctly and neatly

CONS of this method of Rhythm Bingo:

1. Longer process than just using a bought version
2. If a student misses the card-making day, they are behind and will probably miss the first game
3. Students won’t always write the rhythms properly, and need to correct over and over, and is therefore quite time-consuming
4. Some students finish very quickly and are bored