Aural Exercises/Games

[astroboy]

Hi,
What sort of aural games and exercises do you use with your students? One of the exercises I do is clapping a rhythm and they have to clap it back. What other games do you use, especially for the younger ones? And what if they dont want to sing, ie, they dont feel comfortable singing back a melody? Any ideas would be most helpful!

Ryan

[hyrst]

HI
The games or activities I use depend mostly on the skills the student needs to gain at a particular time, rather than age.  The youngest students (2 1/2) can repeat clapping rhythms, speeds, volumes, etc.  The older children seem to enjoy the props and acitivities that the younger ones do - so long as they are approached in an age appropriate manner.

When I get students to copy my clapping patterns, I make them increasingly difficult and we laugh a lot.  I also get the students to make up the patterns and see if they can trick me - they often can, since they often make up very complicated patterns.  I then get them to check if I am right, and they have to clap the original pattern again.

Students love to use instruments for making rhythm patterns (e.g. clastinets, shakers).

Aural skills range from identifying fast and slow tempos to recognition of simple and compound rhythms; high and low pitch, to moving higher or lower, to identifying the higher or lower of two notes at distant or close intervals, etc; matching single pitches, predicting the end note of a melody, identifying major and minor chords, identifying wrong notes as agaisnt discords, etc, etc, etc!  There are innumerable aural activities that can be done, just invent things that match the other set of skills students are learning at the time and present them as challenging games, not 'tasks', and use lots of praise.

Children seem to be either very self-conscious of singing, or totally forward about it.  I don't throw them in at the deep end if they are uncomfortable.  If I notice any inhibition, I do not ask them to sing by themselves - I sing with them until they reach a point that they don't think about self-consciousness. 

If they still won't sing, there are ways around it.  (Unless students sit exams, these other ways are quite sufficient for their aural training.  If they do sit exams, they need coaching until they are able to at least hum a note audibly.)  Students can close their eyes and listen and then find the notes on the piano instead of singing them.  This uses more aural memory and spatial management of the keyboard (it is harder than singing, but good training).  Also, some students will whistle with more confidence than singing.

Annah