Years ago, I stumbled upon a great idea from a colleague. She had taken a beach ball and written musical symbols on it. She explained that the students used it in a game similar to silent ball to help students reinforce concepts learned in class. I liked the idea but I took and modified it to work in my classroom. I started by taking the idea of one giant ball and changed it to themed balls. This made much more sense to me, as it would allow me to use them all to reinforce specific items. Moreover, I changed the game slightly; instead of the students sitting on tables I had them sit in a giant circle. This allowed them to roll the ball to an individual rather than throw it at full force. I have listed the balls below along with a brief description of each. Enjoy.

 

Musical Beach Balls

This activity uses the musical beach balls which were made for my music room. The balls are split into 12 terms. Each term has a corresponding number that correlates to the list below. I usually toss the ball to the students. Whatever their left thumb lands on is the item that they must identify.

Dynamic Ball –For this ball students will identify the dynamic symbols on the ball. Grades 3-5.

Dynamic

  1. 1.      Mezzo Piano
  2. 2.      Forte
  3. 3.      Piano
  4. 4.      Fortissimo
  5. 5.      Pianissimo
  6. 6.      Mezzo Forte
  7. 7.      Crescendo
  8. 8.      Decrescendo
  9. 9.      Accent
  10. 10.   Marcato
  11. 11.   Pianississimo
  12. 12.   Fortississimo

Instrument/Genre Ball – For this ball students must identify what instrumental group the instruments belong to. They must also identify genres by artist groupings. Grades 3-5.

Genre

  1. 1.      String Family
  2. 2.      Percussion Family
  3. 3.      String Family
  4. 4.      Brass Family
  5. 5.      Woodwind Family
  6. 6.      Soul
  7. 7.      Blues
  8. 8.      Rock
  9. 9.      Classical
  10. 10.   Jazz
  11. 11.   Rap
  12. 12.   Percussion


 

Note Length Ball – For this ball students must identify note/rest names. Grades 3-5.

NoteName

  1. 1.      64th rest
  2. 2.      16th note
  3. 3.      Half Note
  4. 4.      Eighth Note
  5. 5.      Whole Note
  6. 6.      Quarter Note
  7. 7.      Dotted Quarter Note
  8. 8.      32nd Rest
  9. 9.      Quarter Rest
  10. 10.   Whole Rest
  11. 11.   Half Rest
  12. 12.   16th Rest
  13. 13.   8th Rest

Musical Symbol Ball – For this ball students must identify musical symbols by name. Grades 1-5.

Terms

  1. 1.      Staff
  2. 2.      Segno
  3. 3.      Fine
  4. 4.      Bass Clef
  5. 5.      Treble Clef
  6. 6.      Repeat Sign
  7. 7.      Del Capo
  8. 8.      Legato
  9. 9.      Staccato
  10. 10.   Sharp
  11. 11.   Flat
  12. 12.   Natural


 

Solfege Ball – For this ball students must identify the name of hand sign (if they land on a sign) or demonstrate the hand sign (if the land on name). Grades 3-5.

Solfege

  1. 1.     
  2. 2.     
  3. 3.     
  4. 4.     
  5. 5.     
  6. 6.     
  7. 7.     
  8. 8.      Re
  9. 9.      Do
  10. 10.   Ti
  11. 11.   La
  12. 12.   Fa
  13. 13.   Me
  14. 14.   Sol